Best 44" printer currently available

[Mark D Segal]

IMO, that really hurts the total cost of ownership of the -1000.  Having to replace the same $650 head on a $1100 printer is a much bigger wallet hit vs. that head on a $2500+  PRO-2000 or more for the -4000

Howard, I would look at this somewhat differently. The head is the heart of a printer. When I decide "how much printer" I want to buy, it's not based on the cost of replacing the print head (of unknown longevity at this time) but rather on the maximum size prints I'm likely going to make. For me it so happens a 17" carriage width is ample, so I'm happy to have the same quality components in this machine as I would find in the larger ones. Canon was looking to provide total consistency through the whole Pro product line by using one technology throughout. Sharing the same head between all the printers probably provides economies of design, scope and scale that they would lose customizing a head for the smaller carriage printer, and in the final analysis the costs may not be much different but perhaps the quality would be. The head will last as long as it will last on any of these machines and the wallet hit is the same 650 bucks to replace it, regardless of the carriage width. I think this is OK, and given the fact that replacing this head is a matter of unwrapping it and dropping it into its carriage holder, in this respect gives it quite an advantage over the cost and trouble you'd go through changing an Epson head on any of the 17 inch professional models. If I had to change the head on my 4900, the printer goes into the recycle bin it's that expensive (but now into its 5th year, the head is still fine....). I don't know what they'll charge for a P800 head, but its unlikely to be much cheaper than the Canon head and on top of that requires a service tech to replace it - unless you are very adept at this kind of stuff and are prepared to put a considerable gob of time and effort into a DIY exercise. The HP solution for changing print heads is probably the most economical of the lot, but they don't make a 17" model in the Z series.

[MHMG]

As John mentioned HP is better on matte papers, but I believe that on photo paper (baryta, PE glossy-lustre-silk etc.) nothing can beat Canon iPF PRO

Just purchased a Z3200 based on Mark L's head's up on the great price at http://www.proimagingsupplies.com.  I have wanted a Z3200PS in house at Aardenburg Imaging & Archives for a long time, but price was always a barrier in the past.  Now, that I've had the Z for an entire two days in my studio I can say:  this printer should have captured way more of the pro photography and/or fine art printing atelier services market than it did. Print speed isn't a major factor in this market segment. Quality, Quality, and Quality is.  The HP Z2300Ps has brilliant "turn key" engineering that takes pretty much any media and calibrates it (with auto adjusted ink channel ramps) and then goes further to place an ICC profile of that same media into the correct OS system folder where it magically appears in the enduser's image editing app (photoshop, etc). A photographer-first printmaker-second enduser's dream!!. Superb image quality that more than holds its own against the latest offerings from Canon and Epson. And print longevity still likely to be best in class notwithstanding Epson's latest advances in its HD and HDX ink formulations, meanwhile Canon Pro-1000, 2000, and 4000 Lucia Pro inks still have ?? longevity ratings.  All of this goodness packaged into an ancient-by-digital imaging standards nearly 10 year old printer model design. Have to give HP engineers and color scientists plenty of credit for that.

What's not to like about the HP Z3200? Well, on that score, my last two days have been loaded up with plenty of WTF!!! moments. The documentation sucks, the Hp website has so many broken links to the relevant supplementary info cited in the user guides, etc., that it has been a very frustrating learning curve coming up to speed on how to make this Z3200 printer hit all of its many high notes.  So, the Z3200 has a very bi-polar personality. In the manic (I'm happy) phase, the concept of start-to-finish media calibration is amazing and the image quality is great, particularly for photographers and printmakers who don't want to make color science their secondary area of expertise. However, in the depression (I'm not happy) HP Z phase, the newcomer to this printer (even one like myself with years of experience in inkjet printing) is struggling to figure out simple skills like how to reliably load a cut sheet, how to build and implement more advanced ICC Profiles than HP has built in at the basic level, or even why sleep mode still keeps a hard drive and/or fan spinning?

But on the whole, I'm definitely impressed by how well the HPZ3200 has stood the test of time. Its printer model longevity is best-in-class right there along with the prints it churns out And initial image quality is not really limited by any of HP, Canon, or Epson's line of printers suited for fine art printmaking these days, (except for the fact that machines with gloss optimizers/enhancers do tend to outperform on luster/gloss media unless one post coats with a spray varnish like Premier Print Shield. HP's gloss enhancer is still as good as any I've seen). IMHO, initial print quality debates should really focus on the realities of excellent digital file preparation... Garbage in garbage out as they say. Superb quality in, superb quality out

kind regards,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

[Mark Lindquist]

The HP solution for changing print heads is probably the most economical of the lot, but they don't make a 17" model in the Z series.

