Problem with iMac printing with Epson 3880

[Marv]

I am trying to print with my Epson Stylus Pro 3880 on a new iMAC. I have installed the most recent driver from the Epson website. When the printer driver opens I can not set the printer for fine art paper. Printer settings under page attributes and media type has the fine art papers greyed out and the page setup cannot be changed from sheet feeder. Also the ink type shows photo black and is also greyed out.

Also there not appears to be setting for print size or orientation in the settings.

Need help.

 

[rdginto]

From what program are you trying to print?

In LR, for example, it is possible (desirable actually) to turn off the Epson driver and control print properties (such as paper type) directly from LR (you still have to choose the correct paper in the printer dialog).

Bob

 

[graybalanced]

You say Photo Black is selected, but the papers in the Fine Art category might only be enabled for Matte Black ink. The papers in the Fine Art category do not appear in this list under Photo Black:

Loading…

files.support.epson.com

 

[lightandaprayer]

From what program are you trying to print?

In LR, for example, it is possible (desirable actually) to turn off the Epson driver and control print properties (such as paper type) directly from LR (you still have to choose the correct paper in the printer dialog).

Bob

I'd be interested in hearing why you think that it is desirable to print directly from Lightroom. . . Since I got my first inkjet printer, the original Epson Stylus Photo (around $500 in 1995. . .) I have had much better results using the printer software. I always use photo paper from the printer manufacturer, except that after I got my latest printer (a Canon Pro 100) I have been using up my stock of HP Premium Plus, with the printer driver paper selection set to Platinum Pro. (I got the tip from a Canon Pro 100 review at Imaging Resource .) The resulting prints look identical to the results using Canon paper.

The prints almost always match my display. In the rare case when a print does not match, the color is not the problem. . . It's how light/dark the print is. The usual fix is using the printer driver to lighten the print around 10%.

I have found the above to be the case with Epson, HP and Canon inkjet printers.

 

[hjr13]

Try a different paper feed, fine art papers have to be loaded in the back one I think.

 

[Howard Moftich]

Most likely, you installed the 'Airprint' driver instead of the normal 'IP' (or SPro/CUPS) driver.

That often happens because the Airprint driver appears first when the system is looking for drivers and many people don’t know/understand the difference.

In the System Prefs for the printer, what does 'Kind:' say?

If it does say Airprint, remove the printer and reinstall driver and *wait* for 30 seconds when choosing the driver.

 

[jhde]

Try a different paper feed, fine art papers have to be loaded in the back one I think.

I agree. When you secrect the paper size be sure to also select the manual paper feed.

 

[lightandaprayer]

Most likely, you installed the 'Airprint' driver instead of the normal 'IP' (or SPro/CUPS) driver.

That often happens because the Airprint driver appears first when the system is looking for drivers and many people don’t know/understand the difference.

In the System Prefs for the printer, what does 'Kind:' say?

If it does say Airprint, remove the printer and reinstall driver and *wait* for 30 seconds when choosing the driver.

Good catch. . . The Airprint driver has tripped me up a few times. Sometimes the instructions for selecting the driver aren't as clear as they could be.

I hope that the OP returns at some point and lets us know what fixed his problem. That will be helpful when someone finds this thread via a search trying to find a solution for the same problem.