Thursday, November 27, 2014

Black Friday / Holiday Season Deals

Deals of the Week - 11/27/2014

Topaz Labs Bundle only $249


Only $249 for the complete collection

See my review of this product

This offer expires on December 1st, 2014

onOne Software - Save up to 50% on select items


Save up to 50% - Click link to learn more

See my review of this product

This offer expires on Soon

ThinkTankPhoto Black Friday ONCE A YEAR - Deals


See link for more info, but TTP only does these once a year

See my review of this product

This offer expires on Soon

Trey Ratcliff & Stuck In Customs Products off 15%


All Presets, Tutorials and eBooks will be marked down 35% off their standard price

See my review of this product

This offer expires on December 1st

20% Off Cradoc Software Products (fotoQuote, fotoBiz, & fotoKeyword Harvester)


20% Off using code RMPB0809

See my review of this product

This offer expires on December 31st, 2014

B&H Black Friday Deals Page


Tons of products on sale and free expedited shipping on orders over $49

This offer expires on Limited Time while supplies last

Adorama Sony Black Friday Deals


Save Hundreds in Instant Rebates


This offer expires on January 3, 2015

 


Click here for the latest coupon codes.

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, ronmartblog.com may make a commission. Thank you very much for your support!

NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity

Black Friday Deals from Think Tank Photo

In celebration of the coming holiday season, our friends at Think Tank Photo have announced a couple of fun special offers.  [Don’t forget, Think Tank offers free FedEx Ground shipping on all orders.]


25% Off CityWalker messenger bags

They have lowered the prices on their popular CityWalker messenger bags.  Extremely lightweight, the bags feature a high quality silver-toned nylon liner, RC Fuse External/YKK zippers, and antique nickel plated metal hardware.  They have a sound silencer on the main flap (a great feature for wedding photography), extra flaps for smaller lenses with a fully lined velex insert for maximum customization, internal pockets that fit a pro-size flash, and a removable padded insert.


Buy ANY Airport Series and get a FREE “Road Warriors Kit,” a $44.98 value

And, when you buy a Think Tank Photo rolling camera bag you are eligible to receive their new “Road Warrior Kit,” a $44.98 value, for free!  The kit consists of ten Red Whips cable ties, a Cable Management 10 pouch, an AA Battery Holder (holds up to eight AA batteries), and a Small Travel Pouch.

Conclusion

ThinkTankPhoto is one of my oldest partners, and they ONLY do specials like this once a year. If you were already in the market for these bags, NOW is the time to order (and they have a great return and change policy if you get buyers remorse).

Where to order

Click here to learn more or order any of the ThinkTankPhoto bags. I strongly recommend you order direct from them (vs third party stores) as they have the most generous return and exchange policy.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity

Friday, November 7, 2014

REVIEW: Fujifilm x30 – Great, but not a Sony RX 100 III Killer (Part II of II)

Fujifilm X30 Digital Camera (Silver) Flash Raised
Fujifilm X30 Digital Camera (Silver) Flash Raised

In the first installment of my review entitled Fujifilm X30–The best one yet! (Part I), I discussed how much I enjoyed the opportunity to test the new x30. I was a HUGE fan of the x10 and declared it my point and shoot of the year. The x20 was faster, but was actually a little disappointing since it lost the magical EXR mode (and its functionality – the DR Auto & SR+ just aren’t the same). However, I purchased both of these cameras and still own them both to this day. The question now becomes, will I replace my x20 (and potentially my x10 as well) with the new x30? Read on to find out.

Bookshelf Test

The following shots are done on a tripod with all camera default settings except I also enable RAW.

My bookshelf tests are sample shots that must be clicked and viewed at 100% for accurate analysis that compare relative performance at different ISO and apertures The full set of bookshelf shots are at http://photos.ronmartblog.com/fujifilm/x30.


FUJIFILM X30, f/2 @ 7.1 mm, 1.2s, ISO 100, No Flash

What I see when looking at all of the bookshelf shots is that the 7.1mm focal length completely wide open gives the best results. When compared to my f/4 image I think the the f/2 is the sharper image.


f/2.8 @ 28.4 mm, 1/13, ISO 3200, No Flash

At 3200 the noise level is pretty disappointing, but I still find that the NR –2 setting here preserves more detail than the standard NR 0 setting. As a result you could get less noise using the default noise setting but it will smear the details of the image much more. Personally I prefer to do it this way then use Noiseware to clean it up myself while preserving the maximum details.

