Walker,
I have seen some discussions about paper settings when printing the negatives on Pictorico Ultra…
Could I ask you which are the paper settings that you normally use at Cone Editions for Epson 9900 printers?
I normally select Heavy Polyester paper and leave the standard options… but I wonder whether the quality of the negative might improve when selecting different settings for platen gap, etc…
Thanks again,
Cheers,
Rafael
I choose premium gloss 170, set the platen to narrow, set the paper feed speed to -10, and thickness test to the smallest number.
best,
Walker
Hi Walker,
Thanks for the answers… I will ask you a couple of clarifications thought:
-I have been messing around with my Epson 9900, and I could not find the -10 settings for Paper Feed Adjust… all I can select is -0.10% ( I have a range of options from -0.70% to +0.70%)…
-For the Thickness test, do you recommend choosing the minimum thickness value (1 x 0.1 mm) no matter which is the result of the thickness printed pattern, or following the instructions of the printer manual, that is, choosing the thickness value where the patter is best aligned?
For the drying time, I suppose you leave it with no delay, right?
What about paper suction, paper tension and drying time- standard?
For what I have read on some other posts on this forum, the parameters that can have an impact on quality of the negs are basically platen gap and thickness (noise) right?. Any other recommendation when choosing the paper type?
Thanks again Walker,
Rafael
Dear Rafael. You are in the right area for experimentation and optimization.
As discussed on other threads on this forum, I generally set the suction to -1. Anything less can make the film jam.
Drying time can be increased but note that you must set it to 5seconds for anything to actually be delayed. This is a bug within the Epson firmware that has not been fixed.
Platen Gap, Thickness, Paper feed speed, drying time, suction, all of these effect image quality. Test it on your printer and change settings and observe. This is the best way to optimize it.
Hi Walker and all members of the forum, I hope you are doing all right and escaping the heat of the summer in your labs…
I come back with some questions related to paper settings when printing negatives with piezoDN and using a x900 machine…following this thread of a few months ago. I had to stop for a while any tests or printing, but now it is time to focus on Pt printing…
I have recently been talking with Keith about the incidence of paper settings on the printing when using QTR and Print Tool. When using a 3800 machine for instance, the only thing you can change on the printer panel is the Platen Gap… all other settings can only be adjusted through the Epson Driver. As QTR and Print Tool overrides the Epson driver, that means the only thing you can adjust - set up when printing from a 3800 is the platen gap. Is this correct or are we missing something?
Now, I am not using a 3800, but a 9900 printer, and this printer allows you to set up the paper settings on the printer panel. On the printer, you can choose a “canned” paper set up… So far I have used the “others> heavy weight polyester” since I considered it to be the closest thing to Pictorico paper?
Otherwise, one can also choose a custom paper, and choose the paper type (you recommended photo gloss 170), and all other kinds of parameters, like platen gap, thickness pattern, paper feed, etc.
My questions (and those for other users of x900 machines):
Do ALL these paper settings that can be set up through a custom paper influence the quality of the negatives when using PiezoDN system, or are they override by QTR?
If they do have an influence, could we assume that the optimum parameters for all users of the same printer (9900), same inks and same substrate (Pictorico Ultra) are universal? What do you use on your 9900 printer at Cone Editions for instance?
Based on your answers on this thread, I concluded that you recommended to select:
Paper type: I suppose I have to choose Photo Paper Glossy 170?
Platen gap: Narrow
Thickness: I can not choose any value… I can print a thickness pattern… what does this mean? Do I need to print that on actual pictorico paper? I have read some people having problems when printing with pictorico to align heads etc… since the printer is not able to read anything on transparent paper, and therefore glossy photo paper has to be used instead… ?
Paper feed adjust: I can print a pattern, or choose a value with a range of -0.70 % to +0.70 % … ? Do we need to print a pattern on Pictorico paper? or choose a certain value? How can we test this in order to choose or is it irrelevant?
Drying time: I can choose a number of seconds from 0 to 10 seconds… what to choose?
Paper suction: I can choose Standard, or -1 up to -4… ?
Sorry to bother again, but I suppose that if these parameters influence the quality of the printed negatives, then they are really important! Maybe a little chapter on the PiezoDN manual about this might be useful, I have heard some other users wondering the same thing as it can be a bit confusing…
Thanks very much in advance to you and any other forum member who has gone through these divagations with a x900 printer.
Cheers! 
Rafael
Dear Rafael. There is a lot to un-pack here.
In short. We have observed different requirements between x900s.
In general we do the following for custom paper:
Gloss 170
Thickness Pattern set to 1
Platen Gap Narrow or Normal
Paper Feed Speed (around -.10)
Suction: -1
best,
Walker
Thanks Walker for the information.
I will use these parameters as starting points. Do you recommend me and other users to test all these parameters?
When testing, which are the basis for experimentation and conclusion? Just changing values and reprinting a certain kind of target? Analyzing the results by using a magnifying glass?
Me and many other users of PiezoDN have wondered at which point all these parameters have an impact on the quality of the negatives we are printed, and by means of which kind of procedure we can test and tailor made their values to our machines.
I fear we might spend many hours calibrating and linearizing our negatives, only to print them through under-optimum printing settings and therefore ruining the possibility of obtaining negatives as good as they can get. I suppose all this will become even more important when using your soon-to-arrive new drivers that allow printing in even higher resolutions, right?
By the way, any news about when you expect to release the new version of PiezoDN that will allow higher resolution printing for small printers? Will these higher resolutions be also available when printing small formats on 9900 printers?
Thanks again and regards,
Rafael
Generally follow your eye when it comes to testing. If your negs are good NOW than they are good. If you see micro-lines, then change the feed speed, etc.
Driver is a few months out at least but things could change for the better.
best,
Walker