Dude, my new printer is outstanding. Just for fun I tried to print one of those fractal Mandelbrot images, and the printer beat my expectations in: 1) speed (less than two minutes for a full A3), 2) quietness (I could barely hear it working in the next room), 3) sharpness, and 4) colors. The details and color just pop. Awesome for home-made posters.
I also printed the leaf-picture on the right (from this set). The first try was not bad, but did not "pop" like I'd hoped. So I went to the glossy, fancy paper. And also I remembered something: that printed pictures usually look darker and less saturated than they do on the screen, it's just in the nature of things, so you have to compensate for that. And also sharpen them a bit more for print. And my second print of that one really does pop. Nice stuff.To be honest I think the glossy paper was much less important than the adjustments I made. Unlike in darkroom days, there's nothing at all inferior about matte paper.
Update: yep, I tested it now: there is nothing inferior about the matte paper at all, but it's a third of the price and does not have reflections. And if you're going to mount a print behind glass, glossy paper makes no sense anyhow.
Second update: oddly enough, though, the paper does make a difference with a (faintly sepia) BW photo. The details stand out somewhat better on the glossy. But how clear the difference is also depends on the light. Clearly inkjet printing is not bereft of the complexities we are used to in this world.
A tip by the way: I think it helps almost any print to have a grey border instead of a white (or black) one. It just lets the tones and colors come into their own fully.
Man, when I remember the black magic and back-breaking work you had to go through to make good pictures in a darkroom. And that was just black-and-white. For color it was... well, nigh impossible, and even if you were good, there was no way of controlling contrast, local tone and detail, and all the things you can do at the flick of a mouse today.
Cool! Why not try printing some of your ArtMatic creations to see how they come out?
ReplyDeletecaptcha: noide
Almost forgot, don't forget the noide.
I did, a couple, with my old big Epson, see here.
ReplyDeleteBut I have many many I haven't printed, so that's a good idea, thanks.
EO, I'm curious about this printer. One problem with inkjet printing (with printers we can afford to buy) is banding. An example of this might be a blue sky that has a gradual transition from blue to more white content closer to the ground.
ReplyDeleteI'm having a large print being printed at a shop with inkjet technology, but it does not suffer this problem (printer cost $12,000 us).
The Canon Pro9000 seems more affordable, but does is also have this problem?
Hopefully, I've explained myself ok.
It's very affordable *now*! (I can't get over a $300 price drop one day after I bought it.) (Well, I'm not that mad, it's worth it.)
ReplyDeleteIf it has any banding, then it's below my level of observation, even with reading glasses.
So, I guess I used the right term, banding.
ReplyDeleteThanks..I'll look for it on sale..
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