The setup:

  • Epson 2200
  • MIS Ultratone (UT7) inkset - including the Eboni matte black ink
  • Adobe Photoshop CS
  • Image working/color space: Adobe RGB (1998)
  • 16-bit RGB mode
  • Paul Roark UT7 for 2200 curves loaded into adjustment layers
  • Photoshop “Print with Preview” settings:
    • Color Management - Yes
    • Source space - Document: Adobe RGB (1998)
    • Print space - Profile: Same as source
  • Epson print driver/RIP:
    • Print size: 6-by-9 inches
    • Paper: (see below)
    • Print Quality: SuperPhoto - 2880 DPI
    • Color Management: ICM
    • ICC Profile: No Color Adjustment

The image:

The histogram spans the printable image, and there are details in the shadows.

Take one: Epson Velvet Fine Art Paper with Epson Enhanced Matte Paper selected in the printer driver, neutral curve

(You might get the idea from reading Paul Roark’s document on using his curves with UT7 on the 2200 that all matte papers should use the EEM curves and paper settings. So that was my first print.)

Take two: Epson Enhanced Matte (EEM) Paper with Epson Enhanced Matte Paper selected in the printer driver, neutral curve

Take three: Velvet paper with Velvet selected in the printer driver, neutral curve

Take four: EEM paper with EEM selected in the driver, “Carbon” curve

The results: All gave acceptable results. The neutral curves are in fact neutral. The carbon curve is acceptably warm without being sepia tone.

The detail on all prints is very, very good — EEM clearly had more detail when I looked at it under my big 4x loupe. You can also see obvious dither patterns under the loupe, but you have to strain to see it without magnification.

Velvet has deeper blacks, and they didn’t seem to close up in the shadows. Even though EEM had better detail under the loupe, Velvet had better appearance of detail when viewed at a normal distance (probably because of the roughness of the paper). Also because of the texture, Velvet looked more “photographic” than EEM when printed with a neutral curve. (That’s a very subjective and personal observation, I know.)

Despite good shadows and highlights, none of the prints had the richness in the midtones of the original image. That was very disappointing and left the image feeling flat and . . . well . . . poorly printed. The Velvet with the neutral curve and Velvet driver setting seemed marginally better than the Velvet with the EEM setting (it was also slightly better in sharpness and density). The EEM prints had weaker midtones, with the “carbon” curve getting the edge.

Given that my portfolio review is a week away, I plan on printing the images (which I want to be neutral) on Velvet Fine Art Paper using the neutral curve and the Velvet paper setting. But I definitely am nowhere near where I want to end up.