Hello Mark,
Always enjoy your posts.  It's great to have you here on LuLa as a resource.  Thanks for all the writing and participating that you do.

Mark, open your left hand.  Spread it wide open.  With a tape measure, measure the distance between the end of your thumb and your pinky finger, both at the tips.
Mine measures about 8".  The distance between 17" and 24" is less than the distance of your open hand.
The 24" Z3200ps can do all 17" papers but can also go a hand-width larger to 24".  A 24" roll of paper can be printed landscape to make 17" x 24" prints.

Obviously I'm simplifying things, but in my very humble opinion, the distance of the span of a hand's breadth could open enormous possibilities, especially with the embedded spectrophotometer, and the other papers available, both 17" and 24".

Again, just my perspective.  If space is at a premium, then a 17" printer makes sense, but it still has a fairly large footprint as well.

The HP solution for changing print heads is probably the most economical of the lot, but they don't make a 17" model in the Z series.

And yes, it is unquestionably the most economical.  But they do make a 24" printer that will do 17"....

Mark

[Mark Lindquist]

Just purchased a Z3200 based on Mark L's head's up on the great price at http://www.proimagingsupplies.com.  I have wanted a Z3200PS in house at Aardenburg Imaging & Archives for a long time, but price was always a barrier in the past.  Now, that I've had the Z for an entire two days in my studio I can say:  this printer should have captured way more of the pro photography and/or fine art printing atelier services market than it did. Print speed isn't a major factor in this market segment. Quality, Quality, and Quality is.  The HP Z2300Ps has brilliant "turn key" engineering that takes pretty much any media and calibrates it (with auto adjusted ink channel ramps) and then goes further to place an ICC profile of that same media into the correct OS system folder where it magically appears in the enduser's image editing app (photoshop, etc). A photographer-first printmaker-second enduser's dream!!. Superb image quality that more than holds its own against the latest offerings from Canon and Epson. And print longevity still likely to be best in class notwithstanding Epson's latest advances in its HD and HDX ink formulations, meanwhile Canon Pro-1000, 2000, and 4000 Lucia Pro inks still have ?? longevity ratings.  All of this goodness packaged into an ancient-by-digital imaging standards nearly 10 year old printer model design. Have to give HP engineers and color scientists plenty of credit for that.

What's not to like about the HP Z3200? Well, on that score, my last two days have been loaded up with plenty of WTF!!! moments. The documentation sucks, the Hp website has so many broken links to the relevant supplementary info cited in the user guides, etc., that it has been a very frustrating learning curve coming up to speed on how to make this Z3200 printer hit all of its many high notes.  So, the Z3200 has a very bi-polar personality. In the manic (I'm happy) phase, the concept of start-to-finish media calibration is amazing and the image quality is great, particularly for photographers and printmakers who don't want to make color science their secondary area of expertise. However, in the depression (I'm not happy) HP Z phase, the newcomer to this printer (even one like myself with years of experience in inkjet printing) is struggling to figure out simple skills like how to reliably load a cut sheet, how to build and implement more advanced ICC Profiles than HP has built in at the basic level, or even why sleep mode still keeps a hard drive and/or fan spinning?

But on the whole, I'm definitely impressed by how well the HPZ3200 has stood the test of time. Its printer model longevity is best-in-class right there along with the prints it churns out And initial image quality is not really limited by any of HP, Canon, or Epson's line of printers suited for fine art printmaking these days, (except for the fact that machines with gloss optimizers/enhancers do tend to outperform on luster/gloss media unless one post coats with a spray varnish like Premier Print Shield. HP's gloss enhancer is still as good as any I've seen). IMHO, initial print quality debates should really focus on the realities of excellent digital file preparation... Garbage in garbage out as they say. Superb quality in, superb quality out

kind regards,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

Congratulations Mark!  I'm so glad you have a Z now.  Nice going.
Also, it's wonderful to have you here on Lula and thanks also to you for your great work and your contributions.
You're going to love that new printer.  Fantastic!

