Ink/solvent migration in matt papers

[jrkliny]

I have no idea if the 8550 dye inks have worse behaviors than other inks, but the issue with matte vs microporous coated papers is well known. The bleeding on a totally uncoated paper is typically really bad. Also expect loss of sharpness, lower Dmax, a smaller gamut and loss of saturation.

To minimize these issues, matte papers almost always have some sort of surface coatings and finishing to minimize these effects. Those coating are typically nowhere near as effective as "RC" coatings using for gloss or semigloss/luster papers.

 

[JpPeretti]

...

I don't think the fault is with the hardware, but with the software. It just doesn't make sense that the same photo printed on the same paper, but with two different media settings would have a ghastly stain when printed using VFA and a perfectly clean margin when printed using Epson Matte. While you could perhaps blame the pigment ink, that line of thinking fails for me when I look at prints with dark green areas, those too have nasty stains in the margin. For my own purposes, when I compared bw prints done using Matte media and VFA media, I actually prefer those done using Matte media, because they do not have a visible colour cast of a VFA bw print. I wish Epson would implement an equivalent of Canon's new "Grayscale printing" mode as discussed by Keith Cooper in

Let us know what you find out when you get a new unit.

Hi

After a whole month of negotiations, Epson finally replaced my faulty printer with a new one.
The few tests I carried out (in the presence of the technician) did not reveal the defect in my first 8550.

Jean-Pierre