Matte vs Glossy paper settings in IP4600

[qwertydude]

Both pictures were printed on kirkland glossy photo paper. The top is the glossy photo paper setting the bottom is the matte photo paper setting other than a difference in color it seems the same at first glance but something caught my eye and ear little bit later. I reprinted them and noticed the matte photo paper took longer, significantly longer. I then noticed that the matte had a much finer grain to it. So here's are extreme blow ups of the flesh tone 1200 dpi scans.

This is the glossy setting.

This is the matte photo paper.

Suffice to say I'm going to run a profile to correct the color output and this will be my defacto print setting since I value print quality over speed. Also if your wondering photo paper plus glossy, glossy II, and semi gloss produce pretty much the same grainier picture as plain glossy. Matte is still the champ.

As a side note I did a quick test profile on profile prism, dynamic range improved 3.5 points and Lab Space coverage improved .7% This is definitely the setting I'm using from now on.

 

[on30trainman]

Are you sure that the Q (quality) settings in the print driver are the same for all cases? I can only set Q=2 for Matte paper while for Photo Paper Pro I can set it to Q=1. Check and see what each is set for, for each paper type.

BTW - is that a test image you found somewhere? If so, where.

Steve W.

 

[qwertydude]

Yes the quality setting is always on high on both of them I don't set by number on the ip4600 driver but they are both on high. It's not a test image I'm a fan of a music compilation series called Hed Kandi, you can do an image search for their artist Jason Brooks, he does vector image artwork and that is his signature style. It also happens to be excellent tests to see how smoothly your printer can print smooth tones and gradients. Also the standard printer driver is disabled on mine so I can use profiles generated by profile prism so I know it's not just a quality setting hidden in the background.

I did just print out the photos again using the custom settings and printed with different manual quality settings between matte and glossy 3 and 2 in the drivers. Using photo paper pro II which enables the 1 setting, slows it down even more than matte, I've never used that setting before, but still doesn't print as fine as matte. Matte still wins out. There is something in the matte setting that just prints out finer. So all I have to say is try it and compare. I'll even provide a link to the image.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs11/i/2006/167/8/3/Hed_Kandi_Beach_House_04_05_by_Ianwoollam.jpg