Paper Handling - I asked for a picture of the rollers or star wheels assembly to see what they are using. I am concerned with handling of the paper surface. I had a Z3100 with the star wheels. the star wheels tended to leave faint marks on the baryta paper. HP flew a tech from Boise to my studio on Salt Spring Island and retro fit my printer with a device which lifted the star wheels assembly. I was the first client to have the fix, they than applied the same fix to other machines.
GE - I asked for info on the GE and when was it applied. I was told the GE is applied to all areas where values are less than 255. If you have values of 255 for specular highlights the GE will not be applied. This was similar with the Z3100. I thought it would be better to just apply the GE to the print image area.
I am not a fan of rear feed loading printers, its what it is and I will get used to it again if I decide to dump the 8400.
I did mention to HP about getting a proper test of the printer done By Kevin Raber, or Northlight images. I gave them Kevin's contact email address. As well, I mentioned the poor test prints which were provided to me. I mentioned they might want to use better imagery, and better paper samples. We will see how my images from the Phase One XF IQ3 100 look on the Hahnemuhle paper.
I hope this helps. Does any one have any questions you want answered, does my list hit the major items?
Steven
Kevin Raber is the publisher/ceo on the LuLa staff. Keith Cooper is the man of Northlight images.
The original starwheel assembly did not function well on the Z3100, like the dark pressure rolls on paper transport that were not soft enough. The replacements (starwheel's bar raiser parts, tan colored pressure wheels) I got were alright for that model and I installed them myself. With the Z3200 there was no similar issue, it had the revised parts already installed so I doubt we will see this issue reappear in the Z9+.
There is a simple fix to get GE on all image elements, diminish the RGB 255,255,255 value to 254, 254, 255 with an action in Photoshop etc. In Qimage Ultimate a custom printer filter with only the R brought to 254 is sufficient, this will work on the fly in printing so does not affect the stored image data at all. As Qimage Ultimate can add borders separately in the printing phase no GE is appied on them either. With PS etc, borders have to be added after the action as described is applied.
Edit on all beneath;
Both the Z3100 and Z3200 had two choices to apply GE, image only (Economy) and overall. The above 255 limitation only applies to the Economy mode. I can not imagine that the Z9+ does not have both choices.
On the GE optional part; as I understand from the documentation there is one universal head that can be put in any of the head slots and will print whatever color inks available on that slot. Two ink channels per head. There are 9 tinted inks so one channel remains unused when the 5 heads are inserted. That will be the channel used when the optional GE part is purchased. I can imagine the kit has a GE primer cart to fill the tube or at least to fill the head half not used. I doubt the kit contains an extra tube but might have a software key acting on the cart chip etc. My hopes are still for a new GE fluid with improved scratch resistance possibly requiring some additional heating of the fluid near the head. Why otherwise this postponing when a normal Z3200 GE channel could be used.
My best guess is that the heads have no fluid in them as it must be difficult to charge them with ink without diluting the ink color with fluid already there. My best guess is the head is packaged with a more or less inert gas like nitrogen in the head and package. That would make them almost timeless in storing for HP, the distributors and the consumers. Having one or two heads always in reserve is an advantage for the users, to fill a potential 10-15ML buffer in a head when it is needed is hardly an issue in my opinion.
I think all head maintenance stations in inkjet printers try to be air tight on the heads when the printer is at rest. Possibly improved here when the heads initially have to be charged with ink by the maintenance peristaltic pump + the cartridge membrane pump(s). using the thermal heaters in the heads without ink in them is bad so will not be done. The heads of the Z series so far were all filled with ink so not universal.
On the cutters the docs say that most canvasses can be cut which is new for Z's.
The Z9+ 24" comes with the Color Center software too according the docs. Which makes absence of a spectrometer unlikely.
Edit 2: Just received a magazine with a short article on the Z9+ and Z6. Whether it is all correct has to be seen. The Z6 has a densitometer instead of the spectrometer on the Z9. I guess only for calibration usable then like the Canon iPF models had. Profiling for the Z6 has to be based on OEM profiles or profiles made outside the printer. The assumption that the 24"Z9 has no spectrometer could be a mistake with the Z6 in mind.
The highest patch number on the Z9+ should be 434. Seems very low to me. If true a spin off from the Z3200 profile creation tweaking discussed here may be needed for the Z9+ too.
The vertical cutter will not split two images next to one another on the roll, it is purely a cutter for the vertical side(s). According the article is the universal head filled with a neutral fluid. I really wonder how the charging of a new head works then.
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htmMarch 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots