Switching from the 3800 to 3880 (QTR)

Hey all - I recently had to replace my Epson 3800 and I purchased a 3880 to replace it (great deal with the recent $300 rebate from Epson). Both printers use the same inks except for the magentas which have been replaced with vivid magentas. Surprisingly, the inkjet negative results were very different. Clearly something else is going on since majenta plays a very small role in my QTR profiles. I don't know if it's the dithering or what, but the UV density using identical settings used on the 3800 were considerably lower on the 3880. Compare the green line (3880) to the red line (3800). (UV density on the y-axis and percent black on the x-axis.)

After getting some suggestions from Clay, I began to fiddle with a few settings in my existing QTR ink descriptor file especially the gray curve gamma and black boost. The blue line above is from my final ink descriptor file after many, many tries. The differences between my 3800 ink descriptor and 3880 ink descriptor files are highlighted below.


I then used Ike's curve builder script to linearize my stepwedges printed in pure palladium. The curve generated by the script gave me this:


I tweaked the curve and smoothed it out to look like this:


Running Ike's script again on a stepwedge printed with the curve above incorporated into my ink descriptor file showed good linearity:


So, the moral of the story is that (using QTR) the 3880 seems to be as good an inkjet negative machine as the 3800 but don't expect your previous settings to work. Also, Clay's suggestion to mess with the gray curve gamma was excellent. This little control is very powerful and with further fiddling I suspect a more linear result could be obtained prior to generating the correction curve. I'm attaching my 3880 ink descriptor file for anyone who wants to use it. If you use a PC change the file extension to .QIDF. This forum doesn't allow QIDF files as attachments. I'm not attaching my curve because in all likelihood it won't be correct for someone else's working environment and you should create your own correction curves. I hope this is helpful!

Kerik, looking at this, i'll bet if you dropped the gamma to 0.55 or 0.6, that would just about fix the little bump in your correction curve. But even so, that looks about as close as I've ever seen prior to the curve adjustment.

Thanks!

Kerik,

Just curious what happened to your 3800?

I have had my 3800 for about three years with no problems but I did not print with it for a couple of months late this year and I have a nozzle clog with the magenta inks. I have run many cleaning cycles, including several power cleaning cycles from the control panel, but in spite of everything I have tried there are still two small gaps on the magenta pattern.

Anyone know of a magical way to clean the head?

Sandy

Sandy - I also had clogging issues with the majenta ink. I took it into a local authorized Epson service center. They opened it up and said the head was physically damaged and could not be unclogged/fixed. A replacement head is about $300 plus labor to install. It still works fine for prints, but for printing palladium from digital negs I was getting some VERY subtle lineations on even toned areas.

Kerik said:

Sandy - I also had clogging issues with the majenta ink. I took it into a local authorized Epson service center. They opened it up and said the head was physically damaged and could not be unclogged/fixed. A replacement head is about $300 plus labor to install. It still works fine for prints, but for printing palladium from digital negs I was getting some VERY subtle lineations on even toned areas.

Click to expand...

Kerik,

I was talking with Sam Wang and Mark Nelson recently and they also have clogs of the magenta nozzle on their 3800 printers! There must have been something defective with the formulation of the Epson magenta inks. Seems like too much of a coincidence that so many of us have clogs of the magenta nozzles. Wonder if this is why they replaced the 3800 with the 3880?

Sandy

I have never made a digital negative, and never created a print using an alternate process. So, I'm new to it, and need a lot of information. My initial goal is to create cyanotypes from digital negatives. After I have learned that process, I would like to try carbon printing. Now, with that in mind, I am looking for a good printer for digital negatives. Would the Epson 3880 fill the bill? I do want a printer this size, since I really want to create large prints in the future. I have decided that I do not want to buy a starter printer, and then get the larger format one. I think that would be a waste of money. With regard to making the prints, I already own an Amergraph V28 1200SE. With its 24x28 inch bed, I should have no problems making 17x22 inch prints.

Thanks for any information you can give me!

Jon

The 3880 is a great choice for digital negatives or inkjet prints.

I had a feeling that it was, but I needed the confirmation. Thanks!

Jon