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Author Topic: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video  (Read 13608 times)

Mark Lindquist

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HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« on: June 20, 2019, 03:31:45 pm »

Hi guys -

As several of you already know, HP sent me a DesignJet 24 inch Z9+ printer.

I've just uploaded an unboxing and setup video that may give many of you a more clear picture of what the Z9+ is about.

HP DESIGNJET UNBOXING AND SETUP

At this point, even though I've done several tests with MHMG and am working on more for the future, I've made several prints, and while continuing printing and testing will likely do a review sometime in the near future.

I'm impressed with the printer, there's a lot to like, and there's always some disappointments.  These things will come out in my review.

I feel like I have to apologize for the casual approach and shaky iPhone camera work, but it is what it is.

Hoping some of you will find this helpful.

Best,

Mark

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mcbroomf

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2019, 04:47:54 pm »

Thanks Mark, looking forward to the review ...
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rdonson

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2019, 09:42:10 pm »

Thanks for sharing, Mark.  Things have sure come a long way from the Z3100.  ;D
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Ron

capital

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2019, 10:58:15 pm »

An interesting first look at this new printer, thank you for your video posting.

I am considering the HP Z9+ having used the Epson 4880 for almost ten years now, I am thinking about a wider carriage printer.

I primarily print with hahnemuhle photo rag baryta sheets. Might you test out how the the Z9+ handles with sheets, and Bartya surfaces? Any issues with the paper path marking up the surface via roller marks, etc.

The test prints that HP sent out with this printer have been panned by most who gotten them, have you formed any opinion on the output given you have full control over the output?

What kind of print tuning can be done, on the Epson's you can increase ink density from stock, is a similar process possible to obtain more vivid colors?

Do you have any gut opinion on the dual drop output for the ink system, prone to more clogging/issues, or overall benefits?

Was the addition of the gloss enhancer a benefit for printing?


 
« Last Edit: June 20, 2019, 11:40:05 pm by capital »
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kers

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2019, 06:42:26 am »

Hi Mark, thanks for the video;
Do i understand the printheads are all uniform and get their specific colors with the ink from the printer?
a color touchscreen WOW, but still no voice control! ;)
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Mark Lindquist

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2019, 08:49:12 am »

Thanks for sharing, Mark.  Things have sure come a long way from the Z3100.  ;D

Hi Ron, always good to hear from you.  Glad you saw the video. Things definitely have come a long way from the Z3100. Anyone can unbox, setup and get going right away with this printer, and I can say that HP has absolutely knocked it out of the park again, particularly with black and white, which was the Z3100’s strength.

Mark
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Mark Lindquist
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Mark Lindquist

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2019, 09:15:41 am »

An interesting first look at this new printer, thank you for your video posting.

I am considering the HP Z9+ having used the Epson 4880 for almost ten years now, I am thinking about a wider carriage printer.

I primarily print with hahnemuhle photo rag baryta sheets. Might you test out how the the Z9+ handles with sheets, and Bartya surfaces? Any issues with the paper path marking up the surface via roller marks, etc.

The test prints that HP sent out with this printer have been panned by most who gotten them, have you formed any opinion on the output given you have full control over the output?

What kind of print tuning can be done, on the Epson's you can increase ink density from stock, is a similar process possible to obtain more vivid colors?

Do you have any gut opinion on the dual drop output for the ink system, prone to more clogging/issues, or overall benefits?

Was the addition of the gloss enhancer a benefit for printing?

I have printed on Baryte papers, and using the in-house custom icc profile generated by the embedded spectrophotometer, it is possible to create custom profiles in the Utility that allow a certain amount of tinkering. For heavier papers I move to star wheels up, and ink limits are adjustable within any given profile being made. There is a lot of flexibility actually making your own profile, or defining the preset, creating the paper before a canned profile is installed from a paper manufacturer. In this regard, nothing has changed in terms of making the standard custom ICC profile, in-house with the Z9+.  This printer is fast. Light years faster than the Z3200ps printer.