Sadly by today’s standards I’m disappointed with the ISO 3200 performance when pixel peeping (but it does pretty good in the real world). Realistically this is a camera where I’m going to try to stay under ISO 800 whenever possible and I’d treat 1600 & 3200 as ISO’s of last resort.

CLICK HERE to see how these compare against the x20, or CLICK HERE to compare against the RX100 III.

Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) & Control Ring

I can’t emphasize enough how much these two features have made me enjoy the new X30. While I’m not a big EVF fan, it does come in terribly handy to view the LCD when you are out in the bright sun (vs using a Hoodman Loupe). The EVF is done very well on this model so that helps even more.

The control ring with an easy access button to reprogram its function has been a godsend because it allows me to get easily change between the things that I care most about at a given moment (most often film simulation modes, ISO or White Balance).

If you love the x10 or x20 then this camera will delight you and these features alone make it worth the upgrade.

Video

MUCH better than the x20 – it’s definitely a lot smoother and the auto focus works the best I’ve seen out of this series. This is not to say that it won’t go out of focus from time to time, but it’s no worse than a high end cell phone which is a huge leap from where it came from.

In my extended testing in Asia (here), I captured video from a bullet train moving at least 300 kmh and the AF system performed very well.

How does the X30 stack up against the competition?

With great cameras out there like the RX100 III, the Canon G7 X, and Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100 the question becomes which one is really the best? The reality is that they are all good so I don’t think anyone is going to be super depressed with any of these, but the RX100 III is definitely the form factor and image quality champion in my opinion (see my RX100 III review). Despite some of its limitations compared to the Sony, the x30 is still a very fun camera to use with much easier access to its features (especially with the new control ring).

Yes, the x30 is heavier and bulkier than I’d like. Yes the twist to start and detachable caps is annoying. However, like most Fujifilm cameras this thing is just so fun when I get it in my hands. It makes me remember why I love photography so much and it empowers me to get results that make me happy with its wealth of all-important PHYSICAL button controls!!! This means I’m not fighting menus and touch screens when I use this camera and its focus system, film simulation modes and quick mode make it a joy to use.

Yes, cell phones are getting very good these days but there’s still something magical about holding something that feels like a camera dialing in your settings (or not using auto modes) and getting an image that is often high on the wow factor compared to DSLR’s.

Conclusion

Overall I still love this camera and it’s improved features, solid build quality, great new EVF, wonderful control ring and usable video all make this x10 & x20 owner think its time to upgrade. I was very happy with this camera and plan to take it to Asia for some more exhaustive real-world testing. With that said, I wish the high ISO performance was better and the real world testing in Asia reminded me that this camera is much better at getting keeper than the superior image quality RX100 III did during my trip with it down South.

I still recommend the x30 and feel pretty confident that most people really enjoy it to even if you are a beginner all the way up to a high end pro wanting very good results from a pocket camera. If you don’t mind fighting menus and prefer manual mode over aperture priority, then I have to say that the RX100 III is the way to go based on image quality and compact size. The RX100 III is quite a bit more expensive though, so it’s tough to beat its bang for the buck.

For more photos see my On Vacation with the Fujifilm X30 (Includes a Mom’s 2 Cents) article and visit http://photos.ronmartblog.com/fujifilm/x30

Where to order

Click here to learn more or order on the B&H web site. See my RX100 III review here where you can learn more and order using my links – thanks!

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

    Disclosure

    If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

    NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

    If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

    This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

    The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity

    Tuesday, November 4, 2014

    REVIEW: NEC EA244UHD 4k Display–Is it good for photography?

    NEC MultiSync EA244UHD 23.8" 4K IPS LED Monitor
    NEC MultiSync EA244UHD 23.8" 4K IPS LED Monitor

    In September 2010 I had my first opportunity to see a 4k display in real life and I was blown away. Every since that day I had looked forward to seeing one sitting on my desktop and this past summer NEC granted my wish by letting me test their first ever 4k display. I’ve been dying to tell you about it but I needed to wait until I got my final retail loaner unit so I could comment on a unit that represents what is actually being sold in the market place.

    To be clear, NEC did NOT give me a free UHD (4k) display – this is a loaner unit that I was asked to test for my prior experience with NEC displays and my outside work with display technologies.

