[Gimp-print-devel] Printhead resolutions for Epson

[Juris Lugovskojs]

Hi!
I'm using Gutenprint for a couple of weeks already and appreciate you work. Enjoying it!
Desparately looking for help regarding information of Epson printerhead native resolutions. And I think only someone from your team could help me out.

Will try to tell my problem shortly. I am working with lenticular printing for photography and using inkjet Canon MG5250.
Lenticular printing needs PPI resolution as high as possible to be able to print ultra thin lines (minimum droplet size needed). My printer has native resolution of printhead 600DPI which is not enough for quality lenticular prints. I know that offset printing can easily give 1200DPI and even more but I am looking for cheaper inkjet printer solution.

I was convinced that all Canon and Epson printers can't go beyond native resolution of 600DPI and 720DPI, until I read on Gutenprint forum Gernot Hassenpflug saying that some Canon models can do 1200DPI (and I guess 1440DPI for Epson). I would like to buy such high resolution inkjet printer. But the problem is that it is impossible for me to find out printhead resolution of any printer. Canon and Epson don't share this information anywhere. Same thing on lenticular printing forums - nobody knows that. The only way is to buy, do tests and hope it is the right one. If not, return it back and buy another printer :(

As I understand your team is testing all printer models and checking resolution capabilities of each (the ones we see in Gutenprint settings). I assume that you have some kind of database with max printhead resolutions of printers.
I would like to find a printer model which can do at least 1440PPI to be able to print the thinnest vertical lines on glossy paper type. Probably Epsons are superior than Canons in this regard.

Could you please help me with recommendations? It would be a life-savior if you could give a hint.
Because nobody else can unfortunately.


Best regards,
Juris Lugovskojs

[Robert Krawitz]

Post by Juris Lugovskojs
Hi!
I'm using Gutenprint for a couple of weeks already and appreciate
you work. Enjoying it! Desparately looking for help regarding
information of Epson printerhead native resolutions. And I think
only someone from your team could help me out.

Hi, apologies for the delay.

Post by Juris Lugovskojs
Will try to tell my problem shortly. I am working with lenticular
printing for photography and using inkjet Canon MG5250. Lenticular
printing needs PPI resolution as high as possible to be able to
print ultra thin lines (minimum droplet size needed). My printer has
native resolution of printhead 600DPI which is not enough for
quality lenticular prints. I know that offset printing can easily
give 1200DPI and even more but I am looking for cheaper inkjet
printer solution.

I assume that this means printing targets for testing lenses
(something like this, perhaps:
Loading Image...)?

Post by Juris Lugovskojs
I was convinced that all Canon and Epson printers can't go beyond
native resolution of 600DPI and 720DPI, until I read on Gutenprint
forum Gernot Hassenpflug saying that some Canon models can do
1200DPI (and I guess 1440DPI for Epson). I would like to buy such
high resolution inkjet printer. But the problem is that it is
impossible for me to find out printhead resolution of any
printer. Canon and Epson don't share this information anywhere. Same
thing on lenticular printing forums - nobody knows that. The only
way is to buy, do tests and hope it is the right one. If not, return
it back and buy another printer :(

Most contemporary Epson inkjet printers can do 5760x1440 DPI, and a
lot of them can do 5760x2880 DPI, although Epson doesn't support that
mode and it doesn't work well near the top and bottom edge of the
paper. So if you're willing to avoid the top and bottom inch or so of
the paper, you can achieve 5760x2880, although I'd suggest 2880x2880
for this kind of line art application to avoid asymmetrical moire
patterns.

What's really important for you is a printer that can produce really
small drops (1.0 or 1.2 picolitres).

Only certain printers can achieve 1/2880"; you'd need to ask us about
a particular printer for me to check.

The old CUPS test page had a disk of radial fine lines spaced 1 degree
apart. Using a loupe, I can easily distinguish between, say,
2880x1440, 2880x2880, 5760x1440, and 5760x2880 DPI.

Post by Juris Lugovskojs
As I understand your team is testing all printer models and checking
resolution capabilities of each (the ones we see in Gutenprint
settings). I assume that you have some kind of database with max
printhead resolutions of printers. I would like to find a printer
model which can do at least 1440PPI to be able to print the thinnest
vertical lines on glossy paper type. Probably Epsons are superior
than Canons in this regard.
Could you please help me with recommendations? It would be a
life-savior if you could give a hint. Because nobody else can
unfortunately.

[Robert Krawitz]

(Please copy the list)

Thanks for reply, Robert!
"I assume that this means printing targets for testing lenses
https://graphics.stanford.edu/courses/cs348b-04/homework/focus.jpg)?"
Kind of. I print image consisting of vertical 1px thin black lines
with 1px white gaps in between. And try different resolutions. The
goal is to achieve distinguishable lines with highest resolution
available for printer. I'm using loupe to evaluate. This method
also helps to see if image resolution is being downscaled by
printer. For example, if I print 1200 DPI on my Canon Pixma, it will
give me solid grey field instead, because 2 black lines will be
interpolated into 1 grey line. Because this printer only handles 600
DPI max.

