I received my printer 2 days ago and will give my initial feedback. Some of my comments will address questions in other threads on issues and paper types. It seems after I started writing my notes that it got very long so hopefully this will be helpful for new users.
Hardware/Software:
- Microsoft Windows XP SP2
- Ethernet connection (20 foot run)
- HP z3100 24"
- Software
- HP Easy Printer Care version 2.0.1.2
- HP Designjet Z3100 Series Raster Driver version 60.63.42.0
- Firmware TR12-RO_4.0.0.4 => TR12-RO_4.0.0.6 (I will comment on update)
- Printing Software
- Qimage v2007.151
Assembly:
- At a high level very good instructions and smooth construction.
- Around 60 minutes to construct.
- I had one other person to assist holding parts and flipping printer over.
- 1 extra screw from frame construction (I assume this is by design).
- 1 smaller screw found in basket bag (not sure where this screw came from).
- There is a desiccant bag taped to bottom of printer that you need to remove (not in instructions).
- The left printer foot that you attach the basket tube to is a bit loose and the weight of the basket pulls it out. I had to use a screw driver to push down the tab to get it to lock into place.
- The stand and rollers are very nice. I have the printer setup on carpet and it rolls very easy and makes accessing the back of the printer and loading rolls very easy.
- Ink installation very smooth (take your time to properly shake cartridges).
- I knew the 24" inch model only came with 69ml cartridges but I was expecting half filled 130ml cartridges versus mini 69ml cartridges. No problems here just an observation.
- Print head installation very smooth (take your time to shake heads and clean the sensors with the included swabs)
Software Installation:
- I used the HP Start Up Kit disk supplied with the printer.
- Although the instructions recommend you start installing the software while the printer is initializing (about 20-30 minutes), I did not have success doing so
- I was running the setup for a networked environment.
- During initial installation you are left guessing if anything is getting installed because there is no window showing you progress or activity. You just have to wait it out and a window eventually pops up to configure the network.
- Auto configuration automatically found my printer and assigned an IP address.
- Everything appears to install as it should but then you get a "Failed to install" message at the very end. I tried installation about 3 times while the printer was initializing and got the same message.
- At that point I assumed I had to wait for the printer to finish initializing
- I was right. Once the printer finished initializing I was able to run the software again and complete successfully.
- Upon reboot the software finalizes installation and asks to check for updates. I choose yes and it automatically updated from the HP website (software only, not firmware as that is another process).
- At this point the printer was assembled and software was installed and ready to go.
Initial Alignment & Calibration:
- Although I had plenty of other roll paper to use for the initial prints I opted to utilize the included HP Premium Instant Dry Gloss Photo Paper included with printer.
- It is a 24" roll and about 15 feet long.
- One complaint is that HP uses masking tape to hold the roll shut. This ruins the leading edge of roll and the subsequent paper on the other side of the roll that the tape contacts. After peeling off the tape it obviously damages the paper and leaves a sticky mark. The marks are readily evident when the printer puts ink down on those sections. You should probably just trim back the roll past the tape marks before you start.
- Loading the roll on the spindle was straight forward and there is a nice graphic on the spindle that tells you the proper orientation for the paper.
- The sample paper is on a 2"core and the paper has some extreme contour to it when you open it up. This contour made it a little difficult to get the paper feed into the printer. It took several attempts for the printer to grab the paper but it finally worked (this was not an issue on any other rolls I have but they are also larger rolls and 3" cores).
- The LCD panel prompts you for roll or sheet as well as paper type which you need to choose for a list of options. Since you are using HP paper it shows up in the list as it should.
- Since this is the first print with the new print heads you have to do a head alignment test.
- The test prints a bunch of lines and patterns and it looked pretty bad as it had gaps and missed lines and looked typical of nozzle clogs. I assume this is normal since it is indeed a print head alignment test.
- I then ran a color calibration test. You only need an A4 sheet of paper but I was lazy and used the roll paper. I allowed for the default 2 minutes dry time.
- I observed the print pattern on the printer as it was drying and did not notice any marks or defects.
- I then observed the print pattern post printer scanning and did notice some marks on the test pattern. Note that these where not present prior to the color scan process so I assumed the marks were from the spectrophotometer. The marks ran vertical to the roll paper (opposite the head direction) and they just looked like water marks in perfectly parallel rows. Note I have only seen this mark pattern after a scan procedure on the test charts.
