New HP Z9+ Evaluation Video

[Ernst Dinkla]

Not sure what the fluid is in the Z9+ printhead Ernst - you would guess better than me I think.

Hope this answers some of your questions, Ernst.

Best,

Mark

The spindels are different compared to the Z3200?

On the heads: after my message I heard from a Canon user that a Canon head is also universal and can be put in one of the two slots to get filled by the inks of that slot. Probably squirts the fluid into a maintenance tank and then gets filled with the ink. He told me that when the printer decides that the head is at the end of its life, the ink is withdrawn again. Seemed unlikely to me. He also used a resetter on the head and could print longer but at some point odd stripes appeared (about 4 months later).

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

[deanwork]

Yes, the Canon IPF large format heads have been universal since the 8300 at least. They can be either right or left, but once they are initialized you can’t switch positions.

Sometimes after the error message of failure and the  printer stops, you can restart and continue printing if too many channels are not blocked. But that most often leads to banding unless it’s a color not being used at the moment.

If you print out the diagnostic chart you can see which channels and head is bad. It wastes quite a bit of ink changing heads and won’t let you do it if the ink cart or carts are too low. I’m sure the excess ink used in the process goes in the waste tank. You can see the levels go down. It doesn’t waste as much as an Epson head change but it wastes a lot.

The HPZs wastes no ink changing heads really as the heads hold very little ink. And of course they are about $80.00 US. 


John

The spindels are different compared to the Z3200?

On the heads: after my message I heard from a Canon user that a Canon head is also universal and can be put in one of the two slots to get filled by the inks of that slot. Probably squirts the fluid into a maintenance tank and then gets filled with the ink. He told me that when the printer decides that the head is at the end of its life, the ink is withdrawn again. Seemed unlikely to me. He also used a resetter on the head and could print longer but at some point odd stripes appeared (about 4 months later).

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

[Mark Lindquist]

The spindels are different compared to the Z3200?

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

The spindles are different compared to the Z3200's Ernst.  They have to be, because the Z9+ employs a geared drive to take up slack when loading the paper.  There's a toothed gear on the spindle itself that mates with the driving gear on the printer.  The spindle of the 24" is much beefier than the Z3200 24" spindle.  Serious upgrade.

Could you adapt the spindles?  Yeah, probably, by putting a gear cap on your z3200 spindles.  The caps could be 3D printed, unless that part could be bought from HP.  So good news I think.

Mark

[eternal camper]

So, I have looked at 2 24" printers,  the Canon Pro-2000, and the replacement Pro-2100, and the HP Z9+, coming from an Epson Stylus Pro 4900, and will probably order the Z9+ in the next week,
but want to get the best possible prints with my new printer so

I am editing my pics in LightRoom 6 Classic for the most part, but at times use Aurora HDR,  but only print using LR Classic print module

Does anyone have other suggestions as to which program to use to print as I really want my pictures to PoP?

Stephen

[deanwork]

Pop is not a viable technical term and should never be used to describe print quality.

So, I have looked at 2 24" printers,  the Canon Pro-2000, and the replacement Pro-2100, and the HP Z9+, coming from an Epson Stylus Pro 4900, and will probably order the Z9+ in the next week,
but want to get the best possible prints with my new printer so

I am editing my pics in LightRoom 6 Classic for the most part, but at times use Aurora HDR,  but only print using LR Classic print module

Does anyone have other suggestions as to which program to use to print as I really want my pictures to PoP?

Stephen

[eternal camper]

Pop is not a viable technical term and should never be used to describe print quality.


That is a very true statement and I do apologize

I should not use the word "pop"

but what Print programs do you use out there for consistent results from a calibrated monitor

Steve

[deanwork]

I use QImage hosted by Photoshop for my HPZ printers.

You can do a search for Q Image on this site and read a lot about its attributes.

John 

Pop is not a viable technical term and should never be used to describe print quality.


That is a very true statement and I do apologize

I should not use the word "pop"

but what Print programs do you use out there for consistent results from a calibrated monitor

Steve

[John Nollendorfs]

Pop is not a viable technical term and should never be used to describe print quality.


That is a very true statement and I do apologize

I should not use the word "pop"

but what Print programs do you use out there for consistent results from a calibrated monitor

Steve

Steve:
I also use Q-image to print to my HP printers. The interface is oddball, and takes getting used to. What I like about it, the program resamples your images on the fly for optimum image quality. It also  does very high quality output sharpening while it resamples your image. You  have a choice of how much of this output sharpening you want  applied.