Re: Dual Drop and Pixel Control, they’ve knocked this out of the park again, as well. There is serious mojo going on with their new technology - so much so that that side by side comparisons with many prints from the Z3200 are virtually indistinguishable. Others, not so much.  To get color matched prints with pastels, it requires careful soft-proofing and in some cases could require custom profiles.

Overall, I’m impressed with the Z9+.  There’s a lot of power and accuracy in this machine.

I’m not sure what happened with the test prints sent out - I’ve not seen them. Any test prints made at trade shows will be average prints, without having a clue how to tweak the printer to get the most out of it.  This is always the story with printers. Only operators who know what they are doing will make exceptional prints. All others will make “good” prints based on what image is sent through.

Also, yes, the Gloss Enhancer does benefit prints subject to bronzing.

Thanks for your questions Capital.

Mark
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Mark Lindquist

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2019, 09:24:33 am »

Hi Mark, thanks for the video;
Do i understand the printheads are all uniform and get their specific colors with the ink from the printer?
a color touchscreen WOW, but still no voice control! ;)

Hi Pieter,
Yep, each printhead is identical and pulls ink from the system. So when you need to replace a printhead, any in stock will do. Of course, this means there must be enough ink in the cartridge to do it. This is a big improvement when you think about it. Just a few generic printheads can be stocked and from then on, we’re covered in the event of printhead failure. I think it’s great.

Not sure I would want voice control, (knowing that you’re kidding), and I certainly wouldn’t want Siri nagging at me to close the cover, lol.

Mark

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kers

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2019, 12:29:31 pm »

Apart form the print quality I am very interested in the gamut and the longlivety;
The latter will take some years i guess. (Did you already send some to Mark for testing?)
The Gamut might be better then the Z3200 if I listen to the names chromatic-Red,-Blue and -Green.
Keep up the good work !  PK



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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2019, 09:09:59 am »

Why do you think this printer has seemingly gone nowhere since its launch over a year ago?
Mark
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Mark Lindquist

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2019, 09:18:54 am »

Apart form the print quality I am very interested in the gamut and the longlivety;
The latter will take some years i guess. (Did you already send some to Mark for testing?)
The Gamut might be better then the Z3200 if I listen to the names chromatic-Red,-Blue and -Green.
Keep up the good work !  PK

Gamut is something that is being studied right now. That will be addressed in my review.
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Mark Lindquist
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Mark Lindquist

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #11 on: June 22, 2019, 09:35:23 am »

Why do you think this printer has seemingly gone nowhere since its launch over a year ago?
Mark

Hi Mark -
I have theories, but it’s hard to say for sure. Since this is a ground up new build for this printer HP is doing many firmware upgrades that are still addressing bugs, etc.
My main understanding is that HP is involved with major projects such as 3D printing on a major scale and they have several other printers - Dye Sub and Latex that are being developed and manufactured that may be taking precedence currently.

Frankly, the Z6 and Z9 printers have not been their priority, is my guess. They just haven’t pushed it which is perplexing. My guess is that they’ve been too busy with other things. They’re beginning to move on it however. I think of it as a “late bloomer”. It really is an amazing printer - a lot to like.

Another thing, HP printers are sold throughout the world.  It’s difficult to say why it seems like it has not gone anywhere in our area. Other than what I’ve speculated above, I don’t have an answer.

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #12 on: June 22, 2019, 01:20:36 pm »

Thanks for the info Mark. They sound very promising and if they offer a motorized take up reel you could even do production work with them. Canon and Epson offer very high quality for that area at 1440 ppi and bi directional speeds, .....not sure how bi directional looks on the new HPs. It was not usable for me on the 3200s.