By The Way, A technique for loading sheets I learned from Ernst Dinkla many years ago, is to load the sheets from the back of the printer on top of the spindle, straight in via the path that the roll paper would take.  You can leave a roll of paper on there and load straight in on top of it as well.  Apply gentle pressure to the opposite side of the sheet against the hub of the spindle making sure it is parallel with the spindle hub going in and most often it will load perfectly.
I never have to reload anymore since using this technique.  Thanks Ernst!!!

-Mark

[deanwork]

Royce,

Thank you so much for taking the time to review the P10K as it relates to your real world experience. I would rather have one description like yours than 20 " reviews " by people who borrow a machine for a week and then make useless observations.

Just in reading your experience with it I am pretty much already turned off by it and most likely the P20K that I was seriously thinking of acquiring. It's the clogs man, and the bs head cleanings, and the uncertainty of whether or not the 40x60 print you are running is going to end up in the trash because one nozzle is halfway missing for no reason at all. If you are having issues like that already in such a production environment where a lot of ink is going through it, that's a really bad sign for someone like me who doesn't run massive amounts of material through it everyday. If they can't make these piezzo heads function any better than that after, what, 18 years of development, then I don't think they ever will.

I will be very interested to hear about your experience with the P20K if you could pass on a little about it.
I know for someone like you saving on ink cost is really a big deal.

But for someone like me, I just can't imagine not continuing to use the thermal head systems. My Canon and HP are just ready to go, always. No dicking around with them, just send the file to the printer and go do something else.

John

[Mark D Segal]

Again, just my perspective.  If space is at a premium, then a 17" printer makes sense, ....
Mark

I can't accommodate a printer that size in the space I have; the Z3200 is discontinued according to B&H, and the Z3200ps costs close to 4000 USD. Non-starter for any one with my kind of requirements and space, given the other choices we have.

[Mark Lindquist]

I can't accommodate a printer that size in the space I have; the Z3200 is discontinued according to B&H, and the Z3200ps costs close to 4000 USD. Non-starter for any one with my kind of requirements and space, given the other choices we have.

Mark, the Z3200 printers have been discontinued long ago.
Right now, ProImagingSupplies has the 24" Z3200ps on sale at $2,795.00 and free shipping
24" Z Series 3200ps on sale

HP replaced the Z3200 Series with the Z3200ps (Post Script) years ago.

Not that you would buy one of these, but just for the record.

Mark L

[Mark D Segal]

Mark, the Z3200 printers have been discontinued long ago.
Right now, ProImagingSupplies has the 24" Z3200ps on sale at $2,795.00 and free shipping
.............

HP replaced the Z3200 Series with the Z3200ps (Post Script) years ago.

Not that you would buy one of these, but just for the record.

Mark L

OK thanks. I have to admit HP hasn't been on my radar as I wouldn't have been able to accommodate it.

[MHMG]

Yup, and with the 44 inch HPZ3200ps version priced only $200 higher at $2995 with free shipping in the US, and space not being a serious issue for me, it was a no-brainer decision to opt for the 44 inch model

All the best,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

[Mark Lindquist]

OK thanks. I have to admit HP hasn't been on my radar as I wouldn't have been able to accommodate it.

I understand.  I had an Epson 4800 Pro and I loved it.  That thing was built like a tank.  Had it on its own stand.
Now the one thing I know after having the Z3200 24" (an earlier model), is that it's easy as can be to roll the printer around.
Sometimes I store it perpendicular to the wall to save space, then just roll it out to print.
I actually roll it around to get at it to load paper from the back easier.
It's light weight and and super easy to move.  It will go through doorways and down the hall.
The Epson 4800 Pro wouldn't go through a door on its stand.  What a pain.

[Mark Lindquist]

Yup, and with the 44 inch HPZ3200ps version priced only $200 higher at $2995 with no taxes and free shipping in the US, and space not being a serious issue for me, it was a no-brainer decision to opt for the 44 inch model

All the best,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

I know, right?  It's actually the identical printer, just 20 inches longer of extrusions and plastics, LOL
It really is a no-brainer for that price.

Hope you enjoy it Mark.  Any questions, feel free to PM me.

Regards,

Mark

[deanwork]

Sheet loading on the Z is really not a problem once you get beyond the 8.5x11 size IF #1- the paper is totally flat, very important #2. the paper is totally equal on all sides. What I do it flatten out the sheets cut from a roll in my dry mount press and trim it equally on my rototrim. I use 11x17 size and print two 8.5x11s on it by rotating the sheet. Never a problem. Just don't put curled roll paper in there. Better to print on the roll than do that, which I usually do.

