New Printer - N00b user

cjmchch

I'm looking for some guidance here please:

I have never had a color printer before so have always had my work printed by a friend who would sort the image out for me. He's since moved and I have managed to get a very good deal on an Epson R2880 and am now in the process of setting it up.

As per Epson Manual I have set it up as 'North American Prepress 2' in the Color Settings of PS CS5

So, 1st question: for printing photographic work should I have the intent set to 'Relative Colormetric' or 'Perceptul'?

2nd question: If I open a photo that is not using the selected color profile and 'use the Embedded Profile' do I need to convert the finished product prior to printing into 'Adobe RGB' or the profile matching the 'Epson/Paper' or just leave it alone.

I understand that once I have the print interface up I select the option to have Photoshop maage the color and also to turn off the Color Handling option by the printer.

I have tested one color print that came out slightly darker than it was on screen (about 10% darker). I purchased a matte heavy paper to test with.

Any other tips, suggestions? Before I go wasting ink and paper.

Info:

Windows 7 64Bit - Calibrated Monitor using Eye One
CS5
Epson R2880 (latest Windows 7 64 bit drivers)
Paper: Epson Matte Paper - Heavyweight
Selected black printer cartridge is matte(options of matte or gloss)

Thanks in advance

David_S85

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