RE: printer recommendations? also "printer" thread, Vivera inks,agfa CopyJet

[Loris Medici <mail@loris.medici.name>]

Hi Phritz,

 

- Ink: If you keep the printer clean it doesn't spend too much. You have to clean the sensor and foam pads once a month. If not, the daily cleaning cycles use too much ink. It's a vicious circle...

- Transparencies: Sorry, you have to use top grade ones such as Pictorico or Agfa CopyJet/SelectJet... Cheap transparencies won't work. Sensor strip and such is not absolutely necessary (albeit good to have); I put a thin (0.25mm) Yupo plastic sheet under the transparency material (w/o affixing the sheets) and all goes smoothly.

 

So, if you don't also plan to obtain Pictorico or Agfa SelectJet/CopyJet, then don't think about B9180 (or any other pigment ink printer), just look for dye based products. Those will work fine with cheap transparencies.

 

Regards,

Loris.

 

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From: phritz phantom [mailto:phritz-phantom@web.de]
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 4:38 AM
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: Re: printer recommendations? also "printer" thread, Vivera inks, agfa CopyJet

hi loris,
thanks for giving the hp so much praise. i think this is what i will be getting in the end.
there is a significant difference in price; the epson 1400 and the hp 8550 go for about 350euro, the hp 9180 for about 630euro.
my absolute limit was 500, but i think i'll scrape all the small coins together and go for the 9180. it sounds like it's worth it. the quality and the individually exchangeable print heads could make this a pretty good investment, that lasts for a long time. the possibility of making top-notch inkjet prints is appealing to (even though i've never printed one before ... honestly! and i'm not even an old geezer.).

i've read the reviews here: photo-i.co.uk
and: luminous landscape (gets a good review, but allover it seems a little biased towards the epsons)

how is the ink mileage of the 9180? according to amazon, on cartridge costs about 25euro. at 8x 25 this is a costly refill. but they are 27ml, as opposed to the 7ml or even 3ml cartridges for 10-15euro with the other printers. so i guess, they are cheaper in the end.

how does the b9180 like the cheaper overhead transparencies? i use the 2502 ones from avery. i've read somewhere that epson ultrachrome and the cheaper transparencies aren't a good combination. iirc. the pigemented inks don't stick to it well.

on the german amazon there is a complaint, that the b9180 will only print "on transparencies with "sensorstreifen" (sensor strip?). have you ever noticed anything like this?
since pictorio is not an option here, it's crucial that the printer and ink are capable of handling these kinds of transparencies. i think there are transparencies with sensor strip available from avery, but i'd feel much more comfortable if the printer were able to handly any kind of substrate.

i'll probably buy the printer at the end of this month, to give it  some more time to think about it. i will take a break from the alt. printing in the meantime and do classic b/w until then- i'm not getting anything useful from gum printing anyway, so i'll start fresh next month, with original gamblin size and a hygrometer.

thanks & regards
phritz


Loris Medici schrieb:

Wow, impressive. 1400 and QTR together should make a nice digineg machine then.

Phritz, I don't know how 1400 and B9180 prices compare in your market
but I would go for 1400 *if I ONLY need it for making diginegs* and
B9180 *if I ALSO want perfect / durable positive prints*. B&W and
color prints from my B9180 are just perfect, better than anything else
I have seen before. As Jean noted it's pretty good for diginegs too,
but somehow more grainy than my old dye based 1290. (Acceptable to me.
May not be so for others... But please note that I'm pretty picky; so,
if it doesn't bother me, it's probably fine for many.) OTOH, I don't
get banding (in smooth hightlights) with my B9180 after 2 years of use
(albeit light!), but Epsons (comment limited to cheap ones) will
eventually show banding. Sometimes negligible / sometimes unacceptable
- depending on your luck. So beware; you may start cheap but don't
overlook the probability of paying more in the long run. (= By
replacing the printer early, an addition to what Don said about ink
costs...) B9180's carts are have bigger capacity than cheap Epson
printers' carts, but not too much. And if you don't keep the printer
clean you end up spending more for cleaning cycles instead of actual
prints.

Regards,
Loris.