Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: New Here & New To Printing  (Read 11371 times)

Kenny Nguyen

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3
New Here & New To Printing
« on: September 16, 2014, 07:50:12 pm »

Hi All,
My name is Kenny from AUS and im new to the forum :).
Recently i just got into printing, i want to learn more about printing photos and ..canvas.
Think this is my new hobby.

I've been reading through many forums and try learn as much as i can.  I want to buy a printer, to be able to print normal size photos, and also big poster/canvas.
I saw someone mentioning a HP Z2100 24", so i went to look it up, youtube it and all and it looks great.  i can get that for $5K here.

Is there anything i need to know before buying this printer.  eg. common error/faults.
How is the colour on the printout.
Any other suggestion on printer for around that price mark?

sorry for the noobie question.

Hope someone can help  :)
 
Logged

BobShaw

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2218
    • Aspiration Images
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2014, 08:51:25 am »

Hi Kenny,
Welcome to the forum. I am in Oz myself.
I can't help you with the HP as I use the Epson 3880, so this is just general information.

Q Is there anything I need to know? A - Yes, enormous amount if you want to churn out fine art prints. I just came back from the 7 day Orpheus Island print workshop which is probably the best print workshop on the planet. I went last year also as there was a huge amount to absorb. I suggest you learn as much as you can from those actually using the printer you want to use.

The biggest cost of a printer is the the cartridges. The printer is basically free. So check those out. Also do they give you full cartridges or just "starter" ( = empty ) ones.

Also you need to actually be using it. If you aren't turning out prints then it costs a lot of money to sit there.

I use and recommend getting a RIP (Raster Interpolation Program) for the printer. These make printing drag and drop. I never print from an application as most drivers are pretty lame and every time you do an upgrade of software you have to recreate all of your presets. I use Mirage Print but I don't think it works on HP. Good luck.

Logged
Website - http://AspirationImages.com
Studio and Commercial Photography

Kenny Nguyen

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2014, 08:19:19 pm »

Hi Thanks for the reply/info,

The printer comes with the "starter" cartridges, so im guessing i gotta spend more to buy ink.
I might look into buy a smaller printer first to try and get the hang of printing.
Logged

Ken Bennett

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1797
    • http://www.kenbennettphoto.com
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2014, 07:17:47 am »

Hi, Kenny,

The Epson 3880 is probably the "sweet spot" for a starter desktop photo printer -- it can print on 17 inch paper, which means a 16x24 inch print is easy; it's not very expensive to purchase; the ink carts are large enough that the per-milliliter cost is reasonable; and the actual size of the printer is small enough that you can put it on your desk. It can make prints down to about 4x6 inches on cut sheets, as well as small notecards and the like. Finally, the 3880 is very forgiving about not being used, and can sit turned off for weeks or months without clogging.

The downside is that it doesn't take roll paper, just cut sheets, so I don't know how it would work with canvas. However, I know several photographers here who have a 3880 along with a larger printer, to take advantage of being able to print much smaller sizes without waste. (Try printing a single 4x6 from a roll -- there's a lot of waste and work involved.)

Printing is one of those things that looks like it should be very easy -- open a digital image in Photoshop, hit Print, and out comes a beautiful print. And sometimes it does work that way :) However, most people who are serious about printing find that it takes a fair amount of setup and testing to be able to make consistently good prints. (Just search here on LuLa for "my prints are too dark" to see what I mean.)

For me, the best way to start was to get one kind of paper (Epson Luster, in my case), and start printing a lot of different photos, tweaking my settings until I was happy with the results and could get consistently good prints on the first try. Then I started testing other kinds of paper, like the fancy expensive stuff that everyone here seems to love :) But sticking with one paper to start meant that any consistency issues were something other than the paper, which helped me figure it all out.

Good luck. It can be an addictive hobby :)

Ken
Logged
Equipment: a camera and some lenses. https://www.instagram.com/wakeforestphoto/

BobShaw

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2218
    • Aspiration Images
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2014, 07:37:40 am »

Epson 3880 comes with full cartridges, so that is about half the cost of the printer.
You can't use rolls but you certainly can use roll paper. You just cut it to length.
Kayell have a cash back on them atm.
Logged
Website - http://AspirationImages.com
Studio and Commercial Photography

Kenny Nguyen

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2014, 09:14:59 pm »

Awesome, i think this will be my starting point.
Thanks for the help guys.
Logged

Paul2660

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4066
    • Photos of Arkansas
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2014, 08:03:04 am »

One of the great misconceptions of digital is that all you have to do, is plug the camera into the print, and press "print". 

Actually digital makes the process of creation of a "print' more difficult, just getting the color management process from monitor to print can take quite a bit of trial and error

The "Digital Print" by Jeff Schewe is a great place to start, if you don't have it already.

Paul
Logged
Paul Caldwell
Little Rock, Arkansas U.S.
www.photosofarkansas.com

martin archer-shee

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 147
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2014, 01:13:00 pm »

Kenny
 I have to agree with others here re the epson 3880. got mine a year ago (refurb from epson) and could not be happier. Ink is a major cost with OEM cartridges. I opted to use a third party ink from inkjetmall.com. the inks are so well setup that I did not need to change any profiles from Epson. got refill cartridges as well (from China, but also available from many sources. sold my full Epson carts that came with the 3880 and was ahead. Worth investigating.
Another useful tool, no matter what printer you get is a colour management unit such as Photomunki, or others, to calibrate your monitor and printer.

you will certainly enjoy printing large at 17" etc.

best of luck
Martin
Logged

BobShaw

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2218
    • Aspiration Images
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2014, 06:44:43 pm »

Personally I would not even think of using third party inks. You will have no control over the output as they supply pretty much anything. You would be better off to not even start to print yourself.