My experience with feeding from the back has not been good unless the paper is totally flat. I actually jammed a print today when it was't totally flat feeding from the back. That knocked one of the print heads loose and I had to reload it. First time that has happened in 8.5 years.  If it is totally flat then feeding from the front works just as well.

The reason this great printer never took off in the art market is clearly HPs horrible marketing. The engineers did a brilliant job and the sales people, as they often do, dropped the ball. Epson's offerings at the time, and Canon as well were way behind and HP blew it.

The other issue as Mark G. pointed out is their website is a maze of disfunctional disunity. It has always amazed me that such a giant historic tec company can't design and even basically competent website. It boggles the mind.

I spent all day trying to figure out sofware driver and firmware when Microsoft brilliantly decided to replace my Windows 8 platform with Windows 10 without my permission. That is not hPs fault, that's Microsoft.

But when the little gliches and operations are figured out, it is still the best fine art printing machine ever made for the price. For BW that machine still puts Epson and Canon to shame. And, it doesn't waste ANY ink, and it doesn't clog, ever.

John

[MHMG]

Hope you enjoy it Mark.  Any questions, feel free to PM me.

Regards,

Mark

Mark, I will likely take you up on your kind offer. I do want to get the very most goodness out of this printer, and you, Ernst, Dean, and others seem like you really know every nuance of this intriguing printer!   I'm also very interested in using the Z for making digital film negatives to use with alternative processes (albumen, platinum, palladium, etc). I know that this workflow had been worked out very well circa 2011 by someone at HP and demonstrated in practice with amazing results by numerous others, but all of the info on how to do it seems to have been expunged from the HP website. Other leads are slim so far as I can tell.  I realize it's a niche market within a niche market, probably only a handful of people worldwide keen to actually try it, but it's the halo marketing effect. The fact the the HP Z3200 could produce wonderful enlarged photo negatives on film for use with 19th and 20th century salted print and printing-out paper processes has a "coolness" factor that goes way beyond typical marketing hype for today's latest inkjet printers. I want to try this workflow and also document that work on my website if possible. My company is only 8 miles away from Chicago Albumen Works (http://www.albumenworks.com), a company owned by a colleague of mine and that specializes in these old print chemistries (go figure we both ended up here in the Berkshires of Massachusetts), so it seems logical to use the Z to make some modern digital negatives for said purpose.

best,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

[Mark Lindquist]

Mark, I will likely take you up on your kind offer. I do want to get the very most goodness out of this printer, and you, Ernst, Dean, and others seem like you really know every nuance of this intriguing printer!   I'm also very interested in using the Z for making digital film negatives to use with alternative processes (albumen, platinum, palladium, etc). I know that this workflow had been worked out very well circa 2011 by someone at HP and demonstrated in practice with amazing results by numerous others, but all of the info on how to do it seems to have been expunged from the HP website. Other leads are slim so far as I can tell.  I realize it's a niche market within a niche market, probably only a handful of people worldwide keen to actually try it, but it's the halo marketing effect. The fact the the HP Z3200 could produce wonderful enlarged photo negatives on film for use with 19th and 20th century salted print and printing-out paper processes has a "coolness" factor that goes way beyond typical marketing hype for today's latest inkjet printers. I want to try this workflow and also document that work on my website if possible. My company is only 8 miles away from Chicago Albumen Works (http://www.albumenworks.com), a company owned by a colleague of mine and that specializes in these old print chemistries (go figure we both ended up here in the Berkshires of Massachusetts), so it seems logical to use the Z to make some modern digital negatives for said purpose.

best,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

Anytime Mark.  Years ago when I was living in New Hampshire, a friend built a photo studio on my property (it was the late 60's early 70's) and he began making 4' x 5' negatives in a homemade wood and fiberglass sink that had water coming from the nearby stream to wash the negatives, gravity fed.  The negatives were from original 4x5 camera negs that were taken of ancient india miniatures - drawings/etchings on loan from the Fogg Museum at Harvard.  So he'd make these huge negatives from the 4x5 negs by projecting them.  Then he'd develop huge 4' x 5' sheet film, wash it, dry it, then he'd make contact prints in a press that was exposed to mercury vapor lights.  He coated his own paper then developed it in the daerkroom sink.  Amazing prints.  We had an agreement that he would stay only a year or two, then he left and went to Cambridge, and formed a specialty platinum and paladium printing paper company.  So. I have an understanding about what you're talking about, particularly as we used to run a fine art printing B&W lab in NH specializing in archival prints, being influenced by Fred Picker.

