Epson 3880 or 4880, HP or Canon

[fotoinsight]

Hi There,

In not asking "which printer should I buy" but...
I'm in the process of weighing up if I should purchase one of the Epson printers with a view to making Digital negatives as well as normal printing, (I'm also looking at HP, although they are more expensive).
Either way I don't seem to be able to get a definitive answer on the epsons regarding ink changes, is it still necessary to change between matte black and photo black? A colleague at work reckons that he has a RIP and doesn't need to change anything because of that, but he also doesn't do any "fine art" printing, so I'm dubious about his answer.
Could one of you guys/gals help me out, so I don't get screwed by the reseller?
Also how would you rate the latest Canons? Anyone?

Thanks for any help.

 

[nsouto]

I now use a hp8750 (A3 size) after years of using an epson stylus photo 700 (A4) - a very old model.

The hp is magic for b&w prints and quite good for colour. I'm quite sure Epson has equivalent quality models, although at the time the hp was considerably cheaper.

One thing I noticed: the ink in the hp lasts a lot longer, it doesn't dry on the nozzles requiring frequent cleanups. This saves a lot on already expensive ink cartridges.
The Epson was an absolute disaster in that area: had to do a full nozzle clean cycle if I didn't print everyday.

My kids have a much more modern Epson and it has the same problem: no prints for a few days, out comes the nozzle cleanup...

 

[donbga]

Hi There,

In not asking "which printer should I buy" but...
I'm in the process of weighing up if I should purchase one of the Epson printers with a view to making Digital negatives as well as normal printing, (I'm also looking at HP, although they are more expensive).
Either way I don't seem to be able to get a definitive answer on the epsons regarding ink changes, is it still necessary to change between matte black and photo black? A colleague at work reckons that he has a RIP and doesn't need to change anything because of that, but he also doesn't do any "fine art" printing, so I'm dubious about his answer.
Could one of you guys/gals help me out, so I don't get screwed by the reseller?
Also how would you rate the latest Canons? Anyone?

Thanks for any help.

No you don't have to swap the MK and PK inks on the Epson 3800/4880 but an ink purge occurs when you change from one to the other causing a few milli-liters of ink wastage.

Don Bryant

 

[amphoto]

No you don't have to swap the MK and PK inks on the Epson 3800/4880 but an ink purge occurs when you change from one to the other causing a few milli-liters of ink wastage.

Don Bryant

With the 3800 you don't, but sadly you still have to swap MK and PK on the 4880. Unless, that is, you use the Imageprint RIP - and then you can swap out the LLK cartridge for a MK one, and print (via the RIP) onto any type of paper without black-swapping. Of course, you then have to do all your printing via the RIP (not through the Epson driver) or you get some pretty odd results (the Epson driver thinks the LLK slot does indeed have a LLK cartridge in it, but that's not the case any more). On the up side, if you do want to swap the MK cartridge back for the original LLK one, you can do it with a lot less ink loss via a special Imageprint profile and purge file.

 

[donbga]

With the 3800 you don't, but sadly you still have to swap MK and PK on the 4880.

Ah, thanks for the correction.

Don

 

[donbga]

Hi There,

In not asking "which printer should I buy" but...
I'm in the process of weighing up if I should purchase one of the Epson printers with a view to making Digital negatives as well as normal printing, (I'm also looking at HP, although they are more expensive).
Either way I don't seem to be able to get a definitive answer on the epsons regarding ink changes, is it still necessary to change between matte black and photo black? A colleague at work reckons that he has a RIP and doesn't need to change anything because of that, but he also doesn't do any "fine art" printing, so I'm dubious about his answer.
Could one of you guys/gals help me out, so I don't get screwed by the reseller?
Also how would you rate the latest Canons? Anyone?

Thanks for any help.

One thing I have just stumbled upon with the 3800 is that the maximum print length is 37 inches printing through the Epson driver.

I need to be able to print inkjet prints longer than that so the ColorBurst RIP maybe the most affordable option to pursue.

Don Bryant

 

[fotoinsight]

Thanks for all the replies, funny that the "older" 3800 seems to have the things we all ask for, and the newer models seem to have missed out on such things, I can't think why I would want to have to switch inks these days! Oh well.
I shall see if I can get hold of an Epson 3800 as that seems the best option for my current needs