Genuine cartridge prices vary wildly, especially in Australia, depending on where you buy them.
Logged
Website - http://AspirationImages.com
Studio and Commercial Photography

rubencarmona

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 28
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2014, 05:21:09 am »

If you're starting I recommend you to keep an eye on the color management workflow from scratch.

Here are what I found the most useful links:
http://de.scribd.com/doc/235151897/Color-Management-All-About (A good crash course)
http://dpbestflow.org/color/color-management-overview#monitor
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/ (a whole community for color management)
Logged

martin archer-shee

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 147
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2014, 01:31:50 pm »

Bob

Agreed an indiscriminate choice of a third party ink is not wise. However there are several reputable brands out there as customer reviews and testing can show. If one is printing for sale of high priced art one might be a bit more leery. I had used Lyson inks for many years and had pictures in high sun windows (worst situation) and had good results for long periods (year plus). Yes they did lose/shift some colour but as advertising they were fine. And I did say HIGH sun windows. I too would have lost or shifted colour. Seriously I was very pleased with the Lyson inks in a continuous ink system (Epson 2200, 2400 and then 2880 printers) I upgraded to the 3880 and at that time chose to go with Jon Cole's inks from inkjetmall. I had read good reviews of the inks and his involvement in the development of inkjet printing.

Matter of choice, costs,and outcomes.

Martin
Logged

BobShaw

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2218
    • Aspiration Images
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2014, 10:52:35 pm »

I think everything said makes a great case for OEM inks! A year is NOT a long time. If you want to succeed in image sales you will need to sell prints that last for generations. I have photos of my great grandparents taken in the Depression.

You can get two 3880 brand new out of the box and they will print slightly differently. That is the reality of mechanical devices. So for perfect consistency you get a profile made for the paper that you use for that printer. There is no way you can get any ongoing consistency in my opinion using third party ink.

The cost of ink is only a small part of the value of the print that I sell, but some people sell prints for $2. It takes the same amount of time to make so what do you value your time at? To me if it's not worth doing properly yourself then either get a lab to print it or use Kmart. Anyway a matter of choice as said.
Logged
Website - http://AspirationImages.com
Studio and Commercial Photography

Jim Pascoe

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1131
    • http://www.jimpascoe.co.uk
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #12 on: September 28, 2014, 07:01:31 pm »

One point to consider is that to print canvas I would suggest that a 24" printer might be the smallest worth considering.

Jim
Logged

Schewe

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6229
    • http:www.schewephoto.com
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #13 on: September 29, 2014, 01:27:28 am »

You can get two 3880 brand new out of the box and they will print slightly differently. That is the reality of mechanical devices.

Yeah, ya know, you might think that but in the case of Epson pro printers, that's not really the case. The Delta E differences between Epson printers is very, very low (Andrew can quote some numbers). What -IS- true is the -BEST- way to ensure consistency is to create custom profiles for your printer/paper. And batch to batch consistency of 3rd party inks is something I've not seen studied...
Logged

BobShaw

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2218
    • Aspiration Images
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #14 on: September 30, 2014, 03:46:00 am »

They may be close but they certainly vary. I had a custom profile made for my 3880 by Les Walkling. Les consults to Epson and Canson. My printer was excessively yellow for example. There is an article on 3880 variation here comparing about 40 units.
http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2012/07/variability-part-ii.html
Logged
Website - http://AspirationImages.com
Studio and Commercial Photography

Schewe

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6229
    • http:www.schewephoto.com
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #15 on: October 09, 2014, 01:13:04 am »

Ctein is a bright boy (a very bright boy) but his post was about image detail and the smoothness of the droplets, not about the color rendering. I will stand by what I said about Epson color rendering being very, very close between printer models (heck even Epson provides profiles that are 7900/9900 labeled because the 24" & 44" printers are, well very, very close).

As far as  is a bright boy (a very bright boy) but his post was about image detail and the smoothness of the droplets, not about the color rendering. I will claim regarding image detail and smoothness, I can't really comment because all 3 of the 3880 printers I've had have been very, very close to each other regarding ink droplets, droplet smoothness and image detail. YMMV but I'll bet the colors are really, really close!

:~)
Logged

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #16 on: October 10, 2014, 02:05:21 pm »


You can't use rolls but you certainly can use roll paper. You just cut it to length.
Kayell have a cash back on them atm.

I suggest you not do this.  I ended up returning two 3880s before Epson figured out I was using roll paper cut to length.  It screws up the feeder mechanism.
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi

BobShaw

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2218
    • Aspiration Images
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #17 on: October 10, 2014, 10:31:46 pm »

I suggest you not do this.  I ended up returning two 3880s before Epson figured out I was using roll paper cut to length.  It screws up the feeder mechanism.
I don't know if the feed mechanism is that brilliant to start with. However I have been using roll paper for three years and I don't think it is any worse now. You just need to put a gloved hand on the paper to keep it flat before it grabs it. I think manufacturers use any excuse to avoid repairs.
Logged
Website - http://AspirationImages.com
Studio and Commercial Photography

Rory

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 528
    • Recent images
Re: New Here & New To Printing
« Reply #18 on: October 10, 2014, 11:15:34 pm »

I think manufacturers use any excuse to avoid repairs.

 ;D  Can't argue with that Bob.
Logged
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/roryhi
Pages: [1]   Go Up