Professional print quality

MH
Posted By
Mike_Hutchings
Jul 5, 2007
Views
407
Replies
19
Status
Closed
I’m starting to do some detailed graphic design for small labels and stickers and after trying a few different printers not getting the greatest results. Is it possible to get very high quality results using an inkjet printer? I’ve been trying 500ppi for 2"x2" designs. Do I need a great printer for professional printing or is it never going to be as crisp as you can get from a printer?

I’m new at this so thanks for any thoughts.
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JR
John_R_Nielsen
Jul 5, 2007
You should be able to get excellent results at 300ppi. What in particular do you find unsatisfactory about your results?
JJ
John_Joslin
Jul 5, 2007
You don’t mention what the printers are that you tried.
L
LenHewitt
Jul 5, 2007
With an inkjet, much depends upon the quality of paper you’re printing on.

Using hi rez’s like 500 ppi will do nothing to improve the result – you would get just result the same at half that.
MH
Mike_Hutchings
Jul 5, 2007
I’ve been using a glossy label stock that I assume should behave like photostock with an Epson photo printer? My main quality concern is just very small text like 4 or 6 font. Even some larger font, when looked at closely I think I can see some pixelation. Maybe I’m just being too critical. The last printer I tried had an option of text and graphics or photo. Maybe photo would give better results?

So no reason I shouldn’t be able to print projects that look like they were printed from plates?
JJ
John_Joslin
Jul 5, 2007
My experience with Epson printers is that many non-Epson glossy paper types give very poor results.

Pixelation has nothing to do with printer resolution; it’s in the image.

Rasterised text will always show the pixels, especially with small fonts.
C
chrisjbirchall
Jul 5, 2007
If you don’t have the correct profile for the paper/ink combination, try setting the paper type in the printer dialogue to something like "Inkjet Backlight Film", this will squirt less ink at the label which just might sharpen things up a little.
DM
Don_McCahill
Jul 5, 2007
What is the resolution of the printer? 500ppi is ignored if the printer only is capable of a dot size that works for 100 dpi.
MH
Mike_Hutchings
Jul 5, 2007
I’m not sure. It was an Epson Photo printer that I believe is a very expensive model. If I’m going to buy one, are there specs that I need to make sure I have for the small type of work I’m doing or should most printers be capable of producing good results?
JJ
John_Joslin
Jul 5, 2007
If you are going to be doing a lot of work like this it might be worth investing in a Postscript printer.
T
THV1
Jul 5, 2007
John:
Any suggestions in the $500-$1000 range?
Tom
JJ
John_Joslin
Jul 5, 2007
I don’t have any direct current experience of PostScript printers but someone may jump in with a recommendation.
JR
John_R_Nielsen
Jul 5, 2007
If it’s a Stylus Photo 2200, you could use the Stylus RIP from Epson. I’ve used version 1 with very good results.
T
THV1
Jul 5, 2007
Thanks John and John.

John R–I owned the 1280 which did a beautiful job except if you didn’t use it regularly, the heads became badly clogged. Unfortunately, I would not use it for several weeks and then need it. The cost to clean became excessive. Are you having any problems of that nature with the 2200?

Thanks
Tom
PF
Peter_Figen
Jul 6, 2007
360dpi is the native on print resolution on most Epson printers. There may be a couple of models where it’s 720 when using the ultra high resolution mode. In any event, having your image sized to 360 dpi at 100 percent printing size and then printing either at 1440 or 2880 in the printer will yield you a very sharp image, assuming it was sharp to begin with. The Epsons seem to like direct multiples in resolution – 180, 360, 720. It’s easy enough to run a test to see if you can see any difference.
T
Talker
Jul 6, 2007
On Thu, 5 Jul 2007 09:57:18 -0700, wrote:

John:
Any suggestions in the $500-$1000 range?
Tom

What size did you need the printer to print? The epson 3800 prints up to 17×22 inch sheets, but do you need prints that large? If you do, LACC.com has the 3800 for $1,040…..a little more than you wanted to spend, but it does postscript.

Talker
T
Talker
Jul 6, 2007
On Thu, 5 Jul 2007 15:59:18 -0700, wrote:

Thanks John and John.

John R–I owned the 1280 which did a beautiful job except if you didn’t use it regularly, the heads became badly clogged. Unfortunately, I would not use it for several weeks and then need it. The cost to clean became excessive. Are you having any problems of that nature with the 2200?

Thanks
Tom

If I may jump in here Tom, my daughter has the 2200, and when she moved out of my house and into her apartment, she left it in the box for about a month before setting it up, and she didn’t have any problems. Then when she moved from her apartment into her new house, she didn’t bother to set it up for 8 months, and when she finally set it up, it still worked okay.
I didn’t think it would go that long without getting clogged up, but it did.

Talker
KV
Klaas Visser
Jul 6, 2007
Tom, I’ve had a 1290 (Australian version of the 1280) for several years, and only print to it every other month or so. In between sessions I turn it off, and that stops the clogging problem that so many folks had with that model.

Something to do with leaving it on causes the heads to remain charged with ink, and they dry out, and a few cleaning cycles are required. Turning it off parks the heads, and appears to avoid this problem.
T
THV1
Jul 6, 2007
Thanks Klaas

I usually did turn it off (plugged in but still turned off). Read reviews on the 1280 a while back where others had the same problem. Apparently they fixed it with the 1290.

Tom
B
Buko
Jul 6, 2007
I used to have trouble with some clogging on my 1280 but now with the 2200 I have not had any problems. I leave it running 24/7.

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