PhotoPlus Expo is the place to be for photographers and photo editors each year as all the big names in the industry (excluding the Kelby Media Empire) come out in force to show off their new gear. There’s also an endless number of photography legends giving presentations and interacting with the attendees, so it’s really a ton of fun to be there and rub elbows with your favorite photographers.
This this first of a two part series, I go into some of the non-product highlights and in part two I dive in to some of the products that caught my eye at the show (like the Canon 6D featured on my blog yesterday).
Industry recognition for ronmartblog.com this year
This year I got to enjoy some of the spotlight with my work being featured in four major booths:
Canon featured my work on the new iPF6450 that I’ll be reviewing this holiday season
Elinchrom featured my ring flash shot as well, albeit as Rob instead of Ron Martinsen – ha, ha
Models Galore
If you are patient and wanted to improve your portfolio on the cheap, then PPE is the place to go as many booths feature amazing models in good light for photographers to test out their products. Here’s just a few examples:
Panasonic had a biker babe
Unique Photo had a pretty cool dude running around
Sigma had great models and lighting to show off their lens on your camera
All of my images were taken with a Canon EOS 1D X with the new Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens with available light and auto ISO.
Highlights of the Show (Part 1 of 2)
Everybody is out to wow the crowd at PPE, so there’s always something fun in the biggest sponsors booths. Here were a few of my favorites:
4K Display by Sony
I first wrote about 4K displays in 2010, but every time I’ve seen them since then I still get impressed. The latest was the 4K display by Sony in the form of what appeared to be their much touted 84” display:
All of the images on display impressed, but this one grabbed me the most when I was examining the details. This photo has not been sharpened beyond in-camera sharpening and when you do a 100% crop this is what you get:
Even if this were a print, that would be pretty impressive but the fact that it’s a image on a TV that is just astonishing!
When I was interviewing Photoshop Hall of Fame photographer, and Canon Explorer of Light, Eddie Tapp, he was super excited to tell me about his favorite paper – the Sunset Photo Metallic paper by LexJet. In fact, he was so sure that I would love it that he sent me a print of the shot below on this paper:
Copyright Eddie Tapp – All Rights Reserved
Holy cow, did that print look great! It had more pop than anything I had seen so far in my printing series, so I started printing some of my work to see what else might look good. The problem is that I couldn’t find anything that didn’t look great, so I started burning through this paper like it was on fire!
This Paper Sells Prints
The $500 Print – Thanks LexJet! Beezerker Copyright Ron Martinsen – All Rights Reserved
I printed the shot above using the profile provided by LexJet which Eddie said was a great one, and the print from my Canon iPF6300 was stunning. Even though I had printed the image straight out of camera with no edits, when I put the test print on my door at work I literally had people stopping all day asking me about the print. Within a week I had someone pay $500 for the unframmed 16x24”, and others followed. In short, when people saw this print they couldn’t help but react to it. I had experienced the same WOW factor with Eddie’s shot above, and quickly discovered how wow translates into sales.
Porsche 997 C4s Cabriolet Copyright Ron Martinsen – All Rights Reserved
I’ve had plenty of people say nice things about my prints before, but nothing says good job like a sale because that’s your customers way of saying this is so good I want to display it in my home. For those who are hording their shots on hard drives, think about this and think how many sales I would have gotten had I just left this image on my web site without printing it?
Specifications
Here are the key facts that I have gathered about this paper:
This paper is highly durable as shown in my rain test and has a instant-dry, scratch resistant surface according to LexJet’s technical specification. I can confirm that its surface is very durable as I’ve treated my test prints fairly harshly and have yet to have one scratch after they’ve had a few hours to dry. I did get a few smears when calibrating using a ColorMunki only minutes after the test pattern was printed, so I learned quickly that it needs a bit of time (about 20 minutes) for the best results.
Paper Profiles
You can get paper profiles for this paper for many major printers at http://www.lexjet.com/Profiles.aspx (as of 11/9/2010), and even AM1 files for Canon’s Media Configuration Tool (which means this paper is treated like the built-in papers). Noticeably absent was a profile for the Epson 3880 and the 3800 & 4880 profiles performed very poorly. This is why I created my own profile as discussed in my i1XTreme review. The ColorMunki profile was acceptable, but the i1XTreme profile was much closer to the superior profile I had for the Canon iPF6300 which LexJet created.
ColorByte ImagePrint offered the ep3880Pk_LexJetSunsetPhotoMetallic1440_RCWF profile for my Epson Stylus® Pro 3880 printer and the results using this profile were fantastic. It was slightly brighter and a tad cooler than LexJet’s profile for my Canon iPF6300, but it closer to what I saw on my calibrated NEC PA241W-BK display.
