Problems using Ilford Galerie Smooth Gloss paper

[Martin C]

I have an Epson Photo Stylus 890 which has been working fine for years using
Epson gloss photo paper and giving very good prints - true to colour (at
least very close to originally processed photo prints that have been scanned
in).

After a recommendation that Ilford Galerie Smooth Gloss Paper (part of the
Professional Inkjet Photo Range) produced superior results, I decided to buy
a box. After having read good reports about it on the web, I thought it
would be ok.

Unless I am doing something wrong - BIG MISTAKE!!

Every time I print out using the Ilford paper, the picture has a blue caste
to it causing the whole temperature of the print to cool quite a bit. A bit
puzzled, I tried printing the same picture on the last Epson sheet I had
left, and the colour was great.

I have set up the printer according to the instructions in the Ilford box
(set media type to 'Premium Glossy Photo Paper' with 720 dpi and high speed
on).

Does any kind soul have any idea why the printouts should have the blue/cyan
caste? Could I have set something incorrectly?

I will probably go back to using Epson paper again, but it seems a shame to
have to chuck a whole box of Ilford paper away.
Guess you can't always believe what you read on the web - duh!!

Thanks for any help that you can provide.
Martin

 

[Ray K]

I have an Epson Photo Stylus 890 which has been working fine for years using
Epson gloss photo paper and giving very good prints - true to colour (at
least very close to originally processed photo prints that have been scanned
in).

After a recommendation that Ilford Galerie Smooth Gloss Paper (part of the
Professional Inkjet Photo Range) produced superior results, I decided to buy
a box. After having read good reports about it on the web, I thought it
would be ok.

Unless I am doing something wrong - BIG MISTAKE!!

Every time I print out using the Ilford paper, the picture has a blue caste
to it causing the whole temperature of the print to cool quite a bit. A bit
puzzled, I tried printing the same picture on the last Epson sheet I had
left, and the colour was great.

I have set up the printer according to the instructions in the Ilford box
(set media type to 'Premium Glossy Photo Paper' with 720 dpi and high speed
on).

Does any kind soul have any idea why the printouts should have the blue/cyan
caste? Could I have set something incorrectly?

I will probably go back to using Epson paper again, but it seems a shame to
have to chuck a whole box of Ilford paper away.
Guess you can't always believe what you read on the web - duh!!

Thanks for any help that you can provide.
Martin

Try visiting the Ilford website and see if they have other settings that
would optimize your particular printer model to its paper. For example,
to use Kodak's smooth glossy paper in my Canon i550, Kodak recommends
changing about 5 profile settings.

One you know what Ilford recommends, click on Start/Settings/Printers.
Highlight your printer, right-click, and select Properties. Then make
the changes and save them as a new profile.

Ray

 

[Graeme Cogger]

I have an Epson Photo Stylus 890 which has been working fine for years using
Epson gloss photo paper and giving very good prints - true to colour (at
least very close to originally processed photo prints that have been scanned
in).

After a recommendation that Ilford Galerie Smooth Gloss Paper (part of the
Professional Inkjet Photo Range) produced superior results, I decided to buy
a box. After having read good reports about it on the web, I thought it
would be ok.

Unless I am doing something wrong - BIG MISTAKE!!

Every time I print out using the Ilford paper, the picture has a blue caste
to it causing the whole temperature of the print to cool quite a bit. A bit
puzzled, I tried printing the same picture on the last Epson sheet I had
left, and the colour was great.

I have set up the printer according to the instructions in the Ilford box
(set media type to 'Premium Glossy Photo Paper' with 720 dpi and high speed
on).

Does any kind soul have any idea why the printouts should have the blue/cyan
caste? Could I have set something incorrectly?

I will probably go back to using Epson paper again, but it seems a shame to
have to chuck a whole box of Ilford paper away.
Guess you can't always believe what you read on the web - duh!!

Different papers give different results, I'm afraid, but you
should be able to get reasonable output from the Ilford. I'd
ignore the recommendations about 720dpi/high speed, since that
will give pretty poor quality output. Try creating a 'strip'
from a picture as a test print, so you can print a number of
different tests on the same piece of paper (saves ink and
paper!).
I'd suggest the following settings:
Paper type - try Premium Glossy Photo Paper or Colorlife, see
which works best.
Custom settings - 2880 dpi
Color management - Color controls (the Gamma setting affects
overall brightness)
Mode - automatic
If the prints are still coming out blue-ish, try reducing the
Cyan slider (maybe Magenta too, but start with Cyan).

On my Photo 895, I've found the Ilford to print pretty well if
I just treat it the same as Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper,
but the above should give you more options.

HTH

 

[Ed Ruf]

Graeme, I was surprised at the 2880dpi setting you stated. I have often read
that any more than 300dpi and the printer probably wouldn't be able to print
any better anyway - but I will try it. The photo strip is a good idea. I
used to do them in the old days when I did photography in the dark room so
should have remembered it. Memory obviously not as good as it used to be.

