U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | RE: Banding w/ 2200 + thanks for the Biennial

RE: Banding w/ 2200 + thanks for the Biennial



Hi Keith,

I have both 1160 and 1290 and never had banding / drying up... only
occasional need of cleaning cycles. I learned that if the printer
doesn't give you a good nozzle check after the second cleaning cycle,
you just have to turn it off, wait 5-10 mins, turn it on and print a
nozzle check again - to see it's perfect! The problem with too many
consecutive cleaning cycles is that they will often cause bubling inside
the cart = more problems. Patience is the key ;) Also having a too dry
climate is no good for Epsons. Istanbul is quite humid most of the time
- indoor RH in my hause is usually between 40-65%... (outdoors RH can go
up to 98%!)

We used Pictorico digital negatives made w/ a 1290 in Sandy's workshop
in Istanbul - the printer didn't cause any problems while printing 11
negatives consecutively... (I did a separate nozzle check before every
negative - to be on the safe side - and I had no problems)

You can check for 1280's if they're still selling them (it's still a
current model in Europe), the price was around $250-300 (after rebate,
free shipping) which is quite good for a good A3+ digital negatives
printer! And I just ordered 3rd party ink (locally) for only $8.35 per
cart which is a pretty good price I think - so good that I'm ready to
recalibrate for the new ink!

And since this so-called venetian blinds effect are only seen in
smoothest highlights which are very hard to print with gum - as you told
us - at the same time, this is a non-issue for you unless you want to do
Pt/Pd at the same time. (I would like to remind you that I do print
Pt/Pd with my 1290 without problems - and I'm pretty confident that
they're quite good technically / ask Sandy ;))

BTW, the gelatine / CaCO3 primer works better than plain acrylic gesso +
gelatine on Yupo - will post few test prints soon! Results are promising
- I just have to improve my coating technique in order to achieve a
smoother and more even primer layer. Thank you very much for mentioning
this! Will send you one of my first sucessful prints on Yupo soon -
hopefully ... But since I can be quite perfectionist sometimes, this may
not occur very soon... ;)

Also, I would like to thank again Keith, Sandy and Galina for
participating our (IFSAK) first International Biennial of Photography in
Istanbul. I'm very proud (as a "extremely-amateur-one-time" curator)
that these alt. process exhibitions (including Michal Macku's) and
workshops were among the most well received events of the Biennial.

Best regards,
Loris.

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Gerling [mailto:Keith@GumPhoto.com] 
Sent: 30 Ekim 2006 Pazartesi 21:54
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: RE: Banding on Pictorico with Epson 2200


Fairly Global?  Several weeks?  About given up?

ooooboy, this in not what I want to hear.  The recent curves/no curves
discussion has piqued my interest in using inkjet negs (and, BTW, I'm
fairly certain that *I* am the mysterious crappy gumprinter recently
mentioned, so I need to get out behind that...) It's been several years
since I used an Epson (I used a Stylus, an 1160 and a 3000 just to put
into perspective how long ago) and one of the reasons I gave them up for
lith negs is that the Epsons were just plain unreliable.  Horribly so.
Banding, stuck nozzles, drying up, constant cleaning cycles, praying and
swearing.  I was hoping that things had improved.

So what is the real skinny?  Are these printers still a hassle to use?
To tell you the truth, Camden, the odds you speak of are not reassuring:
Two of your three 2200s band?  You're lucky in that you have more than
one to choose from.  Is the prevailing thought concerning inkjet
negatives still that struggling with the printer is just "part of the
territory"?