Epson 3880 and PhotoShop Printing Issue

[Michael Graves]

Clearly, I'm missing something critical in the chain. I've scanned an 8x10 negative and worked it up to my satisfaction in Photoshop. I resized the image to 16x20 and set the paper for 17x22. In advanced settings, I've chosen B&W Mode with a cool tone. The print is beyond my expectations, save for one tiny detail. It prints out at 12x15" in the corner of the 17x22 sheet. It's a gorgeous 12x15 (by my somewhat limited standards), but it isn't what I asked for and it isn't what the Print Preview says I should be getting. It is precisely 75% of the image size I configured. Can somebody tell me what I screwed up?

[rjphil]

If the 3880 printing screen is like the 7900, be sure that the "center image" box is checked, and the print size is set to 100%. This is a separate setting from the paper size selection box in the "print settings " screen.

[Michael Graves]

Thanks, RJ. I will look at that when I get home tonight. That sounds like a plausible explanation.

[Frank Petronio]

There are so many variations of the print drivers and Photoshop versions out there, and they like to move things around... on my Epson R3000 I have that "center image" check box on the main Photoshop print screen, but I also have to open the "Print Settings" box on the same screen and set the paper size and other parameters.

You can experiment with smaller paper and image sizes to save money and time.

[Michael Graves]

Thanks, Frank. I have that same check box, and it is indeed checked. That bonehead mistake came on my first 13x19 when the image was 11x16, but starting about 1/16" of an inch away from the lower left-hand corner. This one is selected for center, but not printing there. The print settings were all triple-checked after the first incorrectly sized print came out. I didn't know about the Print Screen setting, so I still have to check that when I get home. That may be the culprit. That, along with giving an idiot an expensive toy to play with.

[welly]

Double check the paper size matches the size of your image. Ie. canvas size in Photoshop matches the size of the paper that is set in your printer settings. An obvious one but sometimes easy to miss.

[Michael Graves]

Thanks, Welly. I have missed that one in the past, but I checked this time. They match.

[Michael Graves]

Still no success. I've checked all the settings and made screen shots. I hope they're legible here. But the print size and the canvas size are both 16x20 (although I thought the canvas size was supposed to be the 17x22 paper size...). Everything appears to be at 100% and the preview screen looks right. When I do a Print with Preview, the preview looks right. Then when I print, I get a 12x15 print in the lower corner of the 17x22 page. See the attached collection of screen shots.

[Peter Mounier]

Michael
Let me start out by saying I don't have a 3880, but I have had a couple Epsons.
Did you set the margins for the paper at 1/2" on the top and bottom, and 1" on the sides?
Why are you printing your horizontal image in portrait mode? Could you have confused the top and bottom with the sides in regard to the margins, since you've oriented like that?

Hope that helps, that's all I've got.

Peter

[Michael Graves]

Michael
Let me start out by saying I don't have a 3880, but I have had a couple Epsons.
Did you set the margins for the paper at 1/2" on the top and bottom, and 1" on the sides?
Why are you printing your horizontal image in portrait mode? Could you have confused the top and bottom with the sides in regard to the margins, since you've oriented like that?

Hope that helps, that's all I've got.

Peter

I'm not printing in portrait. If you look closer, the setting is for landscape with the top of the image pointed to the left side. I didn't set margins because it is set to print the 16x20" image centered on the 17x22 sheet.

[cowanw]

Are you using windows?
Opening up printers through the control pane, I get to "Epson stylus 3880 printing Preferences" there is a orientation settting. Is this set to landscape (if appropriate)

[Michael Graves]

Are you using windows?

OSX. It is set to landscape. And the prints are coming out in the proper orientation. It isn't the direction of print that is the issue. It's that the image is sized to 16x20 but printing at 12x15. It doesn't make sense. And I can't make it NOT do it. If I resize the same image DOWN to 12x15 and print it on 13x19 paper, it prints perfectly. Looks, feels, smells and tastes EXACTLY like the 12x15 print on 17x22 that was supposed to be 16x20.

[Brian Ellis]

I've had four Epson printers, never had a problem like this. But if I did, and after checking everything you've checked without finding a solution, I'd probably just call Epson. But out of curiosity, before doing that I'd do two things. First, instead of telling the printer to center the image, I'd try manually setting the borders for a 16x20 print on 17x22 paper myself rather than just telling the printer to center the image to see if the same thing happens. I'd also download QTR (www.harrington.com) using its image and paper size settings to see whether it gave the same problem. I'm not sure exactly what you'd learn from doing either of these things but they're easy to do and might help narrow the problem down to you, your printer mechanics, or your settings (though the settings look right to me, FWIW).

