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Post by scarecrow on Jan 19, 2013 11:12:23 GMT -9
Until recently I worked at a games company and they had swanky (and very expensive) laser printers. As long as we didn't abuse it, they were happy to turn a blind eye to a certain ammount of personal use. This was terrific for paper minis and models, as you can imagine.
However, having now left there, I'm forced to use my desktop inkjet printer and everything I print looks like it's had water spilled over it. The blacks are slate grey, everything has a slight cyan tint to it and any fine linework is lost by the copious bleeding (even at 300dpi) and, of course, being ink jet, the whole thing comes out crinkled because the ink makes the paper damp.
The first two, it's fair to say are probably low ink problems and the crinkly effect does flatten itself out given a few minutes to dry, however the bleeding is a pain in the neck.
Does anyone have tips for getting the best from what are technically photo quality printers?
What sort of paper do you recommend? (I believe high quality papers bleed far less), what other tips do you have for printing images as clear and crisp as you see on the screen?
Cheers,
Crow
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Post by Dagger on Jan 19, 2013 11:51:43 GMT -9
Three words...
Matte Photo Paper
Disclaimer: I haven't tried it myself, but others swear by it for print quality.
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jan 19, 2013 12:51:29 GMT -9
I've done a LOT of printing on cheap-o 110lb cardstock, and I've done a LITTLE printing with matte photo paper, and here's my honest opinions...
The cheap-o cardstock I buy (Staples brand) is about $15 for 250 sheets, I think. The colors bleed quite a bit, and my printer tends to print very dark to begin with, so default settings are quite a mess. By changing the print settings to print much lighter, the printouts were adequate for my needs, but in photographs, it's pretty obvious they are still muddy and lack contrast. Still, the prints come out quickly and cheaply.
The matte photo paper I've tried (again, Staples brand) let's me print photo quality prints. The colors come out GREAT, though again I find lightening up the prints suits my tastes better. There's no bleeding, so the details are very crisp. Were I paying full price, it's about 5x more expensive than the cardstock. Staples has had some rebates to make the paper about 3x LESS expensive, so my family pitched in and helped me amass a 1000 sheet pile of photo paper, and hopefully all the rebates will come in...
I'll likely do a mix of the two types of papers, but my preference from here on out will be matte photo paper.
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Post by bravesirkevin on Jan 19, 2013 12:57:03 GMT -9
I use both a laser printer and a high-end ink-jet printer depending on which suits my needs. The laser printer is always going to be a lot cleaner, because it has crisp dots of toner (which are essentially just tiny beads of plastic that get melted on to the surface of the paper), but the ink-jet printer is a lot better for papercraft because all those tiny beads of melted plastic tend to rub off of a laser print as soon as you start folding the card, so I've always found the muddiness of an ink-jet print to be a necessary evil.
Typically, I use a local equivalent of smooth bristol board, so it's a plain uncoated matte paper and I get fairly decent results out of it. Definitely better than I would out of plain paper. It's also fairly thick at 200gsm, so there's absolutely none of that warpage or crinkling.
If I want something to look really good, I go straight for either a gloss or a matte photo paper, as that has a surface that has been treated with a special resin that reacts with the ink jet ink, and gives perfect vibrant colours with minimal bleed. That does have it's own problems however, as the photo papers are typically made by laminating a few layers of different paper types together. When you, cut, score and fold it, there's a tendency for the outer layer to peel away from the core. The core layer is also highly absorbant, so when you edge the piece, the ink from your marker bleeds more heavily than usual. It's also pretty costly.
You're going to have different sorts of trouble whichever way you go. Personally I find the bristol board, ink-jet route to be the most reliable for 90% of what I do. If you do take that route though, don't use the cardstock option in the paper type menu. You get better results if you tell the printer it's using plain paper, even though it isn't.
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Post by Sirrob01 on Jan 19, 2013 14:25:49 GMT -9
Three words... Matte Photo Paper Disclaimer: I haven't tried it myself, but others swear by it for print quality. I can attest to the above all my stuff is 190 to 220 gsm matt photo paper I buy double sided so if I get a bad print I can flip the paper and reprint, I find I get about 1 in 10 pages as a bad print (dolp of ink, color runs out, or some other random issue) and the double sided doesn't cost noticeably more. I'm using the cheap-o matt 190-220gsm off ebay usually labeled any-colour or some other random brand name, downside it seems harsher on cutting blades. Crinkly paper sounds like your paper settings are off inside the printer management check the paper settings there and adjust to something close eg Thick Matte, Glossy, Sticker etc. Good quality ink, this is less about quality on print and more on longevity i used some off brand ink once and everything I printed lost yellow after 6months, including my 3d-ified telescope I was pretty unhappy. I stick with the more expensive inks from a reputable supplier now ie no ebay ink. Not sure which inkjet your running but a lot of the 3 + 1 colour printers which claim to do photo quality will find it difficult to get to true photo quality, for most paper stuff its anon-issue but for some of the ncie stuff wwg/dave etc put out you'll notice ona side by side comparison. Cyan casts, not running an epson by chance? This appears to be an issue in the printers colour management, click under preferences>>advance (or something similar) and hunt around for colour mode or something similar varies by make/model. The manufacturers usually put there own color modes in which I've noticed don't really reflect true RGB. If you can try to change the color mode to RGB best I could do was set to Adobe RGB. If that doesn't resolve the problem completely you might have a separate cyan slider you can play around with. Turn off high speed printing or fast printing or express printing whatever it's called if its on. It'll slow printing down but increase quality. Likewise I find my prints better/sharper with edge smoothing off although again might be called something different. Hope the above helps some, Goodluck
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Post by okumarts on Jan 19, 2013 14:35:41 GMT -9
I use an inkjet. Particularly an HP Photosmart 8450. I haven't had much issues with printing. I think it's brilliant really. I print on card stock of all types and weights. I can never seem to buy the same cardstock from purchase to purchase.
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Post by emergencyoverride on Jan 19, 2013 18:12:04 GMT -9
Matte photo paper rules. It makes the prints less muddy and they really pop. I used it exclusively before getting my color laser, and I still use now. I had to step up to laser as the bleeding and wet paper from inkjet was killing me.
The photo paper will help loads. Look online for an inexpensive smaller pack and try it out. You won't be disapointed. ;D Also, welcome back to the forums!! I played a game of Canary Wharf with your figures just the other day.
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Post by scarecrow on Jan 20, 2013 8:54:44 GMT -9
Thanks for all the advice, guys. That's great. I'll grab myself some Matt Photo Paper and see how it works out. I'll be sure to post an update here.
Crow
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