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27 June 2002
Colour
part 2. includes sharpness
I
am staying with colour today. Quite a few of you have been concerned at
the "lack of punch" with UltraChrome inks. I have been doing
some more tests and will be up-loading more examples throughout the day.
I make my apology if this page takes a while to download, but in order
to maintain the detail I have not used as much JPEG compression as I would
normally.
Enjoy!
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The
original digital file - shot with a Nikon D1 |
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Epson
2100 Premium Glossy Photo Paper |
Canon
S900 Premium Glossy Photo Paper |
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Epson
Glossy Photo Weight |
Epson
Archival Matte paper |
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Epson
detail PGPP |
Canon
detail PGPP |
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Epson
detail of left door PGPP |
Canon
detail of left door PGPP |
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Epson
detail with Glossy Photo Weight |
Epson detail with Archival Matte |
On these pictures I have looked for both contrast and image sharpness.
The prints (7 x 5) were made on Epson Premium Glossy Photo Weight, Epson
Archival Matte and Premium Glossy Photo Weight papers. The resolution
was set to 2880dpi on the Glossy Media and 1440dpi on the Matte (maximum
for this media).
The
Epson 2100 prints in hand look the most visually pleasing, although there
is a slight bias towards magenta. The Canon print has a lot more contrast
which caused the shadows in the arches to block up. The Canon print is
cooler in appearance but does have punch. Looking at the very high magnification
shots, you can see that both have a slight banding. Do you prefer your
banding horizontal or vertical? I must stress that this is a very high
magnification and you would not see this under normal viewing conditions.
Sharpness wise, the dye ink on the Canon seems to have the edge, look
at the links on the chain. Although the Epson shadow detail is very good,
look at the detail on the brown door and on the step.
Looking
at the prints made with Epson Glossy Photo Weight (recommended paper),
the Epson gains the contrast and sharpness in the image. The paper stock
you use, regardless of printer, has a lot to do with both colour rendition
and image sharpness. From my tests I can clearly see that the Epson 2100
printer prefers the GPW as opposed to PGPP.
Photo-i
invitation
I
invited some photographers to submit an example of their work which I
would print out on the Epson 2100. Here are their pictures together with
my comments. All prints were made using Glossy Photo Weight at 2880dpi.
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Bee
on flowers by BusyBee |
Epson
print - hover mouse over picture |
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Flamingo
by DavidK |
Epson
print - hover mouse over picture |
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Mountain
House by Ulysses |
Epson
print - hover mouse over picture |
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Aaron
by DavidK |
Epson
print - hover mouse over picture |
BusyBee's
picture
Purples
are not the easiest colours to reproduce, but the print is lively without
being garish. The detail on the bee is very good. Looking at the picture
on my desk, it's as near to a photograph as I have seen from any inkjet
printer.
DavidK's
Flamingo
The
print on my desk looks very 3D, the Flamingo stands out well from the
green. Perhaps the green is a bit too lively, but the bird's feathers
are well rendered and hold all their detail.
Ulysses
Mountain House
This
shot has a lot of subtle tones, as well as detail in the shady window
areas. The print has preserved all of the detail and the delicacy of the
blue sky.
Aaron,
by DavidK
The
red raincoat on the print is vibrant, the blue paint on Aaron's hand is
excellent. Skin tones are warm and natural looking (but not Aaron's hands).
The
Epson Stylus Photo 2100 has given a good account of itself, the prints
I have in front of me are considerably better than my scans. The pictures
on Glossy Photo Weight Paper look, and feel, like traditional wet chemistry
prints. The Archival Matte pictures look a bit flat, although the monochrome
images were excellent. I'm sure that with the Matte black ink cartridge
fitted, the Archival Matte pictures will gain that extra depth (Matte
Black was not available for this test).
Next,
I will look at the print drivers and software bundled with the printer.
I will also test the Firewire, USB and Parallel connections.
www.photo-i.co.uk |