Yes, they have Much bigger fish to fry beyond selling  pigment printers for gallery exhibitions. I am curious why they never pushed desktop models with the Vivera inks though. That is a lot of ink sales for Epson and Canon.,

They are a producer of huge industrial products like flatbed dye sub and commercial latex tech and the art photographic market is peanuts to them ( though they might not admit it ). I’ve heard from techs that at their product training seminars the Z series are pushed off in a corner somewhere and hardly discussed. But when a company has these kinds of resources, they can invent great things that trickle down to us, eventually.

Two of the the big areas appear to be the cannabis industry and 3 and 4 D manufacturing..Seriously.
 The latter, changing the shape of an object after it has been printed is futuristic mind blowing stuff.

http://view.americas.links.hp.com/?qs=8a6a5b216ba8aaf6d504deb910fb07c824fbb2cf50035155912f46a50118576936b069c211a8c1cae47823fe85e7d8bd6ce61ead43e103eec088ed0767a491f263a7e5fd1fae095fac605ae72ef63f8b

John




Hi Mark -
I have theories, but it’s hard to say for sure. Since this is a ground up new build for this printer HP is doing many firmware upgrades that are still addressing bugs, etc.
My main understanding is that HP is involved with major projects such as 3D printing on a major scale and they have several other printers - Dye Sub and Latex that are being developed and manufactured that may be taking precedence currently.

Frankly, the Z6 and Z9 printers have not been their priority, is my guess. They just haven’t pushed it which is perplexing. My guess is that they’ve been too busy with other things. They’re beginning to move on it however. I think of it as a “late bloomer”. It really is an amazing printer - a lot to like.

Another thing, HP printers are sold throughout the world.  It’s difficult to say why it seems like it has not gone anywhere in our area. Other than what I’ve speculated above, I don’t have an answer.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2019, 01:56:24 pm by deanwork »
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felix5616

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #13 on: June 24, 2019, 03:14:10 pm »

How does the color gamut of the Z9+ with fewer inks compare with the color gamut Z3200 ?
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Mark Lindquist

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #14 on: June 25, 2019, 03:51:43 pm »

Thanks for the info Mark. They sound very promising and if they offer a motorized take up reel you could even do production work with them. Canon and Epson offer very high quality for that area at 1440 ppi and bi directional speeds, .....not sure how bi directional looks on the new HPs. It was not usable for me on the 3200s.

Yes, they have Much bigger fish to fry beyond selling  pigment printers for gallery exhibitions. I am curious why they never pushed desktop models with the Vivera inks though. That is a lot of ink sales for Epson and Canon.,

They are a producer of huge industrial products like flatbed dye sub and commercial latex tech and the art photographic market is peanuts to them ( though they might not admit it ). I’ve heard from techs that at their product training seminars the Z series are pushed off in a corner somewhere and hardly discussed. But when a company has these kinds of resources, they can invent great things that trickle down to us, eventually.

Two of the the big areas appear to be the cannabis industry and 3 and 4 D manufacturing..Seriously.
 The latter, changing the shape of an object after it has been printed is futuristic mind blowing stuff.

http://view.americas.links.hp.com/?qs=8a6a5b216ba8aaf6d504deb910fb07c824fbb2cf50035155912f46a50118576936b069c211a8c1cae47823fe85e7d8bd6ce61ead43e103eec088ed0767a491f263a7e5fd1fae095fac605ae72ef63f8b

John

Hi John -
Thanks for that link - it really is amazing what HP is into, especially for the future. Actually they did have a desktop model that used Vivera inks, long ago, but they just abandoned it after a while.
I think you would be very happy with the Z9+'s Black and White capabilities. Definitely a welcome surprise.

-Mark

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2019, 11:48:47 am »

Mark,

Is it going to be possible to produce the mega patch icc profiles with the Z9+, or is that not necessary.





Hi John -
Thanks for that link - it really is amazing what HP is into, especially for the future. Actually they did have a desktop model that used Vivera inks, long ago, but they just abandoned it after a while.
I think you would be very happy with the Z9+'s Black and White capabilities. Definitely a welcome surprise.