Here’s the screen shots of the settings I changed to print using this paper in ImagePrint 8.0:
Main Window Settings are Print Job Dependent
Use the LexJet Paper Profile for the Output
I prefer the Perceptual RGB Rendering Intent in ImagePrint
From the Options button in the Print Dialog below don’t forget to change the media type to Luster or Glossy
I found 1440 8-Pass HS to be very good so I recommend the settings shown here
ImagePrint does a wonderful job with this paper so I highly recommend it if you have it!
Master printers interviewed on this blog who recommend this paper
As of November 9th, 2010, the following master printers featured on this blog had this to say about this paper:
Eddie Tapp – “You will love this paper” (and he was right <g>)
Tips
If you have a an Epson printer and LexJet doesn’t have a paper profile for your printer (i.e., the 3880 in my case) then I highly recommend that you use ColorByte ImagePrint as it created the best results I could get from the Epson platform. If you are using a Canon printer then LexJet has some amazing profiles for you so don’t waste your time creating your own profiles – use theirs! I do recommend that Canon users use the Media Configuration Tool and import the AM1 file in addition to using the LexJet ICC profile for best results.
When using this paper on Epson printers just select the Luster or Glossy paper options from the printer driver and use your paper profile for the best results. If you aren’t going to get ImagePrint, then at least get a ColorMunki to create a proper paper profile. However, keep in mind that you should give the paper at least 20 minutes to dry before scanning the targets and realize you won’t get the best results unless you go up to the i1XTreme or better and scan as many patches as you have the patience to scan (> 800 recommended).
I was unable to create a good paper profile using the ColorMunki on my Apple MacBook Pro, but I created a good one with no problems on my Windows 7 machine using identical settings. The Windows 7 profile worked fine on the Mac, so if you are dual platform I suggest you use Windows for generating your paper profile.
Be very careful handling this paper as it has a tendency to dent fairly easily.
Walkthrough on Canon
I found that for most of my prints with this printer on the Canon iPF6300 that I preferred the Relative Colormetric rendering intent most often.
The key to success with this paper is very simple – go get the ICM profile provided by LexJet as well as the AM1 file. Run Canon’s Media Configuration Tool to import this paper into your printer control panel. LexJet provides a files called MCT New.docx and MCT Importing.docx which discuss in detail how to do this very well so I won’t repeat it here. After this step you must still install your paper profiles. Once you have done that using this paper via 32-bit Photoshop ONLY (at this time) is just a matter of doing a File | Export | <printer model> Print Plug-In… menu item to launch the imagePROGRAF Print Plug-In for Photoshop as shown below:
imagePROGRAF Print Plug-In for Photoshop in Windows using the Sunset Metallic media configuration (AM1 file) and paper profile (icc file)
In this dialog the key to success is to make sure you have chosen both the Sunset Metallic media type (which will be at the bottom of the list) and the correct Output Profile (i.e., the LexJet ICM file you downloaded from their site). From there you can change the settings as you desire or use the values I used in the examples above and below:
imagePROGRAF Print Plug-In for Photoshop in Apple OS X using the Sunset Metallic media configuration (AM1 file) and paper profile (icc file)
The Mac platform was no different than the PC platform, so what works for one works for the other. Just for fun I’ve shown both “matching methods” (a.k.a., Rendering Intents) but I found Relative Colormetric to be my preference when using this paper on Canon printers.
In the example below, I did a borderless 36x24 print using this paper simply by choosing the landscape orientation and checking the borderless printing checkbox. My image printed from a Canon 5D Mark II file was fantastic.
Page Setup values are print job specific and should match your needs
Lightroom or other apps that don’t use the Plug-in
Unfortunately Canon’s excellent print plug-in only works in Photoshop or DPP, so if you print from elsewhere you are going to have to do things a little differently. I’ll show an example from Lightroom 3 on the Mac, but the same concepts apply for other color managed applications as well.
In Lightroom the most important thing is to use the correct paper profile which can be selected in the Choose Profiles dialog:
Lightroom’s Choose Profiles Dialog
After you do this then you can set your print resolution to 300, and most importantly your Color Management settings to the profile chosen above as well as the Relative rendering intent (best default choice, but consider trying both). Here’s an example on the Mac but it applies to the PC as well:
Lightroom 3.0 64-bit on Mac OS X
The same concepts should apply to Aperture and other color managed apps as well. From here you just need to set the printer driver settings which I set as follows for the Mac:
Printer Driver Advanced Settings
The key here is to set the Media Type as I had done in Photoshop and make sure the Color Mode is set to No Color Correction. I found the above settings to be the most useful for getting the best results (Note: 16-bit isn’t an option on the PC, but it doesn’t appear to offer any measurable advantage).
Page Setup options will differ for your scenarios but here’s an example
The same settings exist on the PC as well as the Mac from any program.
