Z3100 Obsolete Calibration?

[walter.sk]

A few weeks ago, I went to print on a roll of paper that had been calibrated and profiled weeks earlier, with many prints made successfully.  One day I prepared to send the printer some files to print, and I got a message in the printer driver that "The calibration for this paper is obsolete."  In the LCD window on the printer, under Paper, it said the Color Calibration Obsolete, and also, "Paper adv. calibration recommended."  While I couldn't figure out why this had happened, I considered it an aberration.  I recalibrated the paper, and proceeded to  print successfully.

Today, with the same roll in the printer, I set up the driver to print some files, and I got the same message about "obsolete calibration."  The only things that I did since the last time I printed were: 1) reprofiled  the monitor, and 2) pushed the lever that releases the paper and opened the cover to look at my pinch rollers.  I then closed the cover and put the lever back down.

Would either of these actions have caused the printer to see the calibration as obsolete?  The printer did not forget what paper was loaded, nor did it go through the process of reloading and cutting the paper.

I would hate to think that at arbitrary intervals the printer will make me waste paper with new, unnecessary calibration.

[Geoff Wittig]

I must confess that I've learned to ignore this signal from the Z3100. I'll only re-calibrate if I'm about to run an important set of prints for a customer, or if I haven't printed on a particular paper in quite a while. I can't really see any difference in color fidelity. Of course, I'm mostly printing landscapes, so my needs are less demanding than someone who has to match something like clothing colors. Your mileage may vary.

[Jim Cole]

Walter,

The firmware is designed to require recalibration on each paper type about every thirty days. This is to maintain the color fidelity of the printer. It can be critical if you are printing editions. For the little bit of paper and ink required, it seems like not such a big deal to make the color profiles you (or HP) have created as accurate as possible.

Jim

[rdonson]

I would hate to think that at arbitrary intervals the printer will make me waste paper with new, unnecessary calibration.
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You will be asked to do it monthly as Jim states.  Its not really a big deal except that they could have been less wasteful of roll paper in how they print the target.

Its a departure from Epson who claims their printers never need calibration once they leave the factory.  This is HP keeping the printer up to snuff.

[neil snape]

I thought it was 2 weeks for paper calibrations or after any firmware update, and or software update.
I don't see the minimal use of paper to be excessive at all. Mechanically it cannot be less.
Whereas the dye printers had a lot of drift the pigments don't. IF anything the environmental changes have more effect on the writing system than the actual head state. But attention: if there are some reduced nozzle output, the calibration will catch it before your eyes will!
Epson can only factory calibrate for electrical resistance in the head plotting, they cannot predict environmental conditions, changes in your paper stock, nor head state. Yet Piezo is very very stable in the first year or two so the actual head state remains quite stable.

[walter.sk]

You will be asked to do it monthly as Jim states.  Its not really a big deal except that they could have been less wasteful of roll paper in how they print the target.

Its a departure from Epson who claims their printers never need calibration once they leave the factory.  This is HP keeping the printer up to snuff.
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Well, I learned something.  I guess it's not so bad.