-Mark
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Mark Lindquist

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #16 on: June 26, 2019, 12:18:41 pm »

Mark,

Is it going to be possible to produce the mega patch icc profiles with the Z9+, or is that not necessary.

The embedded Spectrophotometer makes exceptional custom profiles, which for most cases is perfect.

I have made a 10,445 Aardenburg Mega patch ICC profile (among others) using the Z3200ps to generate the reference file and finally to read the target and it is exceptional. Definitely a workaround, but the results are well worth it.
In most cases, the 464 patch target ICC Profile works very well.  Difficult prints get the 10445 patch target ICC profile.
Best of both worlds.

But the standard 464 custom profile is fine for printing B+W.
The spectrophotometer runs at 2.5 times faster than the Z3200ps - which is awesome.
Good news for you John - the custom ICC profile for Canson Platine provided by Canson works beautifully.  Could not be happier,

-Mark

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Mark Lindquist

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #17 on: June 26, 2019, 12:20:47 pm »

How does the color gamut of the Z9+ with fewer inks compare with the color gamut Z3200 ?

Hi Felix,  This is an issue being carefully studied as stated in a previous thread, earlier.
It seems like it's going to be a photo finish with the Z3200ps however....

Mark
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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #18 on: June 27, 2019, 08:06:22 am »

From what you've seen so far, how does this printer compare to the Z3200 in terms of ease of use and maintenance for occasional, low-volume users?

Most photographers would fall into this category - not printing every day, sometimes going weeks, or even months, between prints, if going away for long shooting trips. Epson printers are notoriously bad for this - they are designed for constant, heavy use, such as in print shops, and, for low-volume or infrequent users, the prints ruined due to clogs, paper spent un-clogging heads, and, eventually, replacement of badly-clogged heads made some models not worth owning. Even with the newer, less clog-prone models, ink wasted in cleaning cycles can rapidly add up - gram for gram, ink costs more than gold. This, as much as the inkset itself, was the strength of the Z3100/Z3200 - I hope the new model has continued this.
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Mark Lindquist

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Re: HP Z9+ Unboxing and Setup Video
« Reply #19 on: June 27, 2019, 04:11:40 pm »

From what you've seen so far, how does this printer compare to the Z3200 in terms of ease of use and maintenance for occasional, low-volume users?

Most photographers would fall into this category - not printing every day, sometimes going weeks, or even months, between prints, if going away for long shooting trips. Epson printers are notoriously bad for this - they are designed for constant, heavy use, such as in print shops, and, for low-volume or infrequent users, the prints ruined due to clogs, paper spent un-clogging heads, and, eventually, replacement of badly-clogged heads made some models not worth owning. Even with the newer, less clog-prone models, ink wasted in cleaning cycles can rapidly add up - gram for gram, ink costs more than gold. This, as much as the inkset itself, was the strength of the Z3100/Z3200 - I hope the new model has continued this.

Hey Shadowblade -

I haven't had the printer long enough to talk about clogs or potential clogging. The  Z9+ is quiet - it doesn't have a fan running 24/7/365 and so far I haven't heard it wake up and run a lap around the track like the Z3200ps does.  This is not to say it doesn't exercise - it's just that I haven't been there when it did. The fact that the printheads are generic is a good step in the right direction since having a few on hand covers the entire inkset in the event of a clogged printhead.  HP has pretty much got all bases covered at this point it seems, so I have no doubt they have continued their stellar track record in the realm of non-clogging printheads. Time will tell of course, but this ain't your daddy's Z3200 - this is a whole 'nother printer, and it's really amazing.  It's taking time to understand it and the differences between it and the Z3200ps.  While I'm happy to have this printer in my studio, I'm not ready to pitch all the other Z3200's and replace them with Z9's just yet.  :-)

Mark
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