- Once the color calibration process was completed I immediately performed a “Create and Install ICC Profile” procedure.
- While the Color Calibration procedure only required an A4 sheet of paper, the ICC Profile procedure requires at least an A3 sheet of paper. Once again I just used the 24” roll paper that came with the printer and the test pattern was printed across the entire length of the paper to conserve paper. I created the chart with GE on.
- I used the default 5 minute dry period. While the pattern was drying I again observed the printed area to inspect for marks or defects. Once again I did not see any marks prior to the scan process.
- After the 5 minute dry period the paper was pulled back into the printer and scanned. After the paper was cut and ejected I observed the same marks on the test pattern as I saw on the color calibration chart after scanning. Again, this seems to be the result of the scanning process and I have not seen on normal prints.
First Prints:
- Up to this point I have only seen a head alignment pattern that looked bad and a color calibration and profile test chart that had some marks on them from the spectrophotometer. It was time for a normal print.
- To be conservative I printed out a 24” by 7” panoramic print. I used the highest quality settings along with GE for whole print. I printed from Qimage.
- Observing the print I did not notice any marks or issues with the print quality. I am comparing the print to the same print off my Epson 4800 with ImagePrint v6. Gloss differential and bronzing where much better on the Z3100 print and also seemed to have more detail in shadows. The colors matched my calibrated monitor (6500K) so the calibration process appeared to work well.
- I then moved up to a 24” by 20” print to see how it handled larger prints. I used the same settings as the initial print. Once again the print came out flawless and looked very good.
- I then decided to move up to a full 24” by 36” print. I used the same settings as the first two prints.
- About half way through the print the printer paused for about 5 minutes. After the pause the printer decided to terminate the print and cut the roll paper. I ended up with half the print.
- Up until now I had been running the default factory firmware 4.0.0.4. After this first road bump I decided to do the firmware upgrade to see if that would fix this issue.
Firmware Update:
- Using the support tab from within the HP Easy Printer Care center I choose the Firmware upgrade icon.
- They provide a link to the HP website with the latest version of firmware. They also show you what current version you are running.
- I selected the latest firmware to download (4.0.0.6) and saved the file to my computer. It is worth noting that for the Windows download you have to add the extension .exe to the end of the file name in order to extract/unzip the file. Once you have added the extension then all you have to do is unzip the file to a location you will remember.
- Back to the firmware upgrade page, it asked you to point to the file on your computer. You browse to the proper location and click on the update button. The file gets uploaded to the printer and once it verifies the file is valid it performs and upgrade. The process takes about 20 minutes (this file is around 350MB).
- Once the firmware update was completed I decided to run another head alignment, color calibration and ICC profile test on the HP Premium Instant Dry Gloss Photo Paper provide with printer. As noted in initial calibration prints, I observed the same spectrophotometer marks on the prints.
Second Prints:
- With the new firmware in place and freshly calibrated paper I decided to be agressive and print out the same 24” by 36” print that failed with the older firmware.
- This time the print came off flawless. No pauses and no marks noted. Again I printed with GE for whole page.
- I printed out 2 more 24” by 36” prints to ensure consistency and they printed without issue. That was the end of the provided roll paper that came with the printer.
Other Papers:
- Now that I was confident with the print quality and consistency with the provided paper I decided to test some other papers
- For all papers tested I performed the same color calibration and ICC profile test chart steps.
- For non-HP papers I had to perform “Add Custom Paper” from the HP Color Center software. This is very straight forward and walks you through the steps. Depending on the paper category you choose you can choose to create the profile with or without GE.
- Red River UltraPro Gloss (17” roll; 260gsm)
- Calibrated and created profiles with and without GE
- Prints looked very good and the Red River paper is whiter and smoother than the HP gloss.
- The Red River paper showed some very minimal signs of gloss differential versus the HP Premium gloss but you really have to struggle to find it in the highlights.
- No roll marks or defects noted on prints.
- Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl Paper (17” roll; 280gsm)
- Calibrated and created profiles with and without GE
- Prints look good and this paper if pretty glossy for a satin paper
- Fairly deep texture on this paper compared to some other satins but colors looked good
- Even with GE on this paper there seemed to be some slight bronzing but others that saw the prints did not point it out.
