Monthly Archives: February 2011

2880 vs 1440 dpi printing

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Jim

Since there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference in image quality between the 2880/1440 dpi and the 1440/720 dpi settings on the Epson 3880 driver, I’m confused about why both exist. Having three different ink drop sizes in … Continue reading →

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iPhone 4 for Verizon OOBE

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Jim

The packaging is just as Applelegant as usual, but it’s less user-hostile than before. It was easy to figure out how to open it up, find all the bits, and get it running. At no time did I have to … Continue reading →

Posted in The Bleeding Edge | Leave a comment

Does dot resolution influence smoothness?

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Jim

From the mailbag: …I didn’t see anything mentioned about variable droplet sizes. With 2880 you’re always using the smallest size droplet…where as with 1440 you are getting a mixture of large, medium, and small droplets. So sometimes 1440 can look … Continue reading →

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More on Epson driver resampling

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Jim

Warning. What follows is probably only of interest to the technically obsessed. In the last post I showed examples of printing a 720 ppi target with the Epson 3880 driver set to various options to prove that the “Finest Detail” checkbox controls whether the … Continue reading →

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Controlling resampling in the Epson driver

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Jim

From the mailbag: Jim, I’ve been told that the Finest Detail feature applies to vector art/line art only.  That it has no effect on bitmapped images at all. I gather your result contradicts that assertion?  I’ve never done systematic testing of … Continue reading →

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Focusing, part 3

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Jim

OK, so your autofocus works under controlled conditions, but you’re still getting some misfocused pictures. The camera thinks it’s focusing properly, but it’s not focusing on what you want. If it’s really dark, most likely that’s just the way it … Continue reading →

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Focusing, part 2

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Jim

Where was I before I got distracted by all that resampling stuff? Oh, I remember: focusing. The first thing to do about focusing is to find out if the focusing aids in your camera are doing their job. Whenever I’d … Continue reading →

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More images in COLOR Magazine

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Jim

Yesterday, I received a nice e-mail: Congratulations! Your entry in the COLOR Single Image Contest 2011 has been selected for a Bronze Award, which means that one of your images will be published in the Special Issue #13 of COLOR … Continue reading →

Posted in The Last Word | 3 Comments

Triggering resampling to 720 ppi

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Jim

Through a combination of research and further experimentation, I’ve figured out that checking the “Finest Detail” option box in the Epson 3880 driver is the thing that tells it to resample the image at 720 ppi instead of 360 ppi. … Continue reading →

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Resampling for printing – summary

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Jim

Have you been looking at the last couple of weeks’ posts and been wondering what to make of it all? So have I. Here’s what I think: The marking engine (printer engineering talk for the collection of parts that lays … Continue reading →

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