On Tue, 20 Jun 2000, Bob Frost wrote: > Bruce Fraser has offered advice on the optimal ppi to send to Epson inkjets - a problem that has been bugging me for some time. Can't anyone get the exact info out of Epson - they obviously know what the driver does to our files. > > On a second matter, we have read the various views on the best colour space to use for Epson printers - Adobe, Bruce Fraser, or Colourmatch. But has anyone got actual values for the Epson ink colour space ? All the books and articles on colour management show CMYK (swop) triangles in relation to the other spaces, but how does this swop space differ from our Epson space (using OEM inks and papers)? > > bob.frost@cwcom.net Somewhere on the Epson website is a FAQ that talks about printer ppi. If I recall, they say that the image resolution, at the final printing size, should be 1/3 of the printer resolution. So is that 1/3 of 720, or 1/3 of 1440? My guess is the former, since 1440 is the resolution given by the paper stepping, and not the printhead. There are a lot of variables that affect this decision, though. If you're printing on watercolor stock, (for example) you don't need as high a resolution as you would for printing on glossy papers. Certain images (eg., line art and text) require very high resolutions. The optimal resolution for a photo might depend on the degree of detail in the photo. As to color spaces, it's a matter of compromise. As I understand it, Colormatch is a bit smaller than the typical Epson gamut, and AdobeRGB is a bit bigger. Again, this is with Epson media -- if you're using archival inksets, the gamut is usually smaller. rafe b. - * WIN a $500 Gift Certificate in our Father's Day Photo Contest! * * http://www.pcphotoreview.com/go.cfm?ref=lebenpr * * Shop smart! Read product reviews of photo printers and digital cameras *