Smaller gamut with PF.

ah693973
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2015 3:27 pm

Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by ah693973 »

Hi,

I've got an Epson 3880 and have started using PrintFab to get past the 37" limit. When comparing gamuts between the Epson driver and the PrintFab driver I notice that the PrintFab gamut is lacking in a couple of areas. Very dark greens/cyans and midtone red/yellow seem to have quite a deficit compared to the Epson profile. In the finished prints, the difference is not immediately obvious, but noticeable when you compare two prints made with the different drivers.

Are there any suggestions on what the cause is and any suggested remedy?

The profiles are here:

Epson driver: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_41-S ... sp=sharing

PrintFab driver: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_41-S ... sp=sharing

I used a ColorMunki and Argyll to profile both drivers. Paper is Ilford Gold Silk Fibre and Cone color pro K3 inks.

Ilford's recommended paper settings in the Epson driver (Premium Photo Paper Semi-Gloss and Superphoto quality).

And for PF's driver: On the main page, Quality 6, mode photo black. The paper preset is glossy, 300 ink limit, photo black, and 2880 dpi. On the color page, color mode is color RGB, intent is no correction, dithering is error diffusion, and color space is Adobe RGB. Options page, unidirectional, 100% shadow, and 16 bit per channel. All other settings are unchanged from default.

Thanks,

Andy
ah693973
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2015 3:27 pm

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by ah693973 »

Just want to update with an experiment I did to try and determine what is going on.

I used PF and printed a target but turned up the ink loading in the ink cnrl tab. I turned everything up as high as it would go, total ink maximum 400%, black, cyan, magenta, and yellow were all turned up to 200% under the ink limits section. Black level, bright cyan, and bright magenta were not allowed to be adjusted by the program so they stayed at default.

The target looked identical to the one printed without those ink loading adjustments. The gamut also looks nearly identical when compared with the non-adjusted target.

It seems that the sliders under the ink cntl tab do not affect the print.

Andy
zedonet
Site Admin
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Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:02 am

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by zedonet »

Hello,

the adjustment sliders in the driver settings dialog are not effective for profile printing - they become effective once the profile has been imported.
For profile printing, only the settings in the "Create profile" dialog are effective.

I suspect that the gamut is smaller because Printfab applies a bit less ink than the Epson driver. It would be possible to increase ink amounts by adjusting the driver settings file, however this would affect all existing color profiles. If you are interested, I can send you more information.
ah693973
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2015 3:27 pm

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by ah693973 »

Hi,

Please send me the information, I would like to give it a try. The difference between drivers is not big, you have to look really close, but I am overly picky and am willing to trade some ink for performance.

Thanks,

Andy
zedonet
Site Admin
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Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:02 am

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by zedonet »

Please open the file

C:\Program Files (x86)\ZEDOnet\PrintFab 1.x\printers\Epson_StylusPro3880.tpp

in a text editor.

Dependend on the paper type that you want to profile, you can increase the value the line "Saturation=100" in one of the sections [Paper...]:

Plain paper: [Paper0]
Matte inkjet paper [Paper2]
Glossy/Semiglossy photo and fineart paper [Paper6]
Matte fineart paper [Paper3]

A good start would be the value "Saturation=120".

After modifying, save the file "Epson_StylusPro3880.tpp" in a directory that is writeable (you can't save directly to the "Program Files" directory).
Then drag & drop it to "C:\Program Files (x86)\ZEDOnet\PrintFab 1.x\printers" and authorize to overwrite the existing file.

Then you can print a new profile chart - it will be printed with more ink - and create a new profile.
ah693973
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2015 3:27 pm

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by ah693973 »

Zedonet,

Sorry to take so long, this is a hobby and I got busy with my real job.

The saturation adjustment shows some promise, but you have to turn it up so high to actually increase the gamut that problems with ink pooling and "pizza wheel tracks" become apparent. It seems to me a bit like using a broad sword when a scalpel would be more appropriate.

I noticed in the windows/color management forum area you had replied to "smile" that there was a way to adjust linearization on a per channel basis in the post titled "Canon6700D worse colors with PrintFAB then with Canon driver". Is there any way you could provide me with the information needed to accomplish this? I would like to give it a try.

Thanks,

Andy
smile
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:48 pm

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by smile »

Send me PM on printerknowledge forum, I will send you the details, however you will have to get custom PrintFAB version that has this enabled
so you can access the lin tab.

[edited by admin - sorry, we do not accept promotion of other products in our forum]
zedonet
Site Admin
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Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:02 am

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by zedonet »

Hello Andy,

I just sent you instructions for linearization by email (sorry, this took some time).

Hello Smile,

your request for proper linearization is not forgotten. It is a feature that is only relevant for a small group of our customers who have access to a spectrophotometer or densitometer, but of course it is a feature that should be added.
smile
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:48 pm

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by smile »

So can you give me a date that think it will be available?
Just don't forget to make

1. printfab read standard profielamker 5.0.10 cgats.txt files with measurement data so that no matter what spectrometer user has got it will be possible to load the measurement data into printfab.
2. include the linearization targets as cgats files too, so that users could generate proper targets for their device.

CGATS is also supported by colorport free software.
smile
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:48 pm

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by smile »

your request for proper linearization is not forgotten. It is a feature that is only relevant for a small group of our customers who have access to a spectrophotometer or densitometer, but of course it is a feature that should be added.
Any updates? 2 years have gone by already...
smile
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:48 pm

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by smile »

Another year went by and still no linearization?
We want use third party ink and our own measuring gear for profiles, please make promised linearization feature.
zedonet
Site Admin
Posts: 2156
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:02 am

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by zedonet »

Hello Smile,

user printer linearization and other color management functionality (e.g. built-in support for color profile creation with a spectrophotometer) are on our list of features that should be added to PrintFab, however writing new printer drivers and implementing other software features have priority at this time, so I do not expect the linearization feature to be added within this year.

I understand that it may not be tolerable for you to wait for such a long time, so a possible option would be to use the experimental linearization support that I have explained by email.
smile
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:48 pm

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by smile »

zedonet wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:50 pm I understand that it may not be tolerable for you to wait for such a long time, so a possible option would be to use the experimental linearization support that I have explained by email.
Experimental linearization is better then nothing. But is not available in current version or is it?
Are there any improvement in feeding data to printfab? I would be thankful for any new documentation in this regard.
smile
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:48 pm

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by smile »

Any updates, no reply?
zedonet
Site Admin
Posts: 2156
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:02 am

Re: Smaller gamut with PF.

Post by zedonet »

Hello,

the experimental lineariziation is still available in PrintFab for Windows and it is working as I described previously. Please let me know if I should send instructions (however it is still the old documentation).

We plan to add linearization in the user interface. It is higher on the priority list now to improve quality with special inks like dye sublimation, I expect it to be available next spring.
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