Lightroom, Epson 2880 and Monitor issues

rwmj

I have just begun to do my own b/w prints with Lightroom 2 and an Epson 2880 and though I am amazed at the quality of the prints I am finding that I have to increase the brightness considerably in Lightroom before printing. Incidentally I found Eric Chan's Epson 3800: Step-By-Step Printing Workflow document invaluable for navigating the myriad of selection choices needed in both the Epson and Lightroom software - http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/dp/Epson3800/printworkflow.html#lightroom. I guess I can live with this adjustment process but it is a nuisance.

In any case in trying to troubleshoot the problem I checked a Norman Koren Monitor test page recommended by Eric Chan
http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html#Monitor_test_pattern
and found that my monitor displays the test pattern with definite waviness and Koren writes 'Any waviness, irregularity, or color banding indicates incorrect monitor calibration or poor performance.'
I have calibrated my wHP2207h with a Pantone Huey and thought all was okay but now I am not so sure.

So my questions are
1 - any suggestions for improving the printing workflow where images have to be brightened in Lightroom
2- what does the waviness in the Koren test pattern mean and what should I do about that

Thanks

colourbox

Have you already implemented Eric's recommendations in the Display Calibration and Profiling section? His paragraph below is the single most important piece of info for dark prints. My monitor is calibrated to 100 cd/m2 and that means it is at its lowest brightness setting.

If you have a LCD display, I recommend setting your display calibration options to Gamma 2.2, "native white point" for the color temperature, and 100 cd/m2 for the target luminance. This last point is very important: new LCDs are capable of emitting a lot of light (and often are extremely bright out of the box). If you edit images on a super-bright display, your print will appear too dark by comparison. Even if your calibration software recommends setting the target luminance to a higher value (e.g., 120 cd/m2), I still suggest using a lower value such as 100 cd/m2.

rwmj

colourbox wrote:

Have you already implemented Eric's recommendations in the Display Calibration and Profiling section? His paragraph below is the single most important piece of info for dark prints. My monitor is calibrated to 100 cd/m2 and that means it is at its lowest brightness setting.

Thanks for pointing that out. The Huey uses Gamma 2.2 but doesn't seem to provide a setting for target luminance. I looked around and there is a brightness control for the monitor which is now at 90 - maybe just experiment with reducing that.
What do you think?

Any idea about the waviness in the Norman Koren monitor test pattern?
Many thanks,

Roy

Miguel Delinquento

I don't think that will work, as you just changed the configuration of your monitor without re-calibrating.

I think you need better calibration/profiling software that allows the user to set the luminance. This is a common problem and reflects the still immaturity of digital imaging.

M

rwmj wrote:

Thanks for pointing that out. The Huey uses Gamma 2.2 but doesn't seem to provide a setting for target luminance. I looked around and there is a brightness control for the monitor which is now at 90 - maybe just experiment with reducing that.
What do you think?

Any idea about the waviness in the Norman Koren monitor test pattern?
Many thanks,

Roy

Zerodog

I think I have finally defeated my 2880 demons. I had red toned prints like crazy. A secondary problem was dark prints. I finally found the problem too.

I have my monitor calibrated with a Munki. What made a huge difference was calibrating for the luminescence too. Not just color. This was part of my problem with dark prints, I had dark photos to start with.

The red problem was a layered deal. I found that I can not trust the print preview. It is wrong. I choose my paper profile in LR and turn off the color management in the print driver. I had the wrong combos of things and I trusted the preview after having many bad prints. I was going in circles for a while.

What I found is that the paper can be a big issue too. I made a profile with the Munki for Kirkland glossy photo paper. It always seems to print dark. But the color is right on. I turn up the brightness in LR until it looks almost wrong and that seems to be perfect. I need to try to profile that paper again with my new luminescence calibration. Maybe that will help?

What I was amazed at was when I downloaded profiles from some new paper. I tried Ilford Gold Fibre Silk. Wow. What a difference. It is very true to color and brightness right out of LR. Paper profiles are a huge part of the equation not only for color but for brightness.

Zerodog

One more thing I noticed with the 2880 is that I got better prints after I ran the Auto Head/Nozzle check.

Newsy

Re the Norman Koren patterns.... are you making sure you are sitting back a few feet? Try squinting. Don't view it from 2 or 3 feet away.

If you're calibrated to gamma 2.2, then the left hand pattern should appear smooth. The right hand one will look wavy but that is normal because it represents gamma 1.8.


As to your printing...

1. Find an image straight out of the camera that is correctly exposed judging from its' histogram. Print it as is. This will tell you something about if your printer is correctly set up. You may have to change the paper profile or change something in your printer applet.

2. If your monitor is too DARK, and you edit an image, adjusting levels by eye (probably increasing the image brightness), and you print this image... it will come out too BRIGHT if your printer setup is correct.

3. If your monitor is too BRIGHT, and you edit an image, adjusting levels by eye (probably lowering the image brightness), and you print this image... it will come out too DARK if your printer setup is correct.


But.... re monitor brightness.... 100 cd/m2 in a black room can be too bright; 100 cd/m2 in a sunlit room can be too dark. The ambient lighting of the room affects your perception of what is too dark and too light and thereby affects your perception of how much levels should be increased or decreased to make an image look right.


So.... something tells me you have a problem with your printer.

.

rwmj

Newsy wrote:

Re the Norman Koren patterns.... are you making sure you are sitting back a few feet? Try squinting. Don't view it from 2 or 3 feet away.

If you're calibrated to gamma 2.2, then the left hand pattern should appear smooth. The right hand one will look wavy but that is normal because it represents gamma 1.8.


As to your printing...

1. Find an image straight out of the camera that is correctly exposed judging from its' histogram. Print it as is. This will tell you something about if your printer is correctly set up. You may have to change the paper profile or change something in your printer applet.

2. If your monitor is too DARK, and you edit an image, adjusting levels by eye (probably increasing the image brightness), and you print this image... it will come out too BRIGHT if your printer setup is correct.

3. If your monitor is too BRIGHT, and you edit an image, adjusting levels by eye (probably lowering the image brightness), and you print this image... it will come out too DARK if your printer setup is correct.


But.... re monitor brightness.... 100 cd/m2 in a black room can be too bright; 100 cd/m2 in a sunlit room can be too dark. The ambient lighting of the room affects your perception of what is too dark and too light and thereby affects your perception of how much levels should be increased or decreased to make an image look right.


So.... something tells me you have a problem with your printer.

.

Thanks Newsy, Zerodog and Miguel for your feedback. Will have to work some more on this but it is a great help to have other input to help plan my actions.

Roy