Replacing my old 1280 with....?

SusanV · Mar 17, 2008

Hi everyone,
I haven't been around here much 'cause i've been working on an exhibition of
my paintings these past few months, but now that's hanging, and I'm itching
to get back to making some digital negs and photogravures. I'm also ready
to replace my old 1280 printer.

I'm thinking about the Canon 9000, 9500, or maybe even an Epson 3800.

What I want to print:

1.... colorized digital negatives with PDN, for making photogravure printing
plates. (My Epson 1280's inks worked great for the degree of UV blocking I
need.)

2... "giclees" (i hate that word), of my paintings. Full color on matte surface
fine art papers. Of course I want rich darks, which I worry about on a matte
paper...

3... and finally, I'd like to make some b&w prints of some of my photos as well.

I've been reading every review and forum post I can find about these and
other printers, but I'm more confused than enlightened. There's just too
much conflicting info, and a lot of outdated info as well. Any advice you'd be
willing to offer would be SO appreciated. I'm ready to order it asap, but I
need your guidance on what will work best for me.

As always, thanks!

Susan

Kerik · Mar 17, 2008

Can't comment on the Canons, but have had a 3800 for a year now and can't be more pleased with it. I get great digital negs with QTR. I'm not a fan of PDN or colorized negs for my work flow. I am also making "toned" BW prints of my wet plate images that are really, really nice.

SusanV · Mar 17, 2008

Hi Kerik,
Thanks for the reply.

What kind of substrate do you use for your digital negs?

susan

SusanV · Mar 17, 2008

I know I mentioned the 3800 in my first post, but honestly, I'm choking on the cost of it, and would like to hear thoughts on 13" printers other than the Canons I mentioned.

Like the Epson 2400?

diginegs
b&w prints
matte color prints
?

susan

Joe Lipka · Mar 17, 2008

I have the Epson R2400. I like it very much for digital negatives. You can also make those other types of prints with it, too if you load it with paper. I have made some panoramic prints that are 8.5" x 36" on the R2400 with roll paper and they turned out very nice.

I use pictorico film and don't make pt/pd prints larger than 8.5 x 11". I used mkosch's method for determining a color blocker and found it to be successful.

Haven't tried it for color prints.

I use the Epson inks. Some say it uses the Epson pigment very quickly. That may be true, but the prints are nice.

SusanV · Mar 17, 2008

Thanks to all of you for the suggestions and first-hand knowledge. What could
be better than that!?

I'm settled now on getting the Epson 3800. The more I think about it, I know
I"ll eventually want to print that size anyway, so why not get that printer now
and be done with it. Apparently the cost of it is the same or less than the
2400, when considering that it comes loaded with $500 of ink.

thanks again,
Susan

Kerik · Mar 17, 2008

Susan,

I've been using Pictorico OHP. I haven't tried anything else with it yet.

sanking · Mar 18, 2008

Kerik said:
Susan,

I've been using Pictorico OHP. I haven't tried anything else with it yet.

The inexpensive OHP from PhotoWarehouse also works in the 3800, at least if you are printing with the black inks.

Sandy King

SusanV · Mar 18, 2008

Thanks, Sandy. "inexpensive" is one of my favorite things, and in these days of photo-industry change, I think it's smart to not rely too heavily on any one product.

I ordered a 3800 last night, and now I'm over the sticker-shock, and just excited to get to work with it!

Now I have to learn more about papers for it, in regard to making prints of my color paintings.

susan

Kerik · Mar 19, 2008

Susan, I've tried quite a few papers with this machine. What kind of a paper are you looking for?

sanking · Mar 19, 2008

SusanV said:
Thanks, Sandy. "inexpensive" is one of my favorite things, and in these days of photo-industry change, I think it's smart to not rely too heavily on any one product.

I ordered a 3800 last night, and now I'm over the sticker-shock, and just excited to get to work with it!

Now I have to learn more about papers for it, in regard to making prints of my color paintings.

susan

Susan,

BTW, if you need special sizes PhotoWarehouse will cut the OHP for you, though you may have to purchase a whole roll for this. For example, I had some cut to 8X19" for printing full frame 7X17 prints, and 13X23" for printing 12X20.

I am still working with the Epson 2200 and in order to get this OHP to feed through the printer I attach it to a piece of thicker plastic (an old piece of Pictorico would work well) just by taping the two together across the bottom. However, I know someone using the Photo Warehouse OHP with the 3800 and it feeds fine for him as is.

Sandy

SusanV · Mar 19, 2008

Kerik said:
Susan, I've tried quite a few papers with this machine. What kind of a paper are you looking for?

Kerik, here's what I want:

1. matte smooth finish paper for making "giclees" of my pastel paintings.

2. cold-pressed watercolor type paper (with a little surface texture), for giclees of oil paintings.