Walkthrough on Epson
Since no Epson profile for the 3880 exists I can not do a walkthrough, but if you look at my Epson Exhibition Fiber review you can see how you could apply your own custom profile using the same settings discussed in that walkthrough (excluding the platen gap change – that isn’t required). I did find that on the Epson platform I preferred the Perceptual rendering intent more often during my testing.
See my review of the i1XTreme for more information on my process for creating a paper profile for this paper.
Comparisons to other LexJet papers
I have not used any other LexJet papers at this time, so I can not comment.
Prices & Sizes
See the special offer later in this document for pricing. As of the time of this writing, the following sizes were available:
8.5” x 11” – 50 Sheets
13” x 19” – 50 Sheets
17” x 22” – 50 Sheets
10” x 100’ – Roll
17” x 100’ – Roll
24” x 100’ – Roll
36” x 100’ – Roll
44” x 100’ – Roll
Conclusion
When you look at the print result alone – especially framed – this has to be my favorite paper as the results are just magnificent. No paper I’ve used pops more than this and it just grabs every ounce of light and bounces it back to you like it is some sort of holy apparition! With that said there are a few things that I don’t like about it:
Packaging – The rolls are fine, but in the box form the nasty plastic wrapper they put it in is taped rather than being more like a big plastic envelope like you find with other papers, so you end up having to struggle to get the paper out (which means dented paper) and the tape can stick to the paper (which means that area is unusable for printing). I hated the box, so my recommendation is to transfer this paper to an empty box and plastic envelope from your other fine papers and toss this packaging. Again, the rolls are great, so no worries.
Thickness - I’d much prefer to see a thicker version of this paper that was less prone to dents (i.e., a 14 mil), even if it cost significantly more. It’s frustrating to have a great print dented as it falls out of the printer because you didn’t get their in time or to have it dent if you walk to fast and it flexes funny. Handle this paper with great care!
No 3880 Profile – Okay maybe this is biased, but there’s a ton of 3880 users out there (especially after this series recommends the 3880) so it is lame that LexJet hasn’t created a profile for this – despite my couple attempts to talk LexJet into creating one.
Quality Control – I had a couple sections of my roll that had specks where the ink didn’t adhere to the paper, and this occurred when I was printing several prints in a row so that portion of the role had never seen the light of day. This would indicate either an issue with the paper surface or that there was some contaminants in the roll, but either way I ended up with a couple 16x24’s that had to go in the trash due to this problem. According to my Canon Accounting Manager software, a 16x24 print costs roughly $6 in ink and paper so that would be $12 down the tubes for the average Joe that buys this paper.
Even with these faults, there’s no other paper I’d try before this one when I want want my viewer to say WOW when looking at a print. This is very good paper that I’ve enjoyed quite a bit! I highly recommend you pick some up!
Special Offer
Sadly LexJet has cancelled the special offer, but you can visit my Discount Coupon Code page for information on how to get Red River Polar Pearl Metallic for much cheaper with IDENTICAL print performance. In fact, you can even use the LexJet profiles and everything you see in this article and just insert the Red River Polar Pearl Metallic sheets in the printer. It just works – and costs less!
If you are going to be printing with Epson, I’d highly recommend you pickup ColorByte ImagePrint which can be purchased for discount using the info here.
Disclosure
LexJet provided me with a free pack of 17x22” sheet paper as well as a 24” roll for testing in this series, and I may get a commission if you use the special offer or select links in this article to make a purchase.
In one of the first episodes of Scott Kelby’s Photoshop TV podcast that I watched, I saw how excited Matt Kloskowski was at idea of having Photoshop Hall of Fame member Eddie Tapp on their show. He exclaimed “Holy Crap, it’s Eddie Tapp” when Eddie arrived, and that pretty much sums up how I felt getting to talk to this Canon Explorer of Light.
Eddie has been a photographer since 1973, and was one of the early adopters to digital photography in 1993. He suffered through the early days of Photoshop and digital photography, but also helped to define many of the features we enjoy today. In the mid 90’s, Eddie was one of the first to take on the challenge of printing and by the mid 1990’s, he was already doing his own paper profiles. These days Eddie travels the world teaching Photoshop and digital workflow.
Eddie is not a high volume printer, but he does handle the printing needs of his portrait photographer fiancé Judy Host as well as doing printing for his classes and the occasional top pros who need assistance getting the most out of their Canon printer.
Eddie has had the opportunity to tour many of the major print facilities in the US and he’s observed that many labs have switched over to wide format Canon printers for their outstanding quality and high speed printing performance. Eddie was a former Epson printer user, and concedes that Epson prints are still very strong in the transitions in gradients, but that Canon has come along way to offer products (the 6300, 6350 & 8300) that match or surpass Epson’s performance in a variety of categories.