- No roll marks or defects noted on prints
- Museo Silver Rag (17” roll; 300gsm)
- Calibrated and created profiles with and without GE
- This paper by far is the stiffest I tried yet and I figured if I was going to see any head strikes I would have seen them with this paper
- I printed some B&W on this paper and they looked great. Deep blacks and neutral tones.
- Very smooth surface and not overly glossy. GE creates more gloss obviously.
- I did not observe any marks or head strikes and this paper looks great
- Innova F-Type Gloss (17” roll; 300gsm)
- Calibrated and created profiles with and without GE
- I did not get past the color calibration test charts with this paper. I immediately noticed poor quality on the test chart.
- It is hard to explain but I noticed some flat colors that progressively got worse across the paper. It was almost like the paper was absorbing too much of the ink and causing variations in consistency. It may also be interacting somehow with the coating on the paper.
- In any case I decided not to waste anymore of this paper. Reading the forums it looks like others are having similar issues with this paper.
- It is possible that there is a custom paper configuration to fix this issue but I will need to investigate further.
- HP Professional Satin Photo Paper (24” roll; 300gsm)
- Calibrated and created profiles with and without GE
- This is really nice paper. It is a very smooth satin with minimal porosity and almost looks like Epson Semi-Matte.
- Great colors and gamut. No gloss differential or bronzing noted.
- You can almost get away with printing without GE with this paper
- HP Professional Matte Canvas (24” roll; 430gsm)
- Calibrated and created profiles
- It is worth noting that the cutter does not cut canvas and you have to do it manually. I manually fed enough slack to use my rototrim to make a straight cut.
- This is very thick media but is flexible so it lays very flat while printing.
- I did notice that 2 of the polygon patches on the color calibrate pattern (1 green and 1 orange) showed more texture than the others and stood out as odd. It was almost like not enough ink was laid down and it did not cover the texture. This may be normal for the calibration to determine different amount of inks laid on the paper.
- The ICC Profile chart looked good and I did not see the same phenomenon as I did on the color profile chart.
- I have not dealt with a lot of canvas media but I did notice that some of the ink flaked off the print when I ran it through my rototrim. Some of this may have been caused by the spectrophotometer as well. I will need to be more careful with handling the canvas post print and maybe even have to spray them before displaying.
- The colors however are very vivid and the media is very nice on normal prints.
- No head strike marks on print
Epson 4800 Comparison Comments:
- Overall I am very happy with the printer. It still does not match high gloss like a dye printer but looks much improved over the Epson 4800 with respects to Bronzing and Gloss Differential
- Obvious benefit to not having to switch Photo and Matte blacks
- Roll marks have not been an issue with the Z3100. By this I mean if you leave a roll of paper in the printer for extended periods of time you do not get indentations on the paper like the Epson 4800.
- Much quieter than the 4800 mostly due to the lack of vacuum.
- I usually only print at the highest quality so the speed is slightly better than the Epson 4800.
- LCD menu very nice and intuitive. Epson 4800 only has a one line LCD that is difficult to navigate.
- Using the 4800 with ImagePrint produces print quality on par with the Z3100 but I think the additional inks give better gamut and tones (qualitative not quantitative).
Gloss Enhancer Comments:
- In general the GE does its job to add gloss and minimize GE and Bronzing
- On bright papers the GE seems to decrease the brightness ever so slightly.
- If your prints are going under glass then you may not need to use the GE at all but that is a personal preference for you do decide.
- When using GE on whole page you go through the GE ink quicker than the other inks. While most of the other inks where at 75%, the GE was down to 50%. Of course I had been using whole page GE on all my prints accept the Canvas.
Other Comments:
- For 3” cores you need to add the adapters to the spindle. I have noticed that it is pretty difficult to get the roll paper off the 3” adapters as they are pretty snug.
- I have invested in cotton gloves to avoid getting body oils on the media.
- The window on top of the printer scratches very easily so do not get in the habit of laying you prints on top of your printer and dragging them across the window (unless you don’t mind the scratches).
- I have not noticed any scratches due to the catch basket. I typically try to catch the prints before they fall into basket.
- I have left the printer on continuously as recommended and it will occasionally do a self check but not very often.
- Even with the sturdy stand the printer tends to shake when printing. Not a big deal but something inside the printer rattles when the printer shakes while printing.
- I have not tried any Hahnemuhle paper yet but may pick up a roll next week as I know folks are saying they have head drag issues with that paper.
That is it for now.