[Leica] Printer Purgatory

[len-1 at comcast.net (Leonard Taupier)]

Peter,

You've been getting some good advice since this post but let me add  
my .02

I only use Epson printers. I have the R800, the R1800 and the Pro  
3800. Both the R800 and R1800 are wonderful printers for color and  
especially for glossy prints. I bought the 3800 primarily for b&w  
printing as this is where the other two are lacking. I cannot get a  
true black image from either. There is always a slight purple cast to  
the print. The gloss optimizer gives the 800 and 1800 a clear edge  
over the 3800 for glossy color prints.  I have never had an ink clog  
with any of the printers. The 3800 and it's little brother the 2400  
were optimized for the best possible b&w prints. There is no color  
cast. Since you don't need the larger printer I would get the 2400  
and not play around with the R200 or R300 which may not do the job  
for you.

Oh. I also only use Epson ink.

Regards,
Len


On Jun 14, 2007, at 2:22 PM, Peter Klein wrote:

> I've just wasted another evening and about $15 worth of ink dealing  
> with a print head Clog From Hell. My Epson 1280 printer with MIS  
> Ultratone 2 grayscale inks produces beautiful B&W prints--when it  
> works. But I've just about had it with the periodic clogs, banding  
> and mysterious goings-on.  I just had to flush out my print heads  
> with a special cleaning cartridge, put cleaning fluid on the pad  
> that the heads rest on, and hope that that clears it.
>
> Part of the problem is using the pigmented MIS inks on a printer  
> designed for dye ink. There are other issues. My workflow with the  
> Paul Roarke curves worked beautifully for several years, then  
> stopped working when I changed to a new cartridge, and hasn't  
> worked since. Fortunately, the "easy way" method still works, so  
> I've been using that. But why this happened has never been explained.
>
> I have two printers.  I used the 1280 for color for a while, then  
> dedicated it to B&W.  I got an Epson R200 for a song, and dedicated  
> that to color. Neither printer ever gave me WYSIWYG color.  The  
> Epson-provided profiles (I've downloaded several) don't work with  
> Epson's own papers. Always much too dark.  I've had to resort to  
> manually creating curves that work with some slider settings I  
> downloaded from the Norman Koren site.
>
> All in all, it's feels like time to think about another printer.  
> Here are my requirements:
>
> 1.  I do a lot of B&W, so my printer must print B&W well.  A later  
> Epson printer (designed for pigmented ink) with either its own  
> grayscale inks or MIS would be OK.  But I'm not wedded to Epson if  
> another company has a better solution.
>
> 2.  I just want the printer to work. If I send it a profiled  
> grayscale file, and tell it to print grayscale, it should produce a  
> print that looks like what I see on my profiled monitor.  Ditto  
> color.  I understand that perfection requires customization.  But I  
> don't want to have to spend weeks tweaking curves and profiles just  
> for decent basic performance.
>
> 3.  A printer wider than letter-size is nice, but it's not an  
> absolute requirement.  I rarely print bigger than 8.5 x 11.  If the  
> best printer for me has a letter-sized carriage, I can always  
> outsource the few big prints I do per year. On the other hand, if a  
> bigger printer means bigger cartridges that don't need changing as  
> often, that might be better.  Cost of consumables matters, too.
>
> 4.  The high-end, $1000-plus printers are really not an option.  I  
> don't print enough to justify them, just as I didn't print enough  
> to justify cartridge refilling or a continuous flow system.  So  
> we're talking a $100 - $800-ish printer.
>
> I have heard that many people get good results with MIS inks and  
> the Epson R200 or R300.  If that's a good way to go, I could always  
> revert back to color with the 1280 and convert the R200 to B&W.   
> But if I'm just going to get more clogs, forget it, I might as well  
> try something else.
>
> Advice welcome!
>
> --Peter
>
>
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