Once I get my 4900... what next?

[Mike Guilbault]

I've got the 4900 on order but not exactly sure when I'll get it.  Still, I want to be prepared.  I'll need to be 'live' and printing asap so want to establish what I'll need to do now.

So, once I unpack, load ink and fire 'er up... what's next?  My Eizo CE210w monitor is calibrated using an i1 Display 2. What's the next step?

[Schewe]

first off, don't even bother to load the 4900 driver from the DVD...go to the Epson.com website and make sure ALL of the components are loaded from the most recently available downloads including and Epson Updates...don;t complicate your life by loading older drivers...

[Luca Ragogna]

I've got the 4900 on order but not exactly sure when I'll get it.  Still, I want to be prepared.  I'll need to be 'live' and printing asap so want to establish what I'll need to do now.

So, once I unpack, load ink and fire 'er up... what's next?  My Eizo CE210w monitor is calibrated using an i1 Display 2. What's the next step?

Obviously, buy a supply of paper and an extra set of ink, just to keep on hand. Download the ICC profiles for your printer/paper combo. You can install the printer drivers now if you want, just download from Epson. You'll need either a USB cable to connect it or if you're going to connect via ethernet (and you should) you'll need two ethernet cables - get Cat 6, for future proofing - and a switch. Canada Computers has a decent 5 port gigabit switch for around $30. Get a good surge suppressor (another $20-30) and that's it.

[Mike Guilbault]

Thanks Jeff.. that makes sense. 

Luca... what's the advantage of ethernet?  And why two cables and a switch? 

[Luca Ragogna]

Ethernet is faster and it doesn't take up a USB port. Right now I have 6 things plugged into my USB, and I start dropping devices when I have too many going at once, that would be bad if I were printing at the time.  I'm sure USB would be fine if you don't have a lot of stuff plugged in at once, especially hard drives and other high power devices.

You can't plug two devices directly together with a regular ethernet cable. So you could put a switch (or hub) in the middle or you have the option of using a "crossover" cable. I put the switch in because I have other stuff on my network.

[howardm]

if he has a modern computer w a 'gigabit' ethernet port, then most likely he would NOT require a crossover cable as almost all of the gigE ports are 'auto sensing'.

If you have a router w/ free ports in the back, just connect the 4900 to that and dont worry about it.

[stefano]

I've got the 4900 on order but not exactly sure when I'll get it.  Still, I want to be prepared.  I'll need to be 'live' and printing asap so want to establish what I'll need to do now.

So, once I unpack, load ink and fire 'er up... what's next?  My Eizo CE210w monitor is calibrated using an i1 Display 2. What's the next step?

Mike,

I have my 4900 connected to my Mac via Ethernet, the setup was very simple. I chose the tcp/ip connection instead of the bonjour connection as I am more familiar with it, but no tricky network setup was involved.

I loaded the epson Drivers from the disk that came with the printer, not knowing about what seem to be common concerns about getting the drivers to upgrade cleanly. I will download the update later today and will let you know if I run into issues.

Time to first print was literally minutes after the printer finished charging it's inks.

I ran into only one issue that I could not explain until I found the culprit here on the forum: the so called scum dot issue. After profiling the printer with my colormunki I set off to reprint some of my favored images. The results were very good, but I was getting a faint cyan border around the image. Apparently this is due to the colormunki creating by default ICC v4 profiles, and by some incompatibility/bug somewhere in the CM chain (possibly an Apple issue, possibly an Xrite issue, maybe Jeff Schewe or any of the other CM experts can offer more clarity).

The solution appears to be to use v2 profiles. I will reprofile tonight and see if that fixes it.

Beyond that, make sure you have plenty of paper on hand... I still giggle when I get a new print off of the 4900. I am going through a lot of my older images and finding much more detail in the subtle tonalities and the shadows... My previous printer was an HP B9180, and the 4900 outclasses it in just every aspect!

Stefano

Stefano

[Jeff Kott]

Mike,

Maybe you didn't see the link to this Epson 4900 set up video from an earlier thread:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyEi7atCYEU

This should get you up and going. Be sure to do the auto head alignment as instructed in the video.

