Digital negatives on the Epson SC-P700/900 just got a whole lot easier

tl;dr

Firmware and Driver updates to Epson PC-700 and P-900 allow transparencies to be directly loaded in the Front Paper Loader without a cardboard sled to avoid pizza cutter marks

A word of caution about updating Epson firmware and using non-Epson ink: see here, for example.

I had an Epson Artisan printer bricked by a firmware update. I had third party ink installed and the printer refused to "recognize" the cartridge after the firmware update (as in, immediately after the firmware update). I replaced the ink with all-Epson cartridges and it still refused to print. I had to throw away the printer - I could not roll-back the firmware.

So. Put Epson ink in your printer before updating firmware.

Thread moved at OP's request to the Digital Negatives sub-forum

Andrew Keedle said:

tl;dr

Firmware and Driver updates to Epson PC-700 and P-900 allow transparencies to be directly loaded in the Front Paper Loader without a cardboard sled to avoid pizza cutter marks

Super simple digital negative printing on the Epson SC-P700/900

Firmware/Driver updates to Epson P700/900 make digital negatives a breeze

www.keedlemedia.com

Click to expand...

Thank you Andrew for the news. I wonder if they did the same to legacy printers - I have the P400. I noticed that when I used a thinner carrier sheet in the front feed, I got a lot of over-spray. I assumed that was due to the fact that the head to paper distance was too high, being fixed for a thicker medium. With this firmware update, I guess they probably lowered that distance when the "No Eject Rollers" option is chosen.

Without a rigid backing material as used in the old way, is there a issue of the transparency kind of flopping around while under the head, particularly at the end of the print where the paper is off the rubber rollers that holds it on one side.

Nice blog and great work, by the way.

:Niranjan.

A word of warning: my 13x19" Fixxons sheets are a bit curly at either end..... and the first one I tried with this glossy frond loading setting got mangled after initial successful loading. Jury is out on whether I did any actual damage to the printer. For media that stays flatter, the transport worked just fine. Be careful with curly stiff!

nerologic said:

A word of warning: my 13x19" Fixxons sheets are a bit curly at either end..... and the first one I tried with this glossy frond loading setting got mangled after initial successful loading. Jury is out on whether I did any actual damage to the printer. For media that stays flatter, the transport worked just fine. Be careful with curly stiff!

Click to expand...

I find it is still better to use a stiff support like a mat board and tape the Fixxons sheet - particularly on the 2 edges in the direction of the paper movement or perpendicular to head movement.

:Niranjan.