As I had time on my hands I thought I would calibrate my monitor and create some new profiles for my Permajet printer papers. At the same time I thought I would compare my home produced profiles to the Permajet standard profiles and I ordered some bespoke profiles as well.
I used Permajet Oyster as the paper to test as I tend to use this for most purposes anyway so it seemed reasonable to choose that one.

I created 4 prints on one piece of A3 paper using the three profiles above plus letting the printer (Epson P600) create another one for good measure. The image that I choose had lots of subtle tones and colours and featured Ivory Flame in a creative textured image.

Equipment used:

  • Epson P-600 A3 printer
  • Permajet Inks
  • Permajet Oyster Paper
  • Photoshop CC
The first print for comparison is the ‘Printer selects Colours’ option using the standard Epson driver. The colours have a subdued look to them and detail is lost in the shadows and darker areas. There is little to commend this one and it is unlikely that I will be using it under normal circumstances.
The OEM profile which was downloaded from Permajet’s website produced an acceptable print but marginally under-saturated with the greener tones. Without anything to compare to this would be a useable print and I would use it happily if I did not have bespoke profiles.
I sent a printed profiling sheet to Permajet who emailed back a profile to install within two days. This produced a really well toned print with good colours, tones and detail in all areas. The shadows came through very well and it looks good enough for large prints.
My final print was produced using a profile that I created at home using the Datacolor Spyder to calibrate a print. This is very similar to the one generated by Permajet, again good tones and detail throughout. It is a little warmer on skin tones and a touch darker.

The outcome of this test is that I have got one profile that I will probably not use (Epson) an ‘off the peg’ one that I will likely not use and a choice of two similar ones. I cannot say which one is better but it does give me a choice when I am printing both of which I now know will give great prints. A worthwhile comparison which passed an hour and gave me some options that will be useful going forward.