After making my way through the phone tree I waited only a couple of minutes for a support technician. After the usual process of identifying my 7900 (first) and then me (second, which I found a little amusing), I began an explanation of my problem. I'd planned to describe what I'd done thus far, and the results I'd seen, but the tech interrupted before I got very far.
He provided a two-part answer: first, checking the Center image checkbox in the Photoshop driver doesn't mean the print will be centered. I'd learned that myself, of course, but I'd hoped that checkbox had a purpose beyond enabling the position fields when the box is not checked. He then explained that when printing sheets the printer requires top and bottom margins* totaling 1.12 inches, and the bottom margin will always be at least half of that, .56 inch. "So,", I said, "The only way to center an image on a sheet is to get out my calculator and figure the margins, and then enter those into the position fields?" He said that was correct, that I needed to add .56 inch to the top margin.
He quickly followed up that comment with part two of his answer: Just print on roll papers if I want my images centered. (I should note here I've not yet printed anything on roll paper except the printhead alignment pattern when I initially set up the printer.)
I'm very much less than happy with those responses. It also contradicts comments made by friend Dean (see yesterday's posting) based on a test he did recently with his 7900.
After the phone call I ran three test images, all the same file at the same size on letter size sheets. (The prerequisite nozzle check print showed no clogs.) The file was 8.2 inches wide X 5.5 inches high (in landscape mode). If it printed centered, I'd have top and bottom borders (relative to the image) of 1.5 inches, left and right borders of 1.4 inches. This "left and right" corresponds to the driver's top and bottom values. Using only the driver's attempt at centering, i.e. checking the Center image checkbox and making no other adjustments, the print had 1 1/2 inch borders along the long axis (top and bottom relative to the image), but the left border measured 1 3/16 inches, while the right border measured about 1 5/8 inches.
For my second test I unchecked the Center image box, left the left margin field as it was and added .56 inch to the top margin (.56 being half of the 1.12 inches the tech specified as an offset). This sounds completely wrong, but it's exactly the method the tech described. And it doesn't work. My print had a left margin of 1 3/4 inches, and a right margin of 1 1/16 inches. Not an improvement.
For final test I set the top margin to .28 inches larger than the centered value (that being half of .56 inch). On that print the left and right margins differ only by 1/8 inch.
Of course, I was being lazy with the trial and error prints. I should be able to offset the top margin by half the measured difference between the default "Center image" print's left and right margins and have the next print be spot on. Unless it's not.
What does this mean? I think it means the only way I can print centered on cut sheets is:
- Size my image so the total "top and bottom" margins are at least 1.12 inches,
- Make a print with the Center image box checked,
- Measure the actual borders, and finally,
- Make a second print after entering an offset based on the measurement in #3.
*"Top" and "bottom" mean the leading and trailing edges of the page as it's fed through the printer, whether the image itself is in landscape or portrait orientation. In other words, to the driver, top and bottom are page-specific and always the same edges of the sheet, not image-specific. This is confusing, but the print preview in the Photoshop Print dialog box make this a little easier to understand.
--Jay
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