As an aside, while I haven't used Advanced B&W much, based on the few times I did use it, and more importantly on comments from people who know much more about printing than I do, I think you'll get better results from QTR than Advanced B&W apart from this particular problem.

[Frank Petronio]

Another recommendation for QTR, although it is a pain to install and figure out the first time but it does work flawlessly once you get it set.

The centering problem - does this happen at other, smaller print sizes? I'd experiment with 5x7s or 8x10s as it should be consistently wrong with everything and there is no point wasting ink and paper.

[RPNugent]

I just used my 3880 to try and print a 16x20 on 17x22 paper to see what would happen. I used Exhibition Fiber as it was what I had handy, but otherwise used virtually all of your settings. The only difference was not setting Super 2880. A perfectly sized 16x20 on 17x22 just exited the printer. I would consider calling Epson to see if they have a clue since at least I can't duplicate your problem on the same printer.

[Michael Graves]

Another recommendation for QTR, although it is a pain to install and figure out the first time but it does work flawlessly once you get it set.

The centering problem - does this happen at other, smaller print sizes? I'd experiment with 5x7s or 8x10s as it should be consistently wrong with everything and there is no point wasting ink and paper.


So far, it's only happened with this image. Tonight I'm going to go with a different negative and start from scratch just to see what happens. There could be some metadata stuck in the file that is snafu'ing the whole process.

[Michael Graves]

I have a technical explanation for the problem.


The file is cursed. Or perhaps haunted.

I restarted my MAC, loaded PS and a whole new image, that I tweaked a little, spotted and printed to 16x20. Perfectly sized. (Not perfectly printed...it looked darker than I expected, but I'll fix that.)

So, thinking it was resolved by restarting the machine (I was confusing it with a Windows machine, sorry...) I loaded the other file, checked, rechecked and re-rechecked the settings and printed it.

And got a 12x15 image in the corner of the paper. I now have four very nice copies of that image in 12x15. Anyone want to swap for one of their images? I have a surplus now.

[rjphil]

Zombies ?

[Jim Andrada]

Sacrifice a goat???

[welly]

Sacrifice a virgin????

[Frank Petronio]

Try some visiting tog's laptop perhaps?

Sacrificing things is expensive, just cut off a pinkie.

[SergeiR]

So virgin goat will work then..

[neil poulsen]

Here are a couple of thoughts? I have PS4 and a 3880.

There are two places to set the printer on PS4 in the PS4 Print page: At the top under printer and under Page Setup.

Also two places to set scale: Under Page Setup and on the main PS4 Print page.

Going into the 3880 printer driver dialogue under Paper Handling is a third place to set up the "Destination" paper size and also a third place to set the scale.

Is it possible that a wrong paper size (or scale?) has been set in the printer menus themselves?

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Printer driver conflict? On an earlier version of OSX, I had to find a utility to unload several gigs worth of Apple-preloaded drivers for common Epson printers including mine, to get rid of a strange conflict. If all else fails, might be worth a shot...

[Peter Mounier]

I asked earlier why you were printing the image in portrait mode, and you responded that you weren't. Ok, I see that the image is landscape, but apparently, you're putting the paper in the printer vertically (portrait mode). That's where setting the margins can get confusing and cause the printer to drastically mis-align the print. I would try setting the margins manually, as has been suggested, and put the paper in the printer horizontally rather than vertically. Another advantage to putting the paper in horizontally when ever possible is because it may add to the life of your printer by not having the carriage reverse direction and move across the printer as many times. It's all about moving parts. The manual for my HpZ3100 suggests as much for that reason.

Peter

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[Michael Graves]

That's a good suggestion. I appreciate that, as I had not thought of it. Looks like tonight I'll print a fifth copy of that image!

[Jan Pedersen]

Good suggestion indeed but how do you put a sheet of 17x22 in a 3880 in horizontal mode :D

[Peter Mounier]

Oops. I didn't think of that. I have 44" printer which I'll blame for my short sightedness.

Peter

[Brian Ellis]

I asked earlier why you were printing the image in portrait mode, and you responded that you weren't. Ok, I see that the image is landscape, but apparently, you're putting the paper in the printer vertically (portrait mode). That's where setting the margins can get confusing and cause the printer to drastically mis-align the print. I would try setting the margins manually, as has been suggested, and put the paper in the printer horizontally rather than vertically. Another advantage to putting the paper in horizontally when ever possible is because it may add to the life of your printer by not having the carriage reverse direction and move across the printer as many times. It's all about moving parts. The manual for my HpZ3100 suggests as much for that reason.

Peter

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I don't mean to get into an argument or criticize the suggestion about putting the paper in horizontally or anything like that. But I've been printing with Epson printers for probably 10-12 years, starting with the Epson 1160. I've never put the paper in the printer any way but vertically whether the orientation of the image was horizontal or vertical. I thought the purpose of having the "portrait" and "landscape" options under the Page Layout tab (on my 3800) was to tell the printer how to print the image without having to change the paper orientation itself.

