All Hail Epson!

All I can say is, WOW.

The Epson printer arrived today - earlier than I expected, as the FedEx tracking said it would be here by 7pm.

Setup went without a hitch. (I must admit a moment of fear just before plugging it into the power strip, hoping not to re-live my HP experience. Much to my delight - no problems whatsoever, even running through a power strip).

This printer is much more sturdy than the HP. The doors are solid and not flimsy - they feel like they could take a beating.

I ran my first print through it just now, and, WOW. It's gorgeous. That's all I can say! It's THE most accurate color representation from screen to print that I've ever seen come out of a printer - and that's with a monitor that's only software-calibrated! (I did use Photoshop color management and Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper, as well as PhotoRPM mode in the printer and the appropriate paper/mode ICC profile from Epson). I'm beside myself at how accurately it reproduced this photo. I've got 2 other prints of this photo - one from my Canon and one from a printer at school (an older, less advanced Epson photo printer), and the R1900 wins hands down. They aren't even in the same ballpark, considering the sheen of the gloss or the color reproduction. It's just... Wow.

Label me a happy camper. Good riddance, HP!

I'm now going to try to go out and shoot some film for experimental class. Let's hope it doesn't rain on me.

A Letter to HP

I've just dropped the following letter into the outgoing mail (postal mail, that is):

July 3, 2008
Customer Service
Hewlett-Packard Company
3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1185

To Whom This May Concern,

I am writing regarding a recent experience I had with your technical support representatives (Ticket #801330xxxx). On June 28, 2008, I purchased the HP Photosmart Pro B8850 printer and several packages of Advanced HP photo paper. I ordered these items online via CircuitCity.com. The items were delivered in June 30, 2008.

I unpacked the printer and began setup. When I plugged the printer into the wall outlet, the printer received no power. After troubleshooting via telephone with one of your support representatives, it was determined that the AC power adapter was likely faulty. Your representative shipped a new AC adapter to me. It arrived on July 2, 2008.

The new AC adapter did not solve the problem. I called technical support again, and after troubleshooting, the representative determined that there was likely a problem with the printer itself. While I was disappointed, I understand that this happens. Hardware fails. It’s the way of the world, when it comes to computers.

What I was most disappointed in, though, was the solution offered by your representative. She offered to replace my brand new printer with a refurbished one. I explained that this printer was brand new out-of-the-box and was dead on arrival. I paid for a new printer. I expect replacement with a new printer. I could understand a refurbished replacement if I’d owned the printer for some time and it needed repair, but this printer was not used. The support representative agreed with me, but that she could not guarantee that the replacement would be new, and that she had no other options to offer me.

I find your policy of replacing brand new, defective items with used, refurbished ones to be completely unfair. I spent $549 on your product in good faith that it would work when I brought it home. When a brand new item is defective, I expect a brand new replacement - not just from HP, but from any company.

I am a photographer and a professor, and despite the advice of many of my colleagues to purchase an Epson (the reigning king in the professional photo printing arena), I decided to give HP a shot. The B8850 might be a fantastic printer. I did not get the opportunity to find out. Based on this experience, HP is not the kind of company I want to do business with.

As a result of my disappointment in your company’s policies, I have returned the HP printer and papers to Circuit City and instead purchased the Epson Stylus R1900 and Epson papers, and will recommend to my colleagues and students that they do the same.

Sincerely,

Shelly Hokanson

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Canon Photo Paper Profiles

For the next time I can't remember which profile to use in Lightroom with which Canon photo paper:

MP = Matte Photo Paper
PR = Photo Paper Pro
SP = Photo Paper Plus Glossy

The numbers are for print quality. Lower numbers are better.

So...

PR1 = Photo Paper Pro, Highest quality
PR2 = Photo Paper Pro, Next best quality
SP1 = Photo Paper Plus Glossy , Highest quality
MP1 = Matte, Highest quality

Jotted this down off the web once upon a time, and I'm tired of digging up the scrap of paper every time I get a different paper! :)

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Color management and printing photos

Yesterday, when I went to print up some of the photos I took at the nature preserve, I was extremely disappointed that the colors in the prints did not come through the way they looked on my monitor.

For example, I really liked this shot of the park bench because the red of the bench brought out the red in the tree. (What I couldn't decide is which angle I liked, as I also took one with the full bench in view, but for some reason I like the partial bench shot better).



When I printed it out, the bench looked almost brown, as did the red cone things in the tree - totally killing the effect. So I started Googling monitor calibration, figuring that my monitor wasn't showing me the "real" picture.

After reading through some mind-boggling articles on the topic, it turns out that my printer's color correction was at fault. I found an article on Canon Europe's professional network web site on "really simple color management." It was a moment of revelation.

The article explained that when you print from within Photoshop, you can set the print process to declare Photoshop as the controller of the color profile. Then, you configure Photoshop's color settings to your liking, and in the print dialog, set Photoshop to manage colors and choose your printer's color profile based on the type of media you are using (in my case, premium glossy photo paper, which Canon dubs PR1). Then, go into your printer's color management settings and disable color correction in the printer.

Voila!

My red bench now prints out red, and I'm happy as can be!

Additionally, I set my monitor to use the sRGB color profile. I don't have any monitor calibration tools, but for now, this worked well enough.

I'm using a Canon Pixma iP4200 printer, but these steps should work with any printer that allows you to manage your color settings.

I Want Moo Cards!!

I want Moo cards!

What a fantastic idea, particularly for photographers and graphic designers - and, cheap!

I can't wait until I have enough photos that I like to order some Moo cards :)