Help DPN make photo printing better

19th May - 2002
By Ian Burley

You can help us make photo printing better

Digital Photography Now, in partnership with photographic services company Chau Digital, is embarking on an ambitious project to make photo printing a little bit better for anyone using an ink-jet photo printer.

Solving the problem of matching printers and papers

One of the most popular issues we are asked for advice on relates to matching photo ink-jet printers to third party papers. Out of the box, most printers include printer driver settings for optimal results when using a small selection of photo paper types - usually the photo papers branded by the printer manufacturer.

But there are literally hundreds of alternative photo papers to enjoy. They offer a huge variety of weights, finishes, textures and other properties that can enhance your prints. The other reason for using third party papers is, of course, to save money. Another less obvious reason is that if your first choice of paper is unavailable, a situation we know occurs more often than realised, an emergency alternative can be used.

Unfortunately, it’s quite rare for printer X to work beautifully with paper Y without alterations to printer driver settings. These settings fundamentally govern how much ink gets laid down in a given area and how much of a particular ink colour is required. Without working out the correct settings, or profile, for a given paper type and printer, at worst the ink could over-saturate the paper, causing it to run and spoil everything. Less extreme problems include excess graininess, uneven tonal range, unsightly colour casts and poor brightness and contrast.

Chau Digital has the digital colour analysis and colour profiling equipment and know how to develop new profiles for matching papers to printers. But the job of matching dozens of printers to hundreds of paper types is a monumental task and this is where you come in.

Calling all volunteers

We’re looking for volunteers to help us make this huge task possible. We need volunteers to print a test image on a sample of the paper to be profiled, using the make and model of printer we’re matching the paper to.

If you are interested in taking part, please get in touch my clicking the link below. Please include details of the make and model of printer you use. We can’t guarantee to involve every applicant, but we thank you in advance for volunteering. Click here to register your interested in volunteering.

Free distribution of results

All resulting generic printer/paper profiles will be made availabe online to DPN readers for personal, non-commercial, use.

We’ll keep you updated as the project progresses.

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