When you talk about images "Popping", youi are probablyi referring to optimizing your files in Lightroom for the effect you are looking for. The "Popping"quality you desire can only be obtained with experience. Only you can determine when you have "over enhanced"your image with saturation, and contrast and other tools. They might "Pop", but is it what you really want?

What I really like about the HP Z 3XXXX printers is the ability to print a neutral looking image, due to using neutral tonal removal and substituting gray and Lt gray inks. This also might account for the great fade resistance the HP inks have compared to Canon and Epson.

Wish you good a good learning experience with the newZ9!

[Brad P]

Mark, great information from a trusted source.  Really enjoyed seeing your studio and work.  And personally, love the Bossa Nova. 

I’m going to take a final crack at fixing my Z3200 today and depending on how that goes, likely buy a new 44” printer.  I’ve mostly skillfully tore it pretty completely apart and repaired it over the years — “mostly” being the operative term and now it’s just getting old and cranky with a few screws missing.   I’m inclined to go with the Z9+, possibly a Canon, but have a few questions on the Z9+ if you don’t mind.     

1. Did HP ever fix the Windows interface?  Could use a MacBook for printing but with pain in the workflow. 

2. Any news on upgraded patch sets?   440 seems like a low number from what I’m accustomed to with Z3200 workarounds.  I could keep my z3200 in the garage assuming I get it operational, but again the pain factor arises and it would be in the garage for space reasons. 

3. Lastly, one thing I’ve loved about the Z3200 is the ability to fix it myself.  I’m in a pretty remote place and will want to do that at some point in time.   I see reports here that that might be a bit harder with the Z9 engineering.  I have faith HP, LPS and hopefully you will provide Internet means to do that, but any general prognosis or feelings on that would be appreciated especially in relation to Canon if possible. 

Thanks

[mfullana]

My Z3200 died, I contacted HP in order to speak with a rep reference purchasing the Z9. I left various messages, time passed and I decided to buy the Canon Pro 4000. Wouldn't you know that the day the Pro4000 was delivered I got a call from HP asking if I wanted to purchase a Z9. I consider HP to make great printers, but they are a little slow in responding.. Oh well..

[dgberg]

I have a like new z3200 for sale in Pa.

[stevel]

This thread makes me sad that HP got out of the pro desktop market.

Sure bringing one to market with a spectro would likely be to niche on price terms, but one without could still bring some of the other innovations and of course competition is good.

[chromebright]

My Epson 3800 died recently and I was able to sell the printer and inks on Craigslist just so I could clear some space for the new printer.

Very favorably impressed with the Z9+ and there is a rebate going on this month (Sept. 2020) so I may make the purchase later today.

Just curious about the test prints that Mark Lindquist made for John on the 24" Z9+ using standard profiling.  I never saw a follow-up post with the results.  John, would you have the time to post about your impression of the B&W prints on Mark's Z9+?

Thanks

Ken Susman
Mendocino, CA

[chromebright]

just plunked down the $

looking forward to the HP Z9+ 24"

Ken

[deanwork]

If you do a search on this site you can read my comments. In short, even with removing the light gray the tonal results from my file were excellent on matte and Platine satin fiber. very neutral also with surprisingly good resolution and high value separation and dmax.

The one disturbing aspect though is that on the Platine and I assume all the fiber gloss media, the gloss enhancer coat is terrible. This is true with both color and black and white prints.

 As Mark McCormick pointed out after doing a lot of subtle profiling, trying to find an acceptable media setting, it looks like they have set this media configuration for rc media. You don’t have the ability to create custom ink limits with density sliders like we do with the Z3200 and Z3100 machines for various media. It appears that HP just stopped halfway through the development of the media ink controls. If you only use matte and rc media it performs very well, but for someone like me who prints 3/4 of my work on fiber gloss media, its not even close to being acceptable. Now if you go through the extra step of applying a post coating with a solvent uv spray, the prints are perfectly fine. But that is not going to cut it for me to have to do that on every job, especially large prints that are expensive and a real pain to produce that way.

I do hope HP gets it together to provide adequate firmware/driver updates to fix this situation. If they haven’t done that by now I certainly can’t figure out what they are thinking, especially since there are so many other nice things about this tech. Canon had a very similar issue with the gloss enhancer function with fiber gloss on their new LF printers and apparently fixed the problem with an updated media setting option.

