Digital Negatives for Silver Gelatin with Epson R2000

Hi All,

I'm trying to set up a darkroom to print silver gelatin (primarily on fine art paper). I'm struggling to decide on which printer to buy. Here are my requirements:

At least A3 size.
Print digital negatives on Pictorico.
Print decent colour on fine art paper.
Preferably use non-OEM inks.

I'm leaning towards the Epson R2000. It's available locally (South Africa), not too expensive, supported by Quad Tone RIP and it can handle quite thick paper. There's a local distributor of Image Specialists inks, who can supply me with refillable cartridges and pigment ink for the printer.

I thought I'd post here before I make the plunge to see if perhaps there's something I'm missing.

Does anyone have experience using the R2000 for diginegs?

Has anyone tested Image Specialists pigment inks on Pictorico?

Any help or advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Rob

The native ink set has insufficient UV blocking for digital negatives. It will probably make excellent negatives with Piezography but I haven't tried this yet. If you go this route, you would have to swap cartridges to make color prints. If you decide to use non-OEM ink, the Epson 14xx might be a more attractive solution. You can probably buy 2 of these for the same price as an R2000; you could use 1 for color and dedicate 1 to monochrome for prints and negatives.

Thanks Phillip. Is the UV blocking of the R2000 inks insufficient for silver printing? I thought that UV blocking was only an issue for other processes?

Do you know if Image Specialists pigment ink is a decent UV blocker?

I've looked at the 1410 (only 14xx model available in SA). It is quite a bit cheaper, but I was a bit concerned about using pigment inks in a printer designed for dye. I also thought I may need QTR at some point and I don't think the 1410 is supported.

bobhof said:

Thanks Phillip. Is the UV blocking of the R2000 inks insufficient for silver printing? I thought that UV blocking was only an issue for other processes?

Do you know if Image Specialists pigment ink is a decent UV blocker?

I've looked at the 1410 (only 14xx model available in SA). It is quite a bit cheaper, but I was a bit concerned about using pigment inks in a printer designed for dye. I also thought I may need QTR at some point and I don't think the 1410 is supported.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I forgot that not everyone prints platinum or carbon I don't print silver gelatin using digital negatives. The blocking may be sufficient for that, best to find someone who uses this workflow.
The 1400 works just fine with pigment inks. I have Piezogaphy in my 1400 for prints and negatives. The 1400 is a sleeper -- it's capable of 1.5 picoliter droplets and can make very fine negatives.
Yes, you will need RIP for 3rd-party ink. QTR supports the 1400 but you will need to make your own curves for negatives.

Whatever route you investigate, make sure to read up on the pizza wheel trails with Epsons non "Pro" printers, which may become a big issue as you don't want that in your negs. I don't print negatives, yet, I only scan the ones I produce and print images, started with a SP 1400 and a MIS UT-14, but after consequently having pizza wheel trails in dark and dense prints on surface (non matte) papers, I have finally moved on to a 7600 Pro that I will fit with Piezography MPS, the 7600 have no teeth wheel exit rollers, ergo sum, no trails....

Thanks for clearing that up Phillip. I was worried I was mistaken. Has anyone else had experience with the R2000 for diginegs?

Felinik, thanks for the advice. I have just googled "Epson Stylus R2000 pizza wheels" and it does not seem to be a significant problem with this model.

I dunno how the driver is on that model, but maybe there's parameters for drying time between the print passes etc. and other useful settings, though it'd be interesting to get to know if this one doesn't leave trails, coz if it doesn't, I may be interested in getting one as well for color printing!