That's probably the driver, not the printer itself, doing that.
Gernot (our Canon driver maintainer) could probably speak more to
that.

"Most contemporary Epson inkjet printers can do 5760x1440 DPI, and a
lot of them can do 5760x2880 DPI, although Epson doesn't support
that mode and it doesn't work well near the top and bottom edge of
the paper. So if you're willing to avoid the top and bottom inch or
so of the paper, you can achieve 5760x2880, although I'd suggest
2880x2880 for this kind of line art application to avoid
asymmetrical moire patterns."
All my prints will be smaller than paper size. So avoiding top and
bottom inch is no problem for me.
"What's really important for you is a printer that can produce really
small drops (1.0 or 1.2 picolitres).
Only certain printers can achieve 1/2880"; you'd need to ask us about
a particular printer for me to check."
2880x2880 DPI would be total perfection for me. 5760x2880 DPI even
better because I need highest resolution only for vertical lines. I
would like to find out which printers can achieve true 1/2880 while
having such small drop size. Haven't seen any Epson printer with
dropsize of 1.0 or 1.2pl in specification. Perhaps you can point out
any specific model with such capabilties.

The difference is only likely to matter if you have lines that are
slightly off vertical. If your lines are pure horizontal or vertical,
you don't need such high resolution; even 1440x1440 would be quite
high enough. The higher resolution reduces stairstep effects for
lines at very shallow angles off vertical or horizontal.

At the moment I am looking at Epson L805 or L1800 (the same but A3+
size). I guess L805 is newer version of Epson P50. Drop size is 1.5
pl. But I am very unsure if it will be the best option out there
for my needs.

It would probably work well, although you don't need the 6 colors (a
4-color printer is fine for this purpose, but if you're also going to
use it to print photos, the 6-color is better).

[Gernot Hassenpflug]

Post by Robert Krawitz
(Please copy the list)

/../

Post by Robert Krawitz

Kind of. I print image consisting of vertical 1px thin black lines
with 1px white gaps in between. And try different resolutions. The
goal is to achieve distinguishable lines with highest resolution
available for printer. I'm using loupe to evaluate. This method
also helps to see if image resolution is being downscaled by
printer. For example, if I print 1200 DPI on my Canon Pixma, it will
give me solid grey field instead, because 2 black lines will be
interpolated into 1 grey line. Because this printer only handles 600
DPI max.

That's probably the driver, not the printer itself, doing that.
Gernot (our Canon driver maintainer) could probably speak more to
that.

I don't know if weaving is possible on most Canon printers, it seems
from looking at Windows printjobs as though data is simply at the
printhead resolution (300, 600 dpi), and the firmware decides what to
do with that based on media, resolution mode chosen, and other
parameters.
In rare cases, the printhead has a 1200dpi resolution too, for one
particular resolution mode and media combination, but I have not seen
anything higher than that (in the printjob data).

I know from looking at the code that for one model, the S800, software
weave is implemented, but that is an old model using 360dpi rather
than the standard and much more capable firmware theses days based on
300 and 600dpi.

Best regards,
Gernot Hassenpflug

[Gernot Hassenpflug]

“In rare cases, the printhead has a 1200dpi resolution too, for one
particular resolution mode and media combination, but I have not seen
anything higher than that (in the printjob data).”
Is there information about 1200dpi availability for Canon Pixma MG5250?
I was able to achieve only 600dpi by experimenting with media types and resolutions.

Hello,
I don't think so. If there is no 1200dpi in the available resolutions,
then there is none such available from the Windows driver.
The 1200dpi was only available for certain older models, usually with
the removable heads I think.
You can look at the canon-modes.h file to find out which.

Best regards,
Gernot Hassenpflug

Post by Gernot Hassenpflug

Post by Robert Krawitz
(Please copy the list)

/../

Post by Robert Krawitz

Kind of. I print image consisting of vertical 1px thin black lines
with 1px white gaps in between. And try different resolutions. The
goal is to achieve distinguishable lines with highest resolution
available for printer. I'm using loupe to evaluate. This method
also helps to see if image resolution is being downscaled by
printer. For example, if I print 1200 DPI on my Canon Pixma, it will
give me solid grey field instead, because 2 black lines will be
interpolated into 1 grey line. Because this printer only handles 600
DPI max.

That's probably the driver, not the printer itself, doing that.
Gernot (our Canon driver maintainer) could probably speak more to
that.

I don't know if weaving is possible on most Canon printers, it seems
from looking at Windows printjobs as though data is simply at the
printhead resolution (300, 600 dpi), and the firmware decides what to
do with that based on media, resolution mode chosen, and other
parameters.
In rare cases, the printhead has a 1200dpi resolution too, for one
particular resolution mode and media combination, but I have not seen
anything higher than that (in the printjob data).
I know from looking at the code that for one model, the S800, software
weave is implemented, but that is an old model using 360dpi rather
than the standard and much more capable firmware theses days based on
300 and 600dpi.
Best regards,
Gernot Hassenpflug