ICC Profile for Epson Stylus Photo R300

I am in the process of setting up my display-to-printer color management workflow. (Whew..it's been a rather steep learning curve). I need a printer/paper ICC profile for my Epson Stylus Photo R300 printer. According to the rep at Epson, they do not have a profile for that model. Can anyone suggest where I might get a profile for the R300?

BTW, I will be printing from Photoshop Elements 8 (Mac).

Thank you for your help.

What you need is a profile for the paper you use with that printer. If you use Epson paper then the ICC profiles should be included in the driver. If you use third party paper then you need a profile from the paper manufacturer.

Hank,

Forgive me if I am a bit naive since I am new to the realm of color management.

In PSE8, when I open the print window there are a variety of choices under "Media Type". For example, by selecting "Premium Photo Paper Glossy", I assume that I am selecting the ICC profile for this type of Epson paper. Am I correct?

However, as an output device, don't I need a profile for the printer also?

Thanks for your patience.

I recently went through the interesting learning curve of using the R2400 and contacted Epson tech support because I followed all theirs instructions. Support told me to use this guide (for a different printer) and it worked fine. The problem I was having was tones were WAY off, I simply had to turn off (No Color Adjustment) mode.

But maybe that guide will help, its well detailed.

Good luck!

kitjv wrote in post #9831299
Hank,

Forgive me if I am a bit naive since I am new to the realm of color management.

In PSE8, when I open the print window there are a variety of choices under "Media Type". For example, by selecting "Premium Photo Paper Glossy", I assume that I am selecting the ICC profile for this type of Epson paper. Am I correct?

However, as an output device, don't I need a profile for the printer also?

Thanks for your patience.

Those profiles will have been installed with the driver for your printer and are for that printer and paper combination. You don't have separate printer and paper profiles, it's one profile for a certain paper printed from a certain printer with a certain ink. The ones that came with your driver, the ones you see in Elements are for your printer with Epson paper and ink.

kitjv,

What may not be obvious is that the printer driver automatically opens once you get to a certain point in the print dialogue in PSE8. While there can be exceptions, you should find that as long as you use Epson papers you have everything you need already available.

kitjv wrote in post #9831299
...In PSE8, when I open the print window there are a variety of choices under "Media Type". For example, by selecting "Premium Photo Paper Glossy", I assume that I am selecting the ICC profile for this type of Epson paper. Am I correct?....

Don't forget... Printer color management vs PSE8 managing the color. That's the other half of the equation--- telling the printer AND PSE8 who is doing the color management duties,,, via the ICC profile.

Thank you for the responses. The fact that there are not separate printer & paper profiles clears up my confusion. That explains why online profiling services send you a target which you print on your printer (with the paper of choice). Then they email you back a profile.

Since I do not see a printer/paper profile in the "Printer Profile" drop-down menu in PSE8, that seems to corroborate the Epson rep's claim that there is no profile for the Stylus Photo R300 printer. A custom profile from a profiling service seems like the solution.

So far, most of my color management workflow should be set up. The display is calibrated/profiled, color space is set, PSE is set to manage color (printer driver's color management is turned off). I'm getting closer.

Thank you for your help.

kitv,

I think you may still misunderstand. The printer driver knows all about the printer, how can it not?

Having to create ICC profiles or download them for hardware your PC knows nothing about is a different story.

But having a custom profiles made, which will be specific for your machine and papers, will certainly be the best move. And they are relatively inexpensive - $20 from Eric Chan, senior Adobe designer.

tzalman wrote in post #9834298
But having a custom profiles made, which will be specific for your machine and papers, will certainly be the best move. And they are relatively inexpensive - $20 from Eric Chan, senior Adobe designer.

Unless you use a lot of different papers then it works out cheaper to buy a print profiler.

Long story short, I solved my dilemma. After locating the generic printer profiles that shipped with my printer, I loaded them in the Adobe Application Support folder. Now when I open the PSE print dialog box, there they are in the Printer Profile drop-down menu.

Now the only question is, how good will the generic profile be in generating an acceptable print match? Experimentation will tell.

kitjv wrote in post #9865309
...Now the only question is, how good will the generic profile be in generating an acceptable print match? Experimentation will tell.

Epson canned profiles are reputed to be excellent with the correct Epson paper and ink.