You can do pretty much what you want to do along those lines with the Z3200ps, it's just that film can't be calibrated or profiled since there is no white point.  Apparently Pictorico film works and can be profiled.
You would have to check with Ernst and John, but I believe you can use HP's own film and use their canned profile, and or allow the printer to control it.  There are many ways to skin that (those) cat(s).

I expect you would do best figuring it out yourself however, particularly with your knowledge and experience, experimenting could in fact bring about a "gift of the machine" that could be the Eureka moment for your quest to find the best analog/digital combination process.

There's a lot on the web still.  And there are videos.  I agree that unfortunately the HP material has been expunged, almost as though it has been redacted.  Strange.

Good luck in experimenting.  I know the Z will make a great companion tool. 

BTW, the Z needs to stay powered on at all times so the micro drop technology can work and do its thing.
The fan is loud, one of the cons of the printer.  Forget about changing it out unless you want to tear down half the printer.  I have outlined what it takes to change it out,

Here - replacing the Z3200ps Fan
 
Have fun getting your hands wet again in the darkroom.

Mark

[MHMG]

BTW, the Z needs to stay powered on at all times so the micro drop technology can work and do its thing.
The fan is loud, one of the cons of the printer.  Forget about changing it out unless you want to tear down half the printer.  I have outlined what it takes to change it out,

Here - replacing the Z3200ps Fan
 

The noise of the machine in standby mode doesn't bother me (maybe it should, but it doesn't) It's the fact that something electro-mechanical is running and drawing power in sleep mode  (how Energy Star efficiency rated can that be?) which surprised me. Seems like one should power this printer down totally at the end of business day to save on electricity consumption, but I do understand that in sleep mode the printer powers up periodically and runs some kind of nozzle check/maintenance exercise. Begs the question, could one turn it totally off at night, but power it up and let it go standby during daylight hours with enough time for the printer to run it's nozzle maintenance routine, routinely enough to keep the print heads in good health? The Z3200 user guide speaks of three different power states, including one where the printer is totally off but still connected to an electrical outlet. Again, HP documentation, when you can find the relevant bits, is just enough to give some basic insight but begging lots more questions. Aargh!!

[Mark Lindquist]

Yes, I understand, about the power consumption thing,  I remember reading that it uses less than a 50 watt lightbulb during the power down routine.  For anyone who uses the printer in their home, it could be an issue because of the noise, etc. Still, walking into my print studio, it's just fans and the ocassional click clack of the printers going through their routines. Almost surreal.

[Royce Howland]

Thank you so much for taking the time to review the P10K as it relates to your real world experience. [...] Just in reading your experience with it I am pretty much already turned off by it and most likely the P20K that I was seriously thinking of acquiring. It's the clogs man, and the bs head cleanings, and the uncertainty of whether or not the 40x60 print you are running is going to end up in the trash because one nozzle is halfway missing for no reason at all. If you are having issues like that already in such a production environment where a lot of ink is going through it, that's a really bad sign for someone like me who doesn't run massive amounts of material through it everyday. If they can't make these piezzo heads function any better than that after, what, 18 years of development, then I don't think they ever will.

I will be very interested to hear about your experience with the P20K if you could pass on a little about it.

No problem, John. I will be working up the P20K this week, while we're technically closed for the Christmas - New Years break. I'll pass on observations on it once I have a few ml of ink through it. When I do, I'll start a new thread specifically for commentary on these Epson models.

I agree, I think Epson and clogs are together forever at this point. Or at least until such time as they give up their current piezo head technology. We hoped to see some kind of -- really, even the slightest -- improvement in clogging with the P10K / P20K, given the significantly changed head design and the new inkset. But so far, no joy in that regard. I haven't given up all hope that some combination of the self-cleaning settings might reach a happier medium than we're currently experiencing. Even so we're disappointed about what we're seeing. But we're also still wedded to at least a significant Epson presence for other reasons -- just too many ecosystem tie-ins for us to drop Epson completely.

