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Hand Cutting Roll Paper For Epson 3800?

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eastvillager

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I've been dying for a Epson 4800 for awhile but I live in a small apartment and its a 6th. Floor walkup to boot. Please no "Move" comments. To cut down on paper costs I was thinking if and when I get the printer does it make sense to cut roll paper and if so what the best way? There doesnt seem to be any 16x20 from Epson in Luster but there are 16" x 100' rolls. I don't want to buy 17x22 sheets. The size seems too odd as a fine art photographer. Snf if I'm correct Ilford only makes 16x20 Smooth Pearl on boards at 10bucks a piece. Geesh . A bit pricey. Anybody have any experiences with that product and how do the boards feel and look and will I be able to center the image on the paper since Epson's drivers don't seem to do a good job of centering.

On another note. I'm using an Epson 2400 and the prints seem to be darker then the screen and sometimes close but I don't change the setting at all. Just shut down and reboot. Doesn't seem to be any pattern. I have a Dell 24" monitor and run the latest Mac OS. I recalibrated the monitor and turn the gamma to 2.2 since the Dells seem to be overly bright for a Mac. I'm setting the driver in the print preview to let Photoshop determine the colors as shown on this web page: http://www.gballard.net/psd/epson_cs2.html . Again it seems to work well except the images are a bit dark but better since I've turned the monitor down to as far as it can go.

Fire away!
 
As a photogragher you own cameras that create files that have dimensions in film size or digital from sensor size.

Canon and Nikon digital sensors have a 3:2 aspect ratio as does 35mm film.

Paper sizes to print uncropped image files should also be 3:2

Which sizes the 3800 will print from each of the 3 paper paths and which sizes from which path can be done borderless won't be fully known untill actual production models and drivers are in peoples hands.

A 16" wide roll will allow 16" x 24" borderless if possible but if you need to allow margins for matting a 17" roll paper to cut 17" x 25" sheets from would be required.This eliminates 16" rolls of Premium Luster.A 17" roll can be purchased from companies like the one linked below that cut down wider rolls or buy a different brand Luster paper that is 17" wide.

https://www.eximvaios.com/catalog/default.php

Maybe Epson will finally discontinue it's 16" rolls and make them all 17"?

Epson Premium luster comes in 10" rolls that can be cut into 10" x 14" sheets for 8" x 12" prints with a 1" border for matting.

A 6" x 9" on A4 or letter is a worthy option also.

The 13" x 19" sheets are good for the 12" x 18" prints.

Roll papers that are on 2" cores have more curl than those on 3" cores.

A device and technique for decurling sheets cut from roll paper will be needed in most cases.

Maybe the D-Roller should be bundled with the 3800?

http://www.inkjetart.com/cgi-bin/search/search.pl?Terms=D-Roller&Match=1&Realm=All&sa.x=12&sa.y=10
 
Forget hand cutting roll paper to save money.
It's too much of a hassle to get it to lay flat if you don't print on
it directly via the printer.... the inks actually "relax" the paper from
the roll and they lay flatter. Trying to get a square edge hand cutting
roll paper would be a nightmare! (...the cutter on the 4800 is something
to see in action!)

Sheet stock is the best way to go if you don't have the roll paper
option on your printer.

Stratuss.
===============
eastvillager said:
I've been dying for a Epson 4800 for awhile but I live in a small
apartment and its a 6th. Floor walkup to boot. Please no "Move"
comments. To cut down on paper costs I was thinking if and when I
get the printer does it make sense to cut roll paper and if so what
the best way? There doesnt seem to be any 16x20 from Epson in
Luster but there are 16" x 100' rolls. I don't want to buy 17x22
sheets. The size seems too odd as a fine art photographer. Snf if
I'm correct Ilford only makes 16x20 Smooth Pearl on boards at
10bucks a piece. Geesh . A bit pricey. Anybody have any experiences
with that product and how do the boards feel and look and will I be
able to center the image on the paper since Epson's drivers don't
seem to do a good job of centering.

On another note. I'm using an Epson 2400 and the prints seem to be
darker then the screen and sometimes close but I don't change the
setting at all. Just shut down and reboot. Doesn't seem to be any
pattern. I have a Dell 24" monitor and run the latest Mac OS. I
recalibrated the monitor and turn the gamma to 2.2 since the Dells
seem to be overly bright for a Mac. I'm setting the driver in the
print preview to let Photoshop determine the colors as shown on
this web page: http://www.gballard.net/psd/epson_cs2.html . Again it
seems to work well except the images are a bit dark but better
since I've turned the monitor down to as far as it can go.

Fire away!
Click to expand...
 
stratuss said:
Forget hand cutting roll paper to save money.
It's too much of a hassle to get it to lay flat if you don't print on
it directly via the printer.... the inks actually "relax" the paper
from
the roll and they lay flatter. Trying to get a square edge hand
cutting
roll paper would be a nightmare! (...the cutter on the 4800 is
something
to see in action!)

