I assume you've checked for any clogged nozzles? Have you checked for head alignment? If both of these are good, I'd suggest playing around with various settings in the driver: try different media selections, print head gap, unidirectional printing rather than bidirectional, etc.
I doubt that Fixxons would change anything, but if you can't get it figured out I'd certainly give that media a go. FWIW, I print digital negs on a P700 with both Pictorico and Fixxons without issue.
I hit the P900 pizza wheel issue while writing the Kallitype, Vandyke Brown and Argyrotype Book. If you are in North America (perhaps elsewhere), the P900 does NOT lift the rollers for front feed. To do this, you will need to go to the Europe Epson support site to download and install new P900 software. You will then see this as the window when you drop the front feeder mechanism. Now you can select no eject roller. You will need to use the media installer software to create the proper paper profile for the OHP.View attachment 353442Here is how you do it:
There was a 2022 firmware update that supposedly added a feature to the panel to lift the Eject roller that is causing the pizza wheels. But not available on the USA support site when I did the update in July.
SO….. A quick surf out to the EPSON EU site, and there it is ….
For P900
https://www.epson.eu/en_EU/support/sc/epson-surecolor-sc-p900/s/s1786
<image004.jpg>
For P700
https://www.epson.eu/en_EU/support/sc/epson-surecolor-sc-p700/s/s1785
<image005.jpg>
It loaded fine into my P900 – took a few minutes. And I am in the USA - it did not affect the P900 or brick it.
Don Nelson
Alan are you front loading or rear loading? and what paper settings are you using if I may ask? Are you doing anything else different from the norm?
Alan are you front loading or rear loading? and what paper settings are you using if I may ask? Are you doing anything else different from the norm?
I've been watching some of these recent printer forums since I've become curious about making enlarged negatives from my 8x10 in-camera negatives. This all seems like a lot of messing around for a $1200 machine. Is Epson still the defacto winner if digital negs are desired? I swear there are happy Canon people in the forums as well.?
A used Epson P800 that popped up for sale locally is what really inspired my new reading. I'm at a technological knowledge impasse with most editing software these days. I think ultimately, I may stay within the confines of the traditional darkroom.
As far as I know, the large majority of folks making digital negative are using Epson printers. I bet that there are a few folks using Canon printers, but they seem pretty quiet about it.
because the Epson inks do a better job of blocking UV light than the Canon inks
there is far more support in the community for Epsons — more RIPs and apps that presume the use of Epsons, and many more users running Epsons.
They have this reputation, yes.
The ink density is fairly low and not good enough for salt or Van Dyke Brown. But I have tested a run around solution on a Van Dyke Brown of using an old photographic technique of a contrast control mask. I simply printed two negatives with registration marks, aligned and sandwiched them together.
Let me start by saying I have no direct experience here -- I wrote based on my sense of the prevailing consensus that the Canon printers are not up to the demands of creating digital negatives.
A few months back, a new PHOTRIO member @TruNeg discussed his use of Canon printers to make digital negatives through the use of a software package he had written:
Making a Cyanotype from two test strips with no scanning or special printer profiles.
Firstly let me declare a financial interest in the program called TruNeg referred to in this post and that I am the creator of that program. The principle behind TruNeg is that there is such a thing as a perfect reversal of the positive image. In view of my commercial interest in this I have...www.photrio.com
In another thread, TruNeg said that he was not able to make digital negatives for alternate processes with long tonal ranges, like salt prints and VDBs, without printing two negatives and using them registered together:
I took this post as confirmation that the Canon printers are not up to Epson's standards for UV-blocking inks. To me, that is a deal-killer. As TruNeg's post confirms, using two registered negatives to build UV density adds complexity to the process and may cause optical effects that degrade the overall image.
Not sure how to label the feed position, but it's where one loads any paper that's not thick fine art rag types or poster stock. I use QuadToneRIP to print the negs with default settings.
If it doesn't show on other media the problem could also be the Pictorico film being too old or improper stored. I only had such marks with an old, expired, set of DN film. The DN film emulsion is designed to absorb ink (and water, as well). If it's too old or/and stored in a humid and hot place it may become softer and easier to scratch. The remedy may be to store, for a while, the sheets of film in a dry place face-up. That did the job for me.
I hit the P900 pizza wheel issue while writing the Kallitype, Vandyke Brown and Argyrotype Book. If you are in North America (perhaps elsewhere), the P900 does NOT lift the rollers for front feed. To do this, you will need to go to the Europe Epson support site to download and install new P900 software. You will then see this as the window when you drop the front feeder mechanism. Now you can select no eject roller. You will need to use the media installer software to create the proper paper profile for the OHP.View attachment 353442Here is how you do it:
There was a 2022 firmware update that supposedly added a feature to the panel to lift the Eject roller that is causing the pizza wheels. But not available on the USA support site when I did the update in July.
SO….. A quick surf out to the EPSON EU site, and there it is ….
For P900
https://www.epson.eu/en_EU/support/sc/epson-surecolor-sc-p900/s/s1786
<image004.jpg>
For P700
https://www.epson.eu/en_EU/support/sc/epson-surecolor-sc-p700/s/s1785
<image005.jpg>
It loaded fine into my P900 – took a few minutes. And I am in the USA - it did not affect the P900 or brick it.
Don Nelson
Don out of curiosity do you know if the warranty will still be intact if I load European software? I couldn't find anything in their verbiage that said yes or no. I'm ready to try this...
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