    During most of this year my time with NEC’s first UHD display has been very good, but there are still some challenges unrelated to the hardware that make 4k displays somewhat painful for some early adopters. I’ll go into this more in this article, but in the meantime let’s talk about what’s cool about this display and UHD.

    For the NEC MultiSync EA244UHD you get a display that is just shy of 24” and the following:

    • ControlSync capabilities for synchronizing settings between multiple monitor setups
    • Human Sensor which turns off the backlight when the user leaves and automatically turns it back on when they return
    • The wide gamut AH-IPS panel that covers 99.3% of Adobe RGB
    • SpectraView compatibility

    It’s a great display that calibrates well and produces high quality color from edge to edge from what I see in my newest review unit.

    How big is 4k (or UHD)?


    16:9 resolutions in comparison courtesy of Wikipedia

    At a high level, it starts by having FOUR times the normal resolution of a traditional 1080p display. To be more specific, that’s 3840x2160 pixels (8 megapixels) – called Ultra HD versus a measly 1080p display which is 1920x1080 (only 2 megapixels). As a photographer you know the difference more megapixels can make, but how does this translate into the real world with displays? The answer is simple – your display becomes like you are looking at a print. Gone are any signs of pixelization and your images pop with such clarity that you’ll giggle like a little kid when you see it for the first time (especially if you don’t print large prints of your work regularly).

    For the Excel geeks out there this means that in the worst case scenario where you use large fonts, you can see 2340 visible cells from A1 through AM60!

    View up to FOUR 1080p video sources at once

    NEC EA244UHD 4K Discrete Inputs
    NEC EA244UHD 4K Discrete Inputs

    When you look underneath one of these displays you’ll notice there are three sets of video inputs (DVI-D, HDMI and DisplayPort). What’s unusually about this though is that if you were to connect four different video sources to these video input ports (i.e., four different computers 1080p video output) you’d be able to view them all at once at their FULL 1080p resolution as shown here below:

    View video from up to FOUR 1080p sources at once!!!
    View video from up to FOUR 1080p sources at once!!!

    How is this possible? Well for starters 1080p is really 1920x1080 pixels, so if you double the 1920 width you get 3840 which is twice as wide. If you also double the 1080 height you get 2160 which is twice as tall. As a result this 4k display is really like having four 1080p displays in one, so NEC has provided a way to display content in this format.

    Now the reality is that this is still just a 24” display so you’ll really want to only do this for testing computers, security camera scenarios or other situations where you don’t mind having a 1080p image that is only a fraction of the size of the display. There are definitely business applications for it, but for the practical use for consumers and photographers is less common.

    Netflix and other 4k Content

    image
    You must upgrade your Netflix streaming subscription to the 4 screens plan for an additional fee (prices are subject to change)

    If you’ve done any research on playing back 4k content, you’ll know that video streaming is your best bet. In fact, Netflix has already started to release shows like Breaking Bad and House of Cards in 4k (see their FAQ), but ONLY if you have a compatible setup and the right Netflix plan and playback settings. As you can see from above there are different streaming plans so you’ll pay a little extra to get 4k content. You’ll also want to force your playback settings to high as shown here: 

    Netflix Playback Settings
    Netflix Playback Settings should be set to High

    This may mean that you need to upgrade your internet plan to support the 7GB per hour (or about 16mbps download speed) maximum data transfer rate. You can go to http://www.speedtest.net/ right now and click BEGIN TEST to see how fast your connection is now.

    There’s also some great UHD videos on YouTube here including one from Costa Rica that claims to be 4k but really is 2k, but it still is astonishing to watch, and more content is coming online from a variety of sources. To ensure that you are really viewing Ultra HD content (which YouTube indicates as 2160 – (which means 3840x2160) you can right click on the view when playing at Full Screen and click “Stats for Nerds” to see really what resolution the video is being broadcasted at. Sometimes it takes a minutes before you start getting real ultra HD resolution.

    Video Cards – BEWARE 4k doesn’t always mean 3840 × 2160 (UHD)

    EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Graphics Card
    EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Graphics Card

    At the time this article was written, the EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Graphics Card I tested was the 2nd fastest video card on the market. It’s also the one that developers in the video card industry that I spoke to at CES 2014 said was “the” card to get for displaying 4k content. Sadly it is a very expensive card that occupies two slots in a computer so this isn’t something you’ll fit in your average PC. Be sure to check the measurements before you find yourself getting burned as many video cards have a no return policy.