However we have certain applications where the Canon could be beneficial, so I do want to take a hard look at the PRO-4000. I spent a lot of time with the Canon 8300 and 8400 a few years back, working to set up some printing workshops in conjunction with a local Canon operation (ImageSquare) that subsequently got shut down. The printers were decent, and the PRO-4000 looks like a meaningful update that would scratch some itches for us...

[deanwork]

Mark,

I had this info somewhere regarding the workflow of making inkjet negs on the Pictorico OHP film.

There was a guy who posted to this very forum who designed it and HP didn't support him, but his work was excellent by all accounts.

It is interesting you say this because I'm going to be setting up in Jan to do this  myself. I'm very interested in doing platinum over inkjet and large monochrome gum bichromate. I will be setting up Cones Piezography Pro inkset in an old Epson 7800 to start. His resolution is amazing and they will have linearizations for most of the 19th C media to start from. At the same time I am going to be comparing those results with what I can get out of my Z3100. I talked to that guy about 5 years ago who set up the Hp system and he said I can do the same thing on the 3100 but he didn't offer curves that could be loaded, I would have to do that myself. Essentially he tested all the hue possibilities and he found that using green gave the best results, at least for platinum and silver contact prints. There is someone out there I know who has those curves for your printer with it all set up. We need to search for them. I used to have them but can't find them now.

I did make some curves using a self assigned green toning in photoshop and trial and error curve construction for printing a clients files on silver printing out paper. The client loved them, and to be honest I didn't spend much time on creating them but I was really surprised. It would certainly be a lot easier for alternative process. These days you can get the OHP film in big rolls so I'm dying to do some really big gum prints, brush strokes and all. Just need a giant piece of heavy glass and a big light set up.

For someone with your technical abilities I would certainly also look into Mark Nelson's precision dig negs. This guy has put more thought into this process than anyone and if you are going to silver I would definitely look into it - https://www.precisiondigitalnegatives.com/

john

john

[nirpat89]

It is interesting you say this because I'm going to be setting up in Jan to do this  myself. I'm very interested in doing platinum over inkjet and large monochrome gum bichromate. I will be setting up Cones Piezography Pro inkset in an old Epson 7800 to start. His resolution is amazing and they will have linearizations for most of the 19th C media to start from. At the same time I am going to be comparing those results with what I can get out of my Z3100. I talked to that guy about 5 years ago who set up the Hp system and he said I can do the same thing on the 3100 but he didn't offer curves that could be loaded, I would have to do that myself. Essentially he tested all the hue possibilities and he found that using green gave the best results, at least for platinum and silver contact prints. There is someone out there I know who has those curves for your printer with it all set up. We need to search for them. I used to have them but can't find them now.

I did make some curves using a self assigned green toning in photoshop and trial and error curve construction for printing a clients files on silver printing out paper. The client loved them, and to be honest I didn't spend much time on creating them but I was really surprised. It would certainly be a lot easier for alternative process. These days you can get the OHP film in big rolls so I'm dying to do some really big gum prints, brush strokes and all. Just need a giant piece of heavy glass and a big light set up.

For someone with your technical abilities I would certainly also look into Mark Nelson's precision dig negs. This guy has put more thought into this process than anyone and if you are going to silver I would definitely look into it - https://www.precisiondigitalnegatives.com/

john

john

I have spent a good part of last few months developing my process for printing on Centennial POP (incidentally made by Chicago Albumen Works, long since discontinued) a box of which had been sitting in my fridge for about 10 years that is still good.  I am using Pictorico on HP B9180 (baby brother of the z's) to make my digital negatives.  My optimum color for getting the whitest white specific to that particular paper turned out to be R/G/B of 61/118/0.  The correction curve can be created once you have established the exposure times and the negative color and of course the particular optical+chemical process one is embarking on.  My next project is to tackle salt prints which will involves additional but non-trivial steps of preparing the sensitzed paper by coating the chemistry as well.

[kers]

Yes, I understand, about the power consumption thing,  I remember reading that it uses less than a 50 watt lightbulb during the power down routine.  For anyone who uses the printer in their home, it could be an issue because of the noise, etc. Still, walking into my print studio, it's just fans and the ocassional click clack of the printers going through their routines. Almost surreal.

I just measured the power consumption of some equipment in my house...

Printer HPZ3100

standby  23 watt                             
standbye but active = 40 watt      
printing ca 60-80  watt

i calculated it costs me about 40€ a year...but i do not have a printing business