Stylus Pro 4800 Resolution/File Size Question

[Scott Watts]

I just got an Epson Stylus Pro 4800 Professional edition at work. It started giving me problems on the very first print, and the tech rep says they have never heard of this problem.

If I try to print an 8x10 at any resolution higher than 180dpi (1800x1440), the printer will only print the top half of the image, skip most of the lower half (how much it skips depends upon the selected resolution), then print only a small strip across the bottom of the print. It does even worse if you try making a larger print. The best I've been able to do is a 21x16.4 @85dpi (1785x1394). Both of these are far smaller files than the original files they were derived from 7.42MB vs 20.6MB for the 8x10, and 14.2MB vs 160.7MB for the 21x16.4.

The only thing I can figure out is that maybe the printer hits a wall at 1440, as it's max resolution is 2880x1440. However, that doesn't explain why it wont go to 1440 on the larger print (granted, that wouldn't increase the resolution significantly over 1394).

Surely this printer is capable of doing better than that. Is there something wrong with my new printer or it's software? Can someone shed some light on this subject? I'm attaching a shot of a bad print to illustrate the problem.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/thundercat1984/album/576460762389824885/photo/294928804233856669/0

Thanks,
Scott

[Bruce Watson]

Sounds like you are confusing the file's output resolution (in pixels per inch, or ppi) with the printer's resolution (in dots per inch, or dpi). These are two separate issues.

Try sending the printer a file sized to 8x10 inches at 360ppi. Tell the driver to print at 1440dpi. To really simplify it, what you are doing is letting the printer use 4 ink drops to make a pixel (1440/360=4). This allows the printer to use the various ink channels to not only blend ink colors to get the pixel's color right, but also to transition between pixels and improve overall tonality and tonal transitions.

Try it and see what you get.

[Ted Harris]

It also sounds like you might not be setting the paper size properly

[Peter von Gaza]

Sounds to me like you are low on ram. Are you using Photoshop? If so make sure that you have the memory usage in the preferences set to 100 percent. Photoshop sets this to 50 percent in setup.

Also, if you are getting only partial prints then make sure you check "Print Preview" in the Epson print dialog. That way if the preview comes up with a portion missing then you know it is software related and almost definitely memory. You can then cancel the process saving paper and ink. If the preview comes up full and you get partial results on your print then your stuck talking to epson (Good luck!).

But I bet your problem is memory. Start with a clean system (reboot) and open no other programs.

Peter (uses Epson Stylus Pro 4000)

[false_Aesthetic]

I'll second Ted's thought.

You also might want to check the margins. I found that if you make custom paper sizes w/out the "proper" margin, you get printing errors similar to what you're experiencing

[Scott Watts]

Thanks to everyone who responded.
Bruce,
If, while working in Photoshop (CS), I use the Image Size dialog box to resize an 8x10 to 360 pixels per inch, I get an image that is 3600 pixels wide by 2880 pixels high. This chokes this particular printer...and it shouldn't. I also have a 10 year old Kodak 8650 dye sub printer, a $270 HITI 4x6 dye sub printer, and a lowly HP Deskjet 5650 here at work, as well as well as a cheap Epson 785EPX and an even cheaper HP at home. Any of these printers will easily handle nearly any size file at almost any resolution that I throw at them. If the resolution of the file is too high, those printers will automatically convert the file to the printer's maximum resolution, and simply print the image (I just sent a 77.2MB 750 pixel per inch 4x6 (3000x4500) image to my HITI printer to confirm that statement).That's the way printers should work. I should't have to break out a calculator in order to determine the maximum resolution an image can be in order for my shiney new $2500 Epson superwhizbang printer to be able to print it. I certainly shouldn't have to resign myself to printing a 16x20 @ a paultry 85 pixels per inch. I cant even comprehend that the Epson engineers would design a printer to be so laborious. There must be a software glitch somewhere.

Ted and false Asthetic,
The paper size is correctly set, as is the paper location and margins.

Peter,
Excellent suggestion about using print preview. I have used the print with preview option for years, for the very reasons you mention. My system has 4GB of RAM and I do have the Memory usage set to 100%. However, Photoshop will only allow me to use a maximum of 1773MB of the RAM.

[Bruce Watson]

I certainly shouldn't have to resign myself to printing a 16x20 @ a paultry 85 pixels per inch. I cant even comprehend that the Epson engineers would design a printer to be so laborious. There must be a software glitch somewhere.

Or hardware. How are you communicating with the printer? USB? The reason I ask is I borrowed a 2200 from my brother and hooked it up using the Epson supplied cables. Performance was awful. Turns out that the cable Epson provided did a USB to Parallel conversion so was nothing more than a 9600 baud parallel printer cable. Oy. I replaced this with a real USB cable and performance became "normal." Some time later (I steal his printer when he's out of town sometimes - I keep him in ink so he's happy ;) I started getting weird behavior -- it would print most of the image then just end. Replaced the old cable with a new one and problem solved.

So I'm wondering if it's not a cable/connector problem or other hardware problem. Just something easy to check...

[Ben Hopson]

Scott, the 4800 should not be "choking" at all. Do you print using a RIP? If so, is the file type you are sending the printer compatible? Have you tried printing a different image? I use Image Print with my Epson's and have on occasion had a print come out with only a narrow band printed at the top. It is usually my error that causes the failed print and it can be a pain to get everything cleared so that the printer works properly again. It does sound like something is not right with the printer driver.

[Jack Flesher]

Scott:

By your memory allocation message, I assume you are using a PC? If so, I can assure you there is a problem with either your print dialog set up, software install or hardware. I would uninstall the printer, re-boot and reinstall all software, then try it again. Something got whacked.

Also, just to clarify what Bruce said, you are trying to print an 8x10 at 360 PPI, and sending it to the printer to print out at 1440 DPI?

I routinely sent (I no longer own the 4800 but have a 7800 and 3800) mine 16x24's @ 360 PPI and it printed them directly from CS or Q-Image at 1440 or 2880 DPI without a hitch.

[Ted Harris]

Scott,

If you haven't already contacted Epson tech spport do so immediately. Their pro products tech support is superb. They will, generally, either make sure you are up and running or send a service tech or new printer to you the next day .... assuming you are under warranty

[Bruce Watson]

My system has 4GB of RAM and I do have the Memory usage set to 100%. However, Photoshop will only allow me to use a maximum of 1773MB of the RAM.

I seem to remember reading somewhere a while ago that Photoshop doesn't like to be given 100% even when you have memory to spare. It shouldn't matter, but try dropping it to, say, 70% and restart Photoshop. Weirder things have been known to happen.

Also, if this is a PC, make sure you have sufficient free space on the drive that the OS spools to (typically C:\WINNT\system32\spool\PRINTERS or some variant, depending on version of windows). Also, make sure that space is fully defragmented.

[Scott Watts]

Thank you to everyone who replied. After many conversations with Epson tech support, I have found my problem, and thankfully, it's not the printer :). It turns out that there is some type of corruption in the operating system (Windows 2000). I loaded the print drivers onto a notebook which has XP Pro, and the printer worked like a champ. Since this is my Digital Imaging system at work, I have to let our IT people handle the problem. They are in the midst of upgrading all OSs to XP Pro anyways, so I'll just have them do mine ahead of schedule.

Thanks again everyone.

Scott