    Another thing that you should be aware of is that the 4k you need translates into 3840 × 2160 pixels (called UHD). Sadly even video card makers call 2560 x 1600 4k and that simply isn’t the UHD resolution that you need or want. In fact, even what people call “true 4k” varies as you can see from the different resolutions and aspect ratios found at Wikipedia.

    As a result, I suggest you try to add UHD to your vocabulary so people know that what you are really saying is 3840 × 2160 resolution. This is what you’ll need.

    Apple Users, just get the Mac Pro Desktop

    Apple Mac Pro Desktop Computer
    Apple Mac Pro Desktop Computer

    Apple has been a great early adopter of ultra high definition resolution display technologies. Retina displays are Apple’s way of saying resolutions that can display about 300 pixels per inch from 10 to 12 inches from the eye. With the same number of pixels, the smaller the screen size the higher the pixels per inch (and vice versa). As a result devices like the iPhone 6+ have an amazing 401 pixels per inch despite only having a 1920x1080 display. Pixel density is all about the screen size, so keep this in mind as well as your viewing distance.

    With this said, if you want to do UHD (3840 × 2160) on your Mac and you aren’t falling for the all-in-one iMac gimmick, then your best bet will be to invest in a Mac Pro. It was purposely built for running multiple UHD displays and you don’t have to worry about it becoming a brick if the display fails like you would on the incredibly sexy but impractical iMac.

    Now some of you may be thinking that because your MacBook Pro or iMac has a Retina display that you can just connect it to an external 4k display like this one. However, you’ll run into a problem is that the video card included in them lacks the horsepower to properly drive any external UHD display like this NEC. While you may be lucky to get it to show a 3840 x 2160 image it definitely won’t be at a usable 60hz refresh rate. What this means in simple terms is that when you type or move windows around things will feel very sluggish and unresponsive, so until you start seeing these devices with at least 3GB of video ram (which is different from the system ram) you’ll want to avoid pairing them with external UHD (3840 x 2160) displays.

    For the best results you’ll also want to be running the Yosemite operating system or greater.

    Adobe Photoshop is not ready on Windows, yet

    Sadly if you use Windows, Photoshop isn’t going to be especially fun to use unless you have 20/20 vision because unlike other apps it doesn’t scale its fonts larger for 4k. As a result the menu font feels like its about 6 points and the toolbar buttons are about the same size as your mouse cursor. While the images themselves look great, the user-interface is darn near unusable.

    I’m told that Yosemite works fine with both Photoshop and Lightroom so it seems the problem is specific to Windows at this time.

    I thought with this preference setting in Photoshop CC 2014 set to large that things would be okay, but sadly it doesn’t seem to help anything even when you restart Photoshop:

    SNAGHTML4c04aa71
    Photoshop CC 2014 Large Font Setting for High Resolution Displays

    Adobe points the finger at Microsoft here, but the reality is that Lightroom 5.6 works fine with a preferences change and Office just automatically does the right thing if you set the system to use large fonts via control panel. In fact, most of the apps I’ve used at 4k work fine with the system large fonts enabled. As a programmer myself, I suspect Adobe’s just done too much custom user-interface rendering in Photoshop CC & 2014 that wasn’t programmed with display scalability in mind to have things work properly.

    For Lightroom to get the best results you’ll want to increase the font size in the preferences dialog as shown below. Personally I was fine with the Large - 150% setting but some may prefer the largest - 200% as shown below.

    SNAGHTML4c06d316
    Lightroom 5.6 and up are ready to go for High Resolution Displays

    Generally speaking Windows 8.1 is better prepared for 4k user interfaces than Windows 7, so keep that in mind if you considering upgrading your machine when moving to 4k. I also suspect Windows 10 next year will even be better suited for ultra high resolution displays.

    Photography Pros & Cons


    Photoshop CC 2014 at 4k with a Nikon D810 Image

    I’ve had a lot of people that the enjoy reading my blog because I tell people what they need to hear, not always what they want to hear. Of course this gets people mad at me and I get flame mail, but I’ve also had some of those people come back later and apologies as they ultimately learned that the concerns I raised about their beloved investment turned out to be true. With this in mind, please pay attention to what I am about to say.

    Yes, your images will look fantastic on a 4k display.

    Yes, it is like looking at a print and 4k video is simply sublime!