If that solves Michael's problem, and if he doesn't mind being limited to using paper that's no longer than 17" in the longest dimension, then I guess it's a good suggestion. But it isn't something he should really have to do to get a print that's the size he wants and that's centered on the paper.

[Michael Graves]

If that solves Michael's problem....

It didn't. And I'm really freaking out over this one file. If I hadn't put so much time into spotting, contrast control and so forth, I'd start over from scratch. But positioning the paper horizontally and printing accordingly gave me a perfect 12x15 in the lower corner of the 17x22 sheet. I have now done two other images scanned from 8x10 negatives and both will graciously fill the page the way I tell them to. BUT THIS ONE IMAGE IS DRIVING ME NUTS!!!!!


which is admittedly a very short drive.....

[Jan Pedersen]

Michael, If interested you could put the file on a memory stick and mail it to someone with a 3880 to see if it is the file or your printer that is the problem.
I volunter if you don't find anyone closer to your location.

[Brian Ellis]

It didn't. And I'm really freaking out over this one file. If I hadn't put so much time into spotting, contrast control and so forth, I'd start over from scratch. But positioning the paper horizontally and printing accordingly gave me a perfect 12x15 in the lower corner of the 17x22 sheet. I have now done two other images scanned from 8x10 negatives and both will graciously fill the page the way I tell them to. BUT THIS ONE IMAGE IS DRIVING ME NUTS!!!!!


It's probably time to call Epson. I've never had a problem this technical but the few times I've called they've been pretty helpful.

[Michael Graves]

Michael, If interested you could put the file on a memory stick and mail it to someone with a 3880 to see if it is the file or your printer that is the problem.
I volunter if you don't find anyone closer to your location.

That is a very good idea. But I'm going to start with a call to Epson to see if they can make sense out of this. I appreciate everyone's suggestions. For what it's worth, this one file is the only one that has given me grief. I've had a few paper feed errors, but that's most likely the result of a serious case of CDS (Coordination Deficiency Syndrome).

[sanking]

Still no success. I've checked all the settings and made screen shots. I hope they're legible here. But the print size and the canvas size are both 16x20 (although I thought the canvas size was supposed to be the 17x22 paper size...). Everything appears to be at 100% and the preview screen looks right. When I do a Print with Preview, the preview looks right. Then when I print, I get a 12x15 print in the lower corner of the 17x22 page. See the attached collection of screen shots.


BTW, how are you feeding the paper? In the print dialog boxes you appear to have the 17X22 paper set to Manual Rear Feed. If you are running it through the top sheet feeder this might cause the print to default to another size.

When you choose US C 17 X 22 you should see another menu to the right that allows you to choose how the paper is fed.

Sandy

[Jim Andrada]

I've run into strangenesses with my 4880 from time to time. Can't really comment on the 3880. I did wonder if you had tried printing a different file and then without changing any parameter just did a print of this file. I've had strange issues with sometimes getting the paper size and print size set incompatibly or scaling or some issue between PS and the print driver, but this sounds really odd. Hope you get it figured out.

[Michael Graves]

Sandy, according to the instruction sheet that came with the paper, I am supposed to use the rear feeder with it. Being new to digital printing, I haven't tried using the sheet feeder. The 8.5x11 paper says it can go in either the rear or the sheet feeder, and I've tried both. And with my current driver settings, I get sub-menus for both 13x19 and 17x22. Epson was quite friendly and cooperative, but about as useful as tits on a boar. He was as baffled as me. Now I AM going to start the image from scratch and see what happens. I think something got buried in the file header that is messing with things.

[Larry Gebhardt]

I just had the same type of issue. I was printing for the first time after installing Mountain Lion. I had also reinstalled the Epson software.

I found a setting in the Paper Handling section for scaling the image which was checked. I un checked it and the second image is coming out of the printer the correct size. So give that a try.

[Michael Graves]

I just had the same type of issue. I was printing for the first time after installing Mountain Lion. I had also reinstalled the Epson software.

I found a setting in the Paper Handling section for scaling the image which was checked. I un checked it and the second image is coming out of the printer the correct size. So give that a try.

Here is what it looks like. Do you see anything amiss?

[Larry Gebhardt]

That doesn't look wrong, but the dialog is completely different from mine. What version of OS-X, PS, and the printer driver are you running?

Here's what my screen from Mountain Lion, PS CS6, and the just downloaded Epson Driver looks like:

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I should also add that my problem happened in LightRoom, not Photoshop. But the preview showed the full sized image and the only change I made was to turn the scale option off, which fixed the issue. Maybe try turning it on, saving, and then set it back.