I will clearly have to experiment with settings a bit more until I get
something I like.

I believe you are confusing PPI of the source digital image vs. dpi at the
printer output. I've been using an Epson 1270 for years and you should be
able to see the difference at the higher output. Maybe not at 2880 vs 1440,
but definitely compared to 720 dpi output.
________________________________________________________
Ed Ruf Lifetime AMA# 344007 ([email protected])
http://EdwardGRuf.com

 

[Martin C]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Ray, sorry, should have said that I have already been to the Ilford website,
but they gave very little information that I did not already have. The
settings I stated were all that they provided for using the paper with my
particular printer. Clearly the Kodak site is better equipped for dealing
with printing issues.

Graeme, I was surprised at the 2880dpi setting you stated. I have often read
that any more than 300dpi and the printer probably wouldn't be able to print
any better anyway - but I will try it. The photo strip is a good idea. I
used to do them in the old days when I did photography in the dark room so
should have remembered it. Memory obviously not as good as it used to be.

I will clearly have to experiment with settings a bit more until I get
something I like.

Thanks again.

Martin

 

[Jon O'Brien]

I've been using an Epson 1270 for years and you should
be able to see the difference at the higher output. Maybe not at 2880
vs 1440, but definitely compared to 720 dpi output.

Agreed. Above 1440 dpi you're just using more ink without any discernable
visual improvement.

Jon.

 

[tenchman]

Hi Martin,
Does your printer use pigment inks, if so this is your problem, see note
taken from 7dayshop website on Ilford paper.
"Please Note: Ilford Classic Glossy and Classic Pearl papers are not
compatible with pigment inks ~ Please check your printer for details."
Anyway you can forget Ilford paper in the future as they have gone into
recievership

David

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?BenOne=A9?=]

Hi Martin,
Does your printer use pigment inks, if so this is your problem, see note
taken from 7dayshop website on Ilford paper.
"Please Note: Ilford Classic Glossy and Classic Pearl papers are not
compatible with pigment inks ~ Please check your printer for details."
Anyway you can forget Ilford paper in the future as they have gone into
recievership

It says Smooth Gloss paper in the subject line, which is the preferred paper for
pigment ink printers I think.

To the OP,
There should be a profile available for your printer with that paper.
Give Ilford a call.

 

[Martin C]

Thanks Ben, I was not aware of that. I will call them

Martin

 

[Jon O'Brien]

Anyway you can forget Ilford paper in the future as they have gone into
recievership

It's the b&w photographic products division in Cheshire that's folding.
The inkjet products division is based in Switzerland and is unaffected.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3595978.stm

Jon.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Martin C wrote:

Graeme, I was surprised at the 2880dpi setting you stated. I have often read
that any more than 300dpi and the printer probably wouldn't be able to print
any better anyway - but I will try it. The photo strip is a good idea. I
used to do them in the old days when I did photography in the dark room so
should have remembered it. Memory obviously not as good as it used to be.

I will clearly have to experiment with settings a bit more until I get
something I like.

Thanks again.

Martin

Martin, you may be confusing two separate issues. Inkjet printers use a
type of dithering process where the dots of ink are mixed randomly to
create the illusion of colors that don't actually exist as the inks. To
create these colors, a number of different size and colored dots are
placed near one another to illustrate a specific color to represent a
pixel. So, one pixel on your screen may require several dozen dots of
different colors to give the illusion of a specific color for a pixel.

That is why an inkjet printer needs so many dots. Typically, an inkjet
printer will have 4-8 actual ink colors, and yet they imply hundreds of
thousands or even millions of colors.

The 300 ppi number is the number of discreet pixels you want to send to
the printer (at final size of the image) to provide enough data to make
a photographically clean result. So, let's say you are printing a 2" x
4" print. To make it 300 dpi/ppi, you need to supply a file with 300 x
2 (inches) by 300 x 4 (inches) representing 600 pixels by 1200 pixels.

When printed that will produce photographic quality at that resolution.
However, the printer may need many times more dots to make all those
colors appear accurate, by using many dots of differing colors to give
the illusion of the colors.

If you are using an Epson printer, it may have a top resolution of 1440,
2880 or even 5760 dpi. Epson printers actually up-sample or downsample
the image via a driver to 720 dpi for desktop printers models, and 360
ppi for the wide format types. What Epson suggests is that anything
over 300 to 360 dpi/ppi is lost anyway, so for many reasons, including
file sizes, they suggest 300 dpi on average.

In terms of the printer resolution you decide to use, a lot depends upon
the paper type you are using. Some cannot handle high res printing
without the ink flowing abnormally on the paper itself, degrading the
image. In most cases, going above 1440 dpi in an Epson printer gives
very little additional improvement, but does increase printing time a
fair amount.

So for most subject matter with an Epson desktop printer, using 300-360
dpi for the source file, at final printing size, and using a printing
mode with 1440 dpi is probably just fine for your needs.

Art