You should also search on this site for Mark MCs detailed posts about his tests with profiling this printer in regard to color gamut and ink limiting.


quote author=chromebright link=topic=132493.msg1187813#msg1187813 date=1601471761]
My Epson 3800 died recently and I was able to sell the printer and inks on Craigslist just so I could clear some space for the new printer.

Very favorably impressed with the Z9+ and there is a rebate going on this month (Sept. 2020) so I may make the purchase later today.

Just curious about the test prints that Mark Lindquist made for John on the 24" Z9+ using standard profiling.  I never saw a follow-up post with the results.  John, would you have the time to post about your impression of the B&W prints on Mark's Z9+?

Thanks

Ken Susman
Mendocino, CA
[/quote]

[chromebright]

John:  thanks for the reply.  I have the Z9+ on the way.  I do most B&W on matte paper (velvet fine art) but some on Epson Exhibition Fiber.  I did order the gloss enhancer option.  I'll be sure to evaluate.  My volume of printing is small so spraying with protective coat afterwards isn't a big deal.

Ken
Mendocino, CA

[D White]

I have been trying to contact HP in Canada or the US about purchasing a Z9+ 44" to replace my Canon Pro-2000.

The sales team for HP is non existent and I think I will just give up. All I get are emails returns from people that sound like they are not from North America in a tone that is as if they were trying to sell a $70 desk top consumer printer. I actually got one reply; "We don't have option or we can't request to send you a test print out of our printers due to our back up 30 days return policy, however, Designjet are excluded due to its size." No kidding!

If that is their best effort to sell me thousands of dollars in printer and inks then what would the service be like. Am I missing something? Is there a secret contact number? Or are HP just a bunch of idiots to stay away from?

One item I am trying to compare is cost of print head replacements. I just replaced the Canon Pro-2000 and the combined total of head plus waste tank space plus ink loss was about $1400 CA. Thats a lot on a head that only printed 185 square meters. I was also trying to get a feel of bronzing differences.

[deanwork]

That’s really scary. I wouldn’t expect much out of them until this pandemic is over, probably a year from now.

 

I have been trying to contact HP in Canada or the US about purchasing a Z9+ 44" to replace my Canon Pro-2000.

The sales team for HP is non existent and I think I will just give up. All I get are emails returns from people that sound like they are not from North America in a tone that is as if they were trying to sell a $70 desk top consumer printer. I actually got one reply; "We don't have option or we can't request to send you a test print out of our printers due to our back up 30 days return policy, however, Designjet are excluded due to its size." No kidding!

If that is their best effort to sell me thousands of dollars in printer and inks then what would the service be like. Am I missing something? Is there a secret contact number? Or are HP just a bunch of idiots to stay away from?

One item I am trying to compare is cost of print head replacements. I just replaced the Canon Pro-2000 and the combined total of head plus waste tank space plus ink loss was about $1400 CA. Thats a lot on a head that only printed 185 square meters. I was also trying to get a feel of bronzing differences.

[Mark Lindquist]

I have been trying to contact HP in Canada or the US about purchasing a Z9+ 44" to replace my Canon Pro-2000.

If that is their best effort to sell me thousands of dollars in printer and inks then what would the service be like. Am I missing something? Is there a secret contact number? Or are HP just a bunch of idiots to stay away from?

Anyone buying a new HP Z9+ is in for a ride with HP at this point due to Covid-19. Don’t ask for test/sample prints - what they send out sucks. Do your homework, compare between other manufacturers models, research the threads on this forum, and pick your poison. All printers have issues. HP has excellent technical support - actually some of the best, but not if you yell and scream at them. If you can’t see your way clear to establish proper contact with them, perhaps this is not the printer for you.

\Good luck finding a replacement printer, sir.

Mark

[D White]

Anyone buying a new HP Z9+ is in for a ride with HP at this point due to Covid-19. Don’t ask for test/sample prints - what they send out sucks. Do your homework, compare between other manufacturers models, research the threads on this forum, and pick your poison. All printers have issues. HP has excellent technical support - actually some of the best, but not if you yell and scream at them. If you can’t see your way clear to establish proper contact with them, perhaps this is not the printer for you.

\Good luck finding a replacement printer, sir.

Mark

No one said anything about yelling and screaming, I can't even get to first base to ask valid pre sales questions.

Your reply sounds unnecessarily sarcastic when I was looking for real help to actually talk to some one. Sorry if I misunderstood your tone, sir.