Eddie is quick to point out that he’s never had to replace the heads or had any issues with clogging on his Canon printers. Although he has one replacement print head on standby just in case there should be a problem, he’s never had to actually replace a head. He commends Canon for offering the solution of replaceable print heads as opposed to throwing the printer away as is required by some other in the industry. Eddie’s big tip to keep things working their best is to leave his Canon imagePROGRAF printers turned on as the printer will wake up occasionally and do what is necessary to avoid clogs. In addition, each head of the iPF6300/6350 features 2,560 nozzles with non-firing detection and compensation to ensure that a great print is always possible.
In all of the photography forums where printing is discussed, the hot topic for the geeks is always Black and White printing performance. Eddie has pointed out that he has had excellent success on his Canon iPF6350 with his black & white images. He said that he is getting extremely clean grayscale images printed both as native b&w and full color images converted to b&w via the driver. Both techniques produce “superior results”, he said.
For those who want to control their Black and White output, Eddie was no different than all of the pros who I’ve interviewed in recommending Silver Efex for it’s superior grayscale performance.
Color Management / Paper Profiling Recommendations?
Eddie (a member of the X-Rite Coloratti) recommends using X-Rite’s ColorMunki for 13” and under printers, but for critical professional work he insists that the best results are only possible with a professional spectrometer like the X-Rite i1iSis XL Color Calibration System (B&H) combined with profile adjustments made using Profile Maker Pro (currently only available i1iSis bundles). The software more than the hardware is the critical element to creating a top notch profile. Ironically, Eddie reiterated a comment I heard made by another famous print master in this series in that the X-Rite i1iO Automated Scan Table also produce fantastic printer profiles as well (bargain hunters take note).
Printing Tips for the imagePROGRAF Print Plug-In (for Photoshop & DPP)
Eddie strongly recommends that when using the Canon Export Plug-In that the Color Settings tab is zeroed out (as shown) when using a good paper profile. He also finds that for most images that the best prints are achieved using the Perceptual matching method found on the Main tab (shown below). It should be noted that this is also called Rendering Intent by Adobe.
Another great tip I got from Eddie is to use the Auto (Color) Output Profile option (shown above) when using Canon papers for the Media Type. When you do, the correct output profile for the given paper and settings will automatically be selected. I was very skeptical about this at first, but since I hated trying to hunt through that huge confusing list I thought I’d give it a try. Sure enough, Eddie was right and it worked like a charm – WOOHOO! Eddie also claims that if you use the Canon Media Configuration Tool to create a Media Type for a third party paper, then Auto (Color) will also automatically choose the correct profile for it too, but my Canon Field Analyst seemed unsure if that technique would work or not. I haven’t had a chance to try this yet, but I certainly will report back my findings in this article at a later date.
If you run into trouble or are unsure about how to get the best results from your imagePROGRAF printer, he pointed out that Canon’s customer service is excellent. They are very knowledgeable and will walk you through any situation. On a separate note, I’ve also been told by Canon printing division field analysts that there are no overseas call centers, so you’ll get highly trained professionals actually based here in the US.
GOTCHA: Don’t forget to tell the printer AND the driver your media type
One issue Eddie warns new users about is to keep in mind is that when doing sheet fed paper, you MUST setup your paper on the printer itself (via its control panel). Only AFTER you do this should you also make the same media type selection on the printer plug-in or driver. This is a common mistake that people new to printing make, so he warned to be sure to look out for this problem. He also said to make sure to visit the web site for the latest software and firmware updates (example for the iPF6300) for your operating system.
Make sure there are no lines, streaking, or bleeding colors.
Color Matching – do the colors match your artistic intent?
Tonal Gradation – ensure that there is a dynamic printable range from highlight to shadow especially in the transitional areas
Sharpness (Ron recommends Sharpener Pro for its printer output sharpening feature)
A signature Eddie Tapp print is when where the color matching, shadow & highlight detail are all spot on.
Eddie Tapp’s Printing Motto - If you make it easy for me, I'm adapting it
“There is an area of absolute targeting (color, tonal, detail/sharpness) and then there is an area of forgiveness that one learns through printing experience with various papers. My objective is to obtain superb and predictable results. When that doesn't happen, a closer look at the file quality will usually define the reason.” – Eddie Tapp
Printers & Papers
Eddie Tapp owns and uses the following Canon printers:
He also loves the LexJet® Sunset Photo Metallic Paper, which also became my favorite paper after Eddie showed me how cool it really is!
Parting Words
It was an honor to have Eddie contribute his thoughts on his printing workflow on my blog. He is a super friendly guy who clearly cares about the people he works with. If you enjoyed this article, you should consider following Eddie on his blog at http://eddietapp.com/blog/.
