Which printer to buy today, for pt pd digi negs? (or keep what I have?)

[mexipike]

It's been a long while, but I'd like to give platinum palladium another whirl using digital negatives. I have access to Phase One equipment for digitizing my negatives, so that side of my workflow is locked down, but I'm scared about buying or using a printer. In all honesty, I hate all inkjet printers and find them to be money pits especially when not used regularly in professional settings. . I've owned a few epsons over the years and have even had piezography kits. I now live in a small Brooklyn apartment and don't want to take up too much space, but do want quality platinum prints! I own a Canon Pro-100 that works fine for occasional proof prints and junk to put on the wall. I'm tempted to just use that, but since you can't use QTR, it seems like I'd have to do a lot of work to tweak curves etc. I like QTR and own it, so don't mind using that, so it seems the way to go would be an Epson. What would you recommend? I'm not planning to print real big. I was thinking maybe the Epson P700, with it's current $200 rebate may be a good deal, but I'd love to spend even less! I've been scanning threads here, and only saw a limited mention of a Pro-100 from 2016. Also, are people still using print profiling to dial in their curves? If so what software and hardware? Can it be done with a scan or is hardware needed? Any tips on anything that's changed or to keep in mind over the last few years would be greatly appreciated!

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I'm using an Epson P900. I just switched from an Epson 3880 (mine decided to develop the incontinence of a 90-year old diabetic and dribble ink in places it had no business being). I think you'd be fine with a P700. Yes, they're pricey, but they're really the best thing going. A friend of mine once switched to a Canon because he got tired of the pizza wheel marks on his negatives that his older Epson was making, and then realized that he was having to make two negatives and sandwich them to get sufficient density. Pizza wheel marks can be spotted out of a print if they're obvious, but out-of-register negatives can't be fixed.

I'm using the QTR and QuickCurveDN software set to create my own custom curves and print my negatives. It makes the process of profiling your transparency/negative/print much less painful.

 

[mexipike]

I'm using an Epson P900. I just switched from an Epson 3880 (mine decided to develop the incontinence of a 90-year old diabetic and dribble ink in places it had no business being). I think you'd be fine with a P700. Yes, they're pricey, but they're really the best thing going. A friend of mine once switched to a Canon because he got tired of the pizza wheel marks on his negatives that his older Epson was making, and then realized that he was having to make