Can you tell the difference?
The first test print of the grille produced variations from a yellowish brown, reddish brown and blue tinted brown. The center image is my benchmark image in which the colors are most accurate, not only to my calibrated paper, but also to the actual colors of the subject, as it was when photographed. The color range examples list which paper printed to the color range shown in the samples. The degree of which the color cast was is rated from 1 to 3 (3 being the highest matching the sample color cast image below) and is in parenthesis.
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Red Cast
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Accurate Color
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Blue Cast
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Pictorico
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Jet Print
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Epson (1 Yellow)
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Legion (2)
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Ritz (1)
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HP (3)
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Kodak (3)
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Ilford (2)
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Staples (1)
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| Notes: Pictorico - While it rendered the brown of the car perfectly, the spare tire cover has a very minor red cast. I also downloaded the Pictorico ICC profile for this paper and converted my image to it, but there was still very little difference in the overall color tones of the two prints. Legion, Jet Print, & Ritz - These papers reproduced the chrome the best and they printed the best warm black in the spare tire cover. Iford - The brown went towards the blue side but the spare tire cover was favoring the red. Kodak - If this paper had a bit more contrast and a pinch less blue, it would have reproduced the best looking true chrome. Epson - This paper printed with a good sharpness but a slight yellow cast gives the print a little bit of a hot look, almost like an incandescent bulb was used for fill flash. Staples & HP - Good contrast between bright white and the darkest shadows, but the mid tones were pretty flat as the chrome just sort of blended into the brown without any snap. |
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Test image 2 was primarily used to determine skin tones and the gray balance of the concrete floor. Image 3 was for overall contrast and whiteness values. As for the portrait image, all of the prints would be very acceptable and less differences were noticed than in test image 1. While they did still have the same color cast, the differences were not as noticeable.
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Red Cast
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Accurate Color
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Blue Cast
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Notes:
Pictorico - Produced the best neutral gray and skin tones and produces the whites better than any of the others. Excellent contrast in the image of the houses, again reproducing the image remarkably better than some of the other papers. Legion, Jet Print, & Ritz - Produced very good skin tones, as well and the colors through the entire image were almost identical on all 3. The whites were very good with only a minimal touch of blue in them. Contrast also is excellent in these papers Iford - Just about as cold toned as the Kodak paper but has much better contrast. Kodak - Once again this paper was way too cold for my liking. In both the portrait and the houses, this print is just too flat and without snap. Epson - Again this image was too yellow, but in portraits this is more acceptable than in other subjects. Staples & HP - While the portrait would be very acceptable to most people, the houses were very flat and red cast on the HP paper and blue cast on the Staples paper. |
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Test image 4 is for testing the ink piling in the heavy coverage areas and the papers fade resistance. All of these images were printed at 1440 dpi with Epson's 25 year archival ink. For comparison, some prints were also printed with Epson's standard dye based ink used in their 700"s and 800's printer models.
The area in the far back of this image in CMYK will print 85% Black, 95% Yellow, 60%, and 20% Cyan, which will be a very heavy covering of ink. The green table in the center and the blue bench will also indicate the tonal range of colors.When the ink piles up on the paper in heavy coverage areas and doesn't lay down smooth to a nice even gloss, I call this ink piling and typically if you lay a print on top of another, the ink will pick off onto the back side of the one on top leaving a mark on the print below making two prints pretty much useless.Notes:
Staples - The worst as for ink piling and drying. After two days of drying I can still lay prints on top of the Staples paper and it picks ink from the image onto the back of the top print. Very unacceptable.
Kodak, HP & Ilford - This paper showed minimal ink piling and never really dried to a smooth gloss finish.
Pictorico & Epson - These papers dried to the smoothest high gloss and showed no signs of ink piling.
Jet Print, Legion & Ritz - Dried to a nice gloss finish with no signs of ink piling.
To find out just how much abusive light these papers could handle I have them on top of the dashboard of my car. After a week of being exposed to this extreme heat no apparent fading has shown. But the HP paper is warped to an unacceptable level, the Kodak is close to being that way as well as the Staples paper.So far I have only found 2 papers that I would not waste my money on again. Both the HP and the Staples papers are not up to the quality standards I would like to see made into a "Professional" Glossy paper. The HP paper claims to be "Premuim Plus" and the Staples paper does have the "Professional" claim on its package.We really want to know the fade characterisitcs so we will certainly continue with testing and share our findings with you in our next issues follow up section.| Often during the production of this magazine we run into circumstances or results that we feel may not be the same for everyone. We welcome you to use the "quick takes" form to give us your side of the story.
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