    However, this is just like the problem of using wide gamut color whereby you are seeing something that is far different from what the rest of the world will see, so it is easy to make photo editing mistakes or miss things simply because you didn’t see a problem on your gorgeous display. Where this is especially true is high ISO noise which virtually vanishes on a UHD display (just like a print) but is very visible on a 1080p display

    As a result unless your entire workflow only involves print and usage with other UHD display owners, you’ll probably want to proof your work on a 1080p display – just like you’d test your editing in a sRGB web browser to know how the rest of the world will see your work.

    I should also note that while it does help you a little with printing to see something that more closely resembles a print, the challenges of display matching to print still exist – UHD does nothing to help our hinder that process in my opinion. As a result, don’t expect any magic to happen when you start soft proofing your prints from a UHD display versus what you are doing today on your 1080p or 1920x1200 display.

    A recommended approach

    Do my comments mean I don’t recommend getting a UHD display? Absolutely not, UHD display is incredible but I do advise a dual screen strategy with one display running at 1080p (like I do with my PA Series display).

    The only downside to this configuration – at least on Windows – is that you end up with ridiculously large user interfaces on your 1080p display as the system applies one size UI elements to all displays. This does help you with Photoshop issues though as you can simply move the UI back and forth between the two displays or put the UI in the 1080p display and undock the photo window and drag it over to the UHD monitor. As previously mentioned, you’ll still want to double check your work on the 1080p display and in the web browser before you finish your editing.

    A Word about Calibration

    image

    Like the NEC PA series displays, you’ll need the NEC SpectraView II Display Calibration Software and a compatible display calibration device to accurately calibrate the color on this display. The good news though is that if you have these already a simple and free software update will have you calibrating in no time. The calibration was good and paired nicely next to my NEC PA series display, although not as good as having it paired with another PA series. With that said, so there were no major issues mixing the different types of displays together.

    X-Rite i1Display Pro (Rebate Available)
    X-Rite i1Display Pro (Rebate Available)

    Need a bigger display?

    NEC PA322UHD-BK 32" Widescreen LED Backlit Color Accurate IPS Monitor
    NEC PA322UHD-BK 32" Widescreen LED Backlit Color Accurate IPS Monitor

    If you’ve got deep pockets, the 32” UHD PA series is the display to get if you can afford it. The PA series represents NEC’s highest quality displays for photographers with the best performance and most accurate uniform color, so it will be the UHD display by which others are judged. It’s also a nicer having a larger display for UHD since this would make the fonts appear a bit larger.

    Check out my review of the NEC PA322UHD – the 32” 4k UHD (3480 x 2160) equivalent of this display if you’ve got a fat wallet, a big desk and want the best photo / video editing display money can buy.

    Conclusion

    While I don’t think the quality of this display is on par with a NEC PA series, it is a very good display. UHD is a wonderful thing to behold in real life, so this unit shouldn’t disappoint anyone.

    With a current street price that is about $269 more than a similarly sized NEC PA242W display, it’s hard to not argue for moving up to 4k (UHD). With that said, I still think every photographer displaying photos to the web should either own a 1080p display or plan to scale down their UHD display to 1080p for proofing their work. However, it is easy to change your resolution and go back to UHD when you are done so this shouldn’t be considered a reason against UHD.

    Where to order

    Click here to learn more or order the on the B&H web site. My friends at Amazon have it available here.

    Other articles you may enjoy

    If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

    Disclosure

    If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

    NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

    If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

    This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

    The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity

    Saturday, November 1, 2014

    REVIEW: Epson Metallic Photo Paper Glossy & Luster

    Epson Metallic Glossy & Luster Photo Papers
    Epson Metallic Glossy & Luster Photo Papers

    I’m delighted to finally get a chance to bring you my review of Epson Metallic Glossy & Luster Photo Papers. This blog was made famous in the printing community for my previous metallic papers reviews, and I had been encouraging Epson for years to develop a metallic paper. Epson also surprised me by not only doing a traditional glossy metallic but also introducing a luster metallic paper. I’m a huge fan of the Epson Ultra Premium Luster and an ever bigger fan of metallic, so the marriage between the two is more than a dream come true!

    Impressions

    When I did my last metallic paper comparison, I loved Red River Polar Pearl Metallic and felt it was the winner on price but identical in quality to the Lexjet. As a result of the price advantage, the Red River has been my paper of choice for the last 2+ years and it even had a short run in an incredible 300gsm version (now discontinued) that is still my most favorite ever! As a result, when it comes to glossy metallic, Red River Polar Pearl is the standard by which others are judged.