Sheet stock is the best way to go if you don't have the roll paper
option on your printer.

Stratuss.
Click to expand...
Those of us considering cutting roll paper to sheet for the 3800 plan to do it because the only sheet paper available is 17 x 22--I'd much rather buy sheet I admit. If we want to print a 16 x 24 then cutting roll paper is the only option at this point (we have been told that it will print to 37" in length so this is one option open to us since the 3800 doesn't have the roll holder/cutter).. Since I always leave a border and matte mine, as long as its close enough to get a good straight edge to feed will be okay.

I've been trying to decide whether to wait until the 3800s are shipping and see how using a longer cut sheet works for others---or going ahead and putting in an order with a deposit.

Diane
 
Cutting roll paper on a regular basis will be a hassle, especially when it gets near the end of the roll. I have enough handling problems after the paper is printed, let alone before. RC paper will not lay flat, and you cannot flatten it so you will have a problem with feeding. Epson made this printer for cut sheet paper and not rolls. For the time and frustration you are going to encounter,try and find a used 4000 or 4800.
Chet
 
The work one person considers doing a hassle another will considers the same task as part of getting the job done right and a pleasure to do..

If there's no sheet paper available in the size you need to do the job on correctly with the printer of YOUR choice do what needs to be done.

If you wait for Epson to make sheet sizes for printing 3:2 images you'll never get anything printed.

I have a 4000 and it's not always a joy.
 
I can't speak to the size of your room, but I certainly thought that the 4800 was too big for where I planned to put it. However, it sits very nicely on a card table in a very small room (the printer takes up about 1/5 of the floor space), and, to me, at least, the paper cutter is one of the truly great features of the printer. If you can swing it, you won't regret it!

If you must cut, a rototrimmer (as some else has already suggested) is the way to go. I use one anyway for a variety of chores, and it's unbelievably better than any other cutting system (IMHO).
--
Forrest
http://forrestmilder.com
 
Chet Burak said:
Cutting roll paper on a regular basis will be a hassle, especially
when it gets near the end of the roll. I have enough handling
problems after the paper is printed, let alone before. RC paper
will not lay flat, and you cannot flatten it so you will have a
problem with feeding. Epson made this printer for cut sheet paper
and not rolls. For the time and frustration you are going to
encounter,try and find a used 4000 or 4800.
Chet
Click to expand...
I don't want either for a variety of reasons--so I guess either I compose with croppiing in mind or go back to a 13" printer---or print 14 x 21 on 17 x 22 paper. I use matte (fine art paper) mostly. All my RC prints would be done smaller I expect.
--
Diane B
http://www.pbase.com/picnic/galleries
 
EJS said:
Which sizes the 3800 will print from each of the 3 paper paths and
which sizes from which path can be done borderless won't be fully
known until actual production models and drivers are in peoples
hands.
Click to expand...
Actually Epson is quite specific as to which sizes will print from which paper paths:

"Media Handling

Main top-loading feeder: Up to 17" x 22"; up to 120 sheets plain paper; 20 photo paper

Second top-loading feeder: Up to 17" x 22"; single sheet manual feeder, optimized for fine art paper

Front manual feeder: Up to 16" x 20" straight-through, single sheet manual feeder up to 1.5 mm"

And somewhat specific as to borderless printing:

"BorderFree Printing

Complete borderless printing on the following cut-sheet sizes 4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", 11" x 14", 16" x 20", 17" x 22" "

Both are 'cut and paste' quotes from the 3800 specs on the Epson US site.

I doubt that Epson would be so specific if significant changes were planned when the printer starts shipping.
 
The 8x10,11x14,16x20 and 17x22 may be acceptable in the US market for printing by some folks who don't mind cropping their images but in this neck of the woods it just won't fly.

Those paper sizes are not sold here and no photographer I know here would want to use them.

The 8x12,10x15,12x18 and 16x24 are the most printed image sizes by professionals here for matting and framing.

The A6,A4,A3,A3+ and A2 are the off the shelf sizes in most of the world.

The drivers will need to be regionalized and sheet paper sized for market demand.
 
EJS said:
The 8x10,11x14,16x20 and 17x22 may be acceptable in the US market
for printing by some folks who don't mind cropping their images but
in this neck of the woods it just won't fly.

Those paper sizes are not sold here and no photographer I know here
would want to use them.
Click to expand...
Frankly I don't think many in the US will want to use these sizes either, except for pro photographers who need to produce prints that fit (US) stock frame sizes (I'm thinking portrait studios), or photographers shooting in 6x7 or 4x5.

This limited borderless capability is why I decided not to buy a 3800.
 
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