Jeff

[Mike Guilbault]

Thanks Jeff... I did get that and saved the bookmark for when I actually get the printer.
 

[Wayne Fox]

Obviously, buy a supply of paper and an extra set of ink, just to keep on hand.

Good advice ...

I would add if a full extra set of inks is a little tough at first, get at least a backup set of blacks ... the LK/LLK are the most used inks, and if they printer initialization is like the 7900/9900 it takes extra LK ink in  the initial fill because of the switchable mk/pk, so you run out of LK pretty quickly.

[Mike Guilbault]

Good point Wayne - I was wondering about that.  I'm hoping the ink runs out one cartridge at a time - one a month? - probably too much to ask for.

[Sven W]

An Epson rep told me to buy some extra carts, due to the tragedy in Japan.
Not to "hoard", but a few just in case. There have been damages on some Epson plants and, as you have seen, several harbours.
So it can result in delayed shipping. Probably the same for Canon.

Maybe it sounds a bit harsh to act rational when such disaster happens, but just FYI.
/Sven

[Farmer]

Whilst the full extent of the disaster in Japan is yet to be quantified, none of the damage suffered by Epson relates to ink or printer production.

Details available here:

http://global.epson.com/newsroom/2011/news_20110314.html

[Sven W]

Do you make that conclusion from the press release?
I wouldn't.

/Sven

[Mark D Segal]

I wouldn't either. Epson can be *relatively* unscathed, but beyond them, there are reported to be developing logistical problems with shipping due to cancellation or rerouting of services on account of radioactivity concerns stemming from the Fukushima power plant. This is quite apart from other direct damage to infrastructure from the the quake and tsunami, disruption of power supplies, knock-on effects, production and transport issues getting third-party components from where they are normally produced to where they are needed, etc. We can't possibly have a clear understanding of all this from afar, or even a partial picture of how it's affecting particular products unless we're told, but it will clearly take time and a lot of dedicated effort until a semblance of normalcy returns.

[Farmer]

All of which I agree with, but none of which invalidates my statement, gents :-)

I was responding primarily to the comment about damage to Epson plant.

I would suggest that any and all commercial operations should have a minimum of 1 complete spare set of ink and maintenance tanks etc at all times or, if their volume is more than a set a month, then month's worth.

So far, there are no reported delays in shipment in these products and you should understand that not all of them ship out of Japan. 

Monitor the situation and perhaps indulge in some extra stock, by all means.

[Mark D Segal]

This is really good advice. I did buy a complete set of 200ml inks for my 4900 (ouch!). They expire long after they will be used even if they sit around for a while.

[stefano]

Mark,

what is the typical life of Epson 4900 ink cartridges? I am still running on the initial 80 ml cartridges, but will soon be stocking up - trying to decide if I should stock one of each color and replace them as they get installed in the printer or if I should keep 2 of each in stock.

Thanks!

Stefano

[Mark D Segal]

Mark,

what is the typical life of Epson 4900 ink cartridges? I am still running on the initial 80 ml cartridges, but will soon be stocking up - trying to decide if I should stock one of each color and replace them as they get installed in the printer or if I should keep 2 of each in stock.

Thanks!

Stefano

Depends how much printing you do. The cartridge set I just bought expires in November 2013. There's 200ml per cartridge. Prints use only a wee bit of ink from each of them for every print (though LK, LLK and PK do go down faster than the others, at least in my case and an earlier poster mentioned this too.) My research indicates an average of about  0.0105 ml/sq. in. of coverage, so on the grand average, 200*10 inks or 2000ml will give you about 190,476 sq. in. of coverage, or 1322 sq. ft. of prints.

[stefano]

Mark,

thanks for the quick and informative reply! looks like they are good for at least 18 months, which makes me feel good in stocking at least one per color in addition to what is in the printer. Two on the shelf plus one in the printer is probably overkill for me, as it will take me a a few months to go through a 200 ml cartridge.
I second the comment on the LLk and LK usage - after about 2 weeks of light printing that is already clearly visible in the ink level monitor.

Stefano