Unfortunately, I didn't have the time and materials to do proper testing which requires making custom profiles using the various presets available that might (or should) apply to different papers in order to suss out the correct combinations on the Z9+. The inability to refer to a chart such as this one:
Paper Preset Chartdefinitely makes things hard and requires significant testing in order to figure it all out. It's a shame because for those of us who want to really dial it in, it means having a color scientist do serious work measuring and comparing, as Mark McCormick (Aardenburg-Imaging.com) does, and doesn't get paid for. It makes it tough going. HP just hasn't provided similar documentation as they did originally with the Z31-3200 Series.
However... Straight out of the Z9+ box, get the right paper/right paper preset and make the profile using the internal spectro, and Bob's your uncle.
Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. Any glossy paper is going to just be awesome. I made a custom profile using the 10,445 target for Entrada Natural and I'm thrilled with it. Like you say John - B+W is a piece of cake with the Z9+ -it doesn't need it.
Just a tip for you John:
I've figured out a way to make a blank sheet that's the size of what I want to coat (it can not be pure white, it must have something in it - (just 1 unit off will work) then I choose a paper preset such as HP Universal Instant Dry Gloss and go in (obviously using the utility) and slam the GE all the way - maxed out.
Feed whatever print you like and either put the GE coat on top of the Z9's previous GE, or print on the Z9 without GE, then run it through the Z3200 for the GE coat.
It's pretty amazing. When you want to do another, just use the job queue to do a reprint. Now the Z3200 is a Gloss Enhancer coating machine. Fannie's your aunt.
I think using the 2 machines together makes an unbeatable combination. The Z3200 is so versatile and the Z9+ is so fast - production work is amazing.
But then there are the issues Mark MHMG point out, and it's really just a firmware fix. So we're working on it, but it's difficult. People come and go at HP and there are changes in administration and policies, etc. Still, in all, I will keep my HP printers and won't buy Canon or Epson - it's that simple for me.
Robert's your father's brother.
Mark
There is a big difference, somehow in the pigment particle structure of all the Vivera inks and the Epson and Canon inks. Printing on rc media, especially color, there is no gloss overcoat ( or uv spraying) absolutely needed on the latter two , where with the Vivera inks it is MANDATORY that the gloss enhancer channel is used, color or black and white.
Many times I’ve run out of that GO Chanel on the Z printers, with rc or gloss semi fiber media and said WO this is bad! The semi-gloss fine art papers are worse but both are unusable. I even sprayed these prints with three coats of Premiere Art spray and they were still totally unusable. The original Lucia inks and Epson k3 VM are perfectly usable with no coating, though with bw they do look a lot better in portfolios on the gloss fiber if sprayed with a uv spray, but that is also the case with correctly printed HP Z prints which could pass for silver prints held in your hand.
Now one thing I did notice from Marks prints was when he made the profiles using the media setting - fine art pearl more ink- both bronzing and gloss differential on color and black and white were unacceptable, but we’re very nice and totally usable after the Premiere Art spraying, where when we used that media setting on the Z3200 for Platine they looked very nice with no added spraying necessary unless you were doing big prints with large areas of pure black.
So my conclusion was - don’t use the “more ink” setting on the Z9 for your media setting for Baryta type papers! I also noticed with the extended profile we made for the Z3200 using that media setting ( fine art pearl more ink)
when making large prints with pure black backgrounds, the ink pooled up, did not dry well and became blotchy. And yea, having those sliders are very nice for customizing ink limits on certain papers, especially uncoated Japanese papers, silk, etc.
I can’t comment on the more recent Lucia Pro inks because I haven’t used them, but the review on the On Site website by Scott Martin wasn’t encouraging on fiber papers. I have heard that Epson puts GO in the light gray channel. Don’t know for sure if that is true.
John