3. and a couple of papers that work well for "pigment prints" of my b&w
photos and other b&w graphic works (pencil, charcoal, ink drawings).
smooth finish, and either matte or semi matte I suppose. I expect to
work into some of these with color... watercolor or pastel pencil or
ink. Whatever works.

I already have and have used for many years most of the common printmaking
and watercolor papers in my studio... Rives BFK, Somerset Satin, Arches
watercolor, etc... curious if I can cut these big sheets down and use those?
BFK is so lightly sized I wonder about spraying it with a coat of workable
fixative first.

are you sorry you asked?

susan

SusanV · Mar 19, 2008

sanking said:
Susan,

BTW, if you need special sizes PhotoWarehouse will cut the OHP for you, though you may have to purchase a whole roll for this. For example, I had some cut to 8X19" for printing full frame 7X17 prints, and 13X23" for printing 12X20.

I am still working with the Epson 2200 and in order to get this OHP to feed through the printer I attach it to a piece of thicker plastic (an old piece of Pictorico would work well) just by taping the two together across the bottom. However, I know someone using the Photo Warehouse OHP with the 3800 and it feeds fine for him as is.

Sandy

Thanks a lot Sandy. This is all such good info for me. Nice to have it from
reliable sources and right here where I can access it if I get stuck.

susan

donbga · Mar 19, 2008

SusanV said:
Kerik, here's what I want:

1. matte smooth finish paper for making "giclees" of my pastel paintings.

2. cold-pressed watercolor type paper (with a little surface texture), for giclees of oil paintings.

3. and a couple of papers that work well for "pigment prints" of my b&w
photos and other b&w graphic works (pencil, charcoal, ink drawings).
smooth finish, and either matte or semi matte I suppose. I expect to
work into some of these with color... watercolor or pastel pencil or
ink. Whatever works.

I already have and have used for many years most of the common printmaking
and watercolor papers in my studio... Rives BFK, Somerset Satin, Arches
watercolor, etc... curious if I can cut these big sheets down and use those?
BFK is so lightly sized I wonder about spraying it with a coat of workable
fixative first.

are you sorry you asked?

susan

Susan,

The only issues you should have with those papers are:

1) The thickness of the paper
2) Getting a color profile made for the non-Epson/watercolor/print making papers for color work.

I don't think spraying with a fixative is a good idea but I could be wrong since I've never tried it. There is a product called ink-aid that can be used to prepare non inkjet printing substrates to receive ink. However I know that people such as Ron Reeder and Dan Burkholder have used Arches Platine to make platinum over pigment type prints so ink aid maybe over kill. Additionally I have seen monochrome inkjet prints made on Somerset papers that look quite nice.

There are many nice cotton rag inkjet papers made and I personally would use those instead for your color and mono inkjet prints. Check out the Moab line of papers sold by Legion. My favorites are the Entrata natural white and bright white. Reasonably priced in large sizes. Also look at the Red River brand of papers and the Epson fine art papers such as the ultra smooth and velver fine art.

My 2 cents,

Don Bryant

Greg_E · Mar 19, 2008

Uncoated papers can be difficult to print, you really need an application that allows you to control the amount of ink on the paper (a RIP).

For textured paper I still like Hahnemuhle German Etching the best, but you might want to try Hahnemuhle Albrecht Durer for more texture. For very smooth matte papers, try some of the Innova Photo FibaPrint Ultra Smooth (and some of the other Innova papers). These are ALL matte black ink papers (for best results) and you should find color ICC profiles for all of them. You can get all of these papers from Jim Doyle at http://www.shadesofpaper.com If you happen to talk to Jim, tell him I sent you. And you will want to try some canvas materials at some time, I like the Intellicoat Torino canvas, and I see that they have a clear material for overheads and maybe digital negatives that you might want to look at. I was not impressed with the "fine art" papers that Intellicoat made a few years ago so they have been off my list since then. Also Hawk Mountain Papers has a few "fine art" papers and canvas that are decent, but I don't remember which ones I liked and I don't have my sample book with me to remind me.

Time to start buying sample packs of paper and keeping notes.

SusanV · Mar 22, 2008

OK thanks for the info everyone. I'm browsing around now checking out
papers online and reading a book I that Santa brought me, "Fine Art Printing
for Photographers", by Steinmueller and Gulbins.

I thought I would have a week or 10 days to get ready for the printer
(including building a roll-around cart with paper storage), but for once,
regular shipping was extremely fast and I got it 2 days after I ordered it!!!
haha... now it's sitting there in it's box, whining to get out, while I study up
on what to do with it once I do let it out.

thanks again,
susan

Greg_E · Mar 26, 2008

Step one... Buy some Epson paper! I suggest you start using Epson papers until you get the hang of working with that printer. If you have a problem and need to call Epson, as long as you are using Epson ink and paper they should be able to help you. The printer software should come with ICC profiles for most of the suggested Epson papers, and those will be good enough to get you going.

Replacing my old 1280 with....?

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