Printer drivers don’t really "resample" in the sense that you would resample in an imaging program.
As always, image ppi and printer "dpi" are quite separate concepts.
The 360/720/1440, simply explained, tells the printer how many dots of ink to lay down over a given area to render the number of pixels contained in the image. In other words, a single image pixel will be composed of more ink dots at 720 than at 360, making that pixel better quality.
Most folks say that the 1440 setting is seldom worth it, as print time (and ink usage) increase with minimal or no increase in quality to the naked eye.
Your premise of 300ppi at actual output size is good for most any inkjet printing. Many Epson folks claim that there’s no real increase in quality after 220. Some say that the 360 is the true sweet spot. You’d have to do your own tests to confirm that one way or the other (and I suppose it could vary depending on the exact model, depending on number of ink carts it uses and whatever).
Mac
Carl, Just wondering why you would choose the automatic setting. It’s a great setting for printing word documents…but, when it comes to photos….I would suspect your 1270 is capable of much higher quality prints if the advanced settings are used. Have you tried them yet to see what kind of difference it would make ? When I first got my Epson I tried the automatic setting for a photo. It was ‘OK’. Going into the advanced settings made all the difference….enough to keep me away from the auto setting….when it comes to photos.
Oh and be sure to use ‘Epson’ brand photo papers. Most others will give unsatisfactory prints. Although another Epson User that I know uses Illford brand with great results.
Also, if you go into your program files and look into Epson Printers>Epson stylus photo help…you’ll find alot of information about your printer settings and it will give you a good idea on how to manage your printer for best performance.
Jodi & Mac – thanks! I discovered a note on Scantips that "Epson has always recommended 240ppi". Jodi, I didn’t know enough to try anything but auto. Help is not that clear, but I played with auto vs. advanced settings, & it seems to show that auto (slider on quality not speed) chooses 720dpi for all photo papers vs. 360dpi for plain paper, but that all other advanced settings stay same except "high speed" (bidirectional) is turned off for Glossy Film.
Now it dawns on me that 240ppi divides into 720dpi exactly, giving hope that Epson would draw each pixel with 9 printer dots (3×3) & not resample/change my pixels. So, when I can, I’m going to scale images for 240ppi without resampling and crop to 4.04" x 6.06" in PSx, then print at 100% (BTW, that size works great with perforated Epson 4×6 photo paper). Where I don’t want to crop so much I will try scaling to 360ppi without resampling and crop to 4×6, giving 4 printer dots per pixel (2×2). Have you tried these ideas or have an opinion?
Jodi, what advanced settings do you change? My choices are high quality halftoning, highspeed, finest detail. Also color controls with many sliders & gamma & auto/photorealistic/vivid settings, vs. photo enhanced with fewer settings, and no color adjust/sRGB/ICM. I can’t try all of these!
After I hear from you I will try some tests of your ideas and my "dot ideas" above, and let you know if I can tell a difference. Your note makes me think I will be able to – thanks again!
Carl
Carl, I’ll try and give you a starting point but this certainly isn’t where you should stop ( unless you love the results) I use the 785 exp and for me it just depends on which camera I’m using and the image content as well….so this is a basic starting point to get you off the ‘auto mode’ 🙂
Which Epson do you have ? I have all your listed settings except for the high quality halftoning. After doing a quick search for info I found that it enables lifelike image tones….so I’ll tell you to keep that on because it sounds good 😉 next step turn off high speed and finest detail ( that’s good for teXt ) set to 720 photo res. ( 1440 will give you better color but anything above that is not worth the waste of ink imo so stick with 720 for now til you get brave ) set gamma to 1.8 ( I tend to like 2.2 for more color saturation in some of my images but the pros insists we should use 1.8 so that’s what I’m telling you) and click print. Try that first and see what you get….let me know. As far as the halftoning you may want to try one print with it and one without it. Try and use premium glossy photo for best results. Others swear by the heavyweight matt and yes it looks great under glass but I find it to be an ink sucker.
P.S. I find my graphics look best using the ICM setting so keep that in mind as well.
We do have an expert here…’Brent’ who knows all there is to know about Epson printers….so hopefully if you need more help he’ll be around to include his fine words of wisdom.
Jodi,
Epson 1270. All the settings you mentioned are available, & I’ll start with yours. So many settings, so little time – great to start with someone’s experience instead of wandering (wondering) around on all. Thank you very much!
Carl
I have an Epson 890, when I use matte paper – heavyweight. I use as media type as well as area setting, the heavyweight choice. the result meet very good the monitor.
When I use the premium glossy photo paper, there is no printer setting (till now) that can help me to reach the same quality when using the matte paper. The matte paper is always reacher
in details and it is always like the monitor.
thanks
maria