    Glossy

    When I flop the papers around in my hands, I notice that the Epson Glossy Metallic seems to have less flex in it – which is great, because that’s the only gripe I have about the Red River (which is what the 300gsm fixed). The color of the Epson seems to be slightly warmer when viewed under a GTI light box, but other than that they are very similar. The amount metallic flake (for lack of a better term) in both papers seems to be about the same, and in my testing the printed results when using the superior Red River ICC profile on both papers surprisingly resulted in the Epson having a slightly cooler temperature image. The cost of the papers currently gives Epson the slight advantage, but if you use my discount coupon code for Red River papers then the Polar Pearl is slightly cheaper.

    Luster (or Lustre)

    Regardless of how you spell Luster, the Epson Luster Metallic is the first of its kind to come into my studio. I was absolutely THRILLED to find out that Epson had done a luster version because I prefer luster over glossy by a large margin.

    As you would hope, the Epson metallic luster has what appears to be an identical luster texture and pattern to the ultra premium luster yet the color is slightly brighter for the ultra premium. The metallic characteristics of this new luster metallic are exactly what I would have hoped for, so I was very satisfied to see that it is a true metallic.

    Again I had ICC profile issues, but overall I found the DMax and quality of the print to be very good. In the end I would strongly recommend this paper for anyone who loves metallic but would prefer to print on luster instead of glossy papers.

    Compared to Red River & LexJet Metallics

    When it comes to luster metallic, there’s only one game in town for me – Epson. However, when it comes to glossy metallic I still prefer the Red River Polar Pearl as my go to paper. My opinion could change if Epson improves its paper profiles, but given what I used during my testing I found the Polar Pearl to have deeper blacks and a more faithful color matching to what I saw on my color calibrated screen (when viewing the prints in a GTI lightbox).

    ICC Profiles need work

    I downloaded my ICC profiles for my 3880 from http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Pro/ICCProfilesAll.do on November 1, 2014. At that point in time, I felt disappointed with the quality of the ICC profiles provided by Epson. This is rare as they are famous for making brilliant ICC profiles, so hopefully they will do an update in the future. In the meantime, if you can generate your own ICC profiles I’d recommend that you do. You may also find that using the non-metallic equivalent Epson profiles might yield more satisfying results than the actual metallic profiles – however, I strongly discourage that practice unless you have no option. If you don’t mind wasting a little paper and ink, I’d encourage you to do test prints where you print the same part of a image on roughly 1/3rd of the paper with one profile and the same on the other side with the same image and compare the results on the same sheet of paper.

    To my eyes the metallic glossy profile generates images that have a cooler color temperature than they should which results in red’s feeling more purple to my eyes. Printing the same identical image with identical settings, but on Red River’s metallic with their profile yielded a perfect print. When printing on the metallic luster and comparing to the ultra premium luster I observed that the metallic print resulted in an image that was too yellow whereas the ultra premium luster was perfect.

    I repeated the prints with the metallic papers just to make sure I didn’t make a mistake and got the same identical results, so I’m convinced the problem is the quality of the Epson paper profiles.

    Conclusion

    My bottom line is that if you are printing metallic and like luster paper over glossy, then definitely get the Epson Metallic Photo Paper Luster – it’s great stuff! Once I get a good paper profile for it (and I’ll make one myself if I must), it’ll probably be my preferred metallic paper. However, if you still like the glossy metallic – which does have a bit more metallic appearance to it – then I’d still recommend the Red River Polar Pearl Metallic over the Epson Metallic Photo Paper Glossy.

    If my opinion changes based on future paper profile updates then I’ll be sure to update this article.

    Where to order

    Click here to learn more or order these papers on the B&H web site. My friends at Amazon have it available here.

    Other articles you may enjoy

    If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

    Disclosure

    If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

    NOTE: This site requires cookies and uses affiliate linking to sites that use cookies.

    If you enjoyed this article, please support future articles like this by making a donation or saving money by using my discount coupon codes. Either way, your support is greatly appreciated!

    This blog is intended for freelance writing and sharing of opinions and is not a representative of any of the companies whose links are provided on this site.

    The opinions provided are of Ron Martinsen alone and do not reflect the view of any other entity