Monochrome capability of HP Z9+

[deanwork]

Awhile back we were having a discussion on this site about the new HPZ9+ printer and HPs move toward their dual drop tech and the elimination of their light magenta and light black inks for what they claimed were improved dither results while increasing speed 2x over the previous model.

I said at the time time that I was very disappointed that Hp had waited 12 years only to  sacrifice the  great black and white capability of the z3200 at the alter of speed alone. What I had been wanting was a way to repurpose the blue Chanel of the 12 tone Z3200 ps printer to one more gray, a light, light gray, to have an equally spaced tonally  true quad black inkset - with the Pk used to bump the dmax on matte media as were doing now.

From everything I’ve learned in the last 20 years of working With pigment bw, going up to 6 channels, every gray that is added increases tonal precision and dimensionality, while every gray reduced creates the opposite and more noise .

So, I took Mark Lindquist up on his offer to print a file of mine on Platine and the matte rag Moab Entrada.

This was a difficult file with very subtle tonal transitions to pure white and transitions to dark gray and black.

I was shocked to see that the 13x19 prints he sent using the regular Z9+ internal profiling equaled the Z 3200 prints I made on the same paper with the same file with basically the  same print color, and no color inks added . The Z3200 profile I’m referring to was one of those super big 6000 patch profiles that Mark guided me through in making with his son a software engineer.

But the Z9+ target being read, linearized and profiled by its internal i1 spectro  rapidly, was only using 400 patches not 6000 !

So, I'm throwing out everything I’ve learned about print head nozzles, the number of channels needed for great black and white work. Hp is definitely on to something new.

If you can achieve this level of tonal capability and resolution with only one gray And one black, what would three accomplish with this kind of tech? I don’t know if we will ever see the answer to that question, but I do know that it also has all the gamut I need for pro photo printing I do, and if the speed is twice what my Z3200 is putting out, I can use it for a production printer as well with longevity that should definitely beat the new Canons, probably by two times.

I can’t say I’m any expert concerning the Z9 since I’ve personally never used one, but as far as the image quality I’ve seen from these tests of my files I’m more than pleasantly surprised and if I were to buy a printer right now I’d easily go for it.

And did I mention all the print heads are the same and cost about what one ink cart costs.

John

[John Nollendorfs]

Okay, fanboy John! 
So, does that mean you are up for a new printer already?

I got my HP3200 on close out, thinking that my 13-year-old HP3100 should be on it's last legs. But no, it just keeps chugging along and the 3200 is now my "light duty" machine.
Just did some B&W for a client on the 3200. He was super pleased with the results, especially after I had tweaked his files a bit.

[deanwork]

I am a big HP fan, especially since my two large format Epsons, which I use for specialty purposes, and treat like babies, both have a one channel clog that has terrorized me for weeks. One missing ink and the whole printer becomes inoperable. I can never see myself going back to Epson and I’ve had 8 of them. What would cost 2 grand to fix on my Epsons would cost less than $100.00 on the Z and take 5 minutes. And their techs are better trained if you do need them.

Like you my Z3200 is awesome, except for the slower speed. And I have fully restored my Z3100 which might last another decade. If and when my big Canon is not worth restoring anymore, I’d definitely go for the Z9. Since my car just died, I’ll have to wait awhile. If  I had a studio with only one printer, that would be the one. I’d love to see what that thing can do with monochrome.

John

Okay, fanboy John! 
So, does that mean you are up for a new printer already?

I got my HP3200 on close out, thinking that my 13-year-old HP3100 should be on it's last legs. But no, it just keeps chugging along and the 3200 is now my "light duty" machine.
Just did some B&W for a client on the 3200. He was super pleased with the results, especially after I had tweaked his files a bit.

[enduser]

John, I have a basic T 120 from HP.  It too has dual drop technology and the accompanying photo is of a B&W print I made using it's one and only black cartridge. Not the best photo but it gives a bit of an idea of the capability of such a machine.
When I got it I printed a color shot (24" x 34") of rose flowers and  asked people to compare it with another I had made on a iPF Canon 6100 12 color machine. No one could tell the difference.
I converted the three dye colors to pigment a year ago and have had no clogging, leaking or other problems.

Colin Clarke

[Mark Lindquist]

I've kept saying the Z9+ rocks, especially with the dual drop technology, and understandably, we've all been skeptical.

Now both John Dean and Mark McCormick both agree that black and white on the Z9+ is the best there is of the big three.

HP has been working on firmware upgrades to address some bugs - a new firmware is due out in March sometime.

They've been very quiet about this printer when it actually scores very high in most areas. Can't say why, but they just put it out there without a lot of hoopla.

Gradually word of mouth and reviews are showing it for what and how good it really is.

Glad you were pleased with the prints John - I just can't say enough good about the Z9+. Black and white is the best.

Best,

Mark

[GrahamBy]

John, I have a basic T 120 from HP.  It too has dual drop technology and the accompanying photo is of a B&W print I made using it's one and only black cartridge.

Have you looked at small prints? In theory, a 9pl dot on a wall-size print contributes far less noise than on a 5x7.5, so a big print may not be the most stringent test. But it may be that if we put our loupes away, we can do more with less :-)

The idea of feeding pigment  inks into an HP dye without drama is fascinating too... especially with an all-carbon ink conversion.

[deanwork]

That dye print looks pretty bad to me. At the very least the highlights are blown and look very coarse. Of course it could be a bad file. I print Paris street scenes all the time for a client with k7 Carbon and the Z3200.”

As to very small prints on the Z9 I haven’t seen any and I don’t have the printer but my z3200 is just fine. But honestly I don’t do anything smaller than 8x10 and even that is very rare.

John

Have you looked at small prints? In theory, a 9pl dot on a wall-size print contributes far less noise than on a 5x7.5, so a big print may not be the most stringent test. But it may be that if we put our loupes away, we can do more with less :-)

The idea of feeding pigment  inks into an HP dye without drama is fascinating too... especially with an all-carbon ink conversion.

[enduser]

There's no dye print. The poor phone shot of an Austrian street scene is pigment black, made using the printer's only black cartridge. Just to show what's possible.

[GrahamBy]

As to very small prints on the Z9

Yes, my question was specific to the T120. I wouldn't expect a problem with the Z3200 or the Z9+

[enduser]

The T120 only goes down to A4 or Letter size. Below is a ccolor and black and white scan of prints made on the T120, just as examples on smaller paper. The paper is a basic glossy from an office supplies outfit. Only post processing was "Levels".

[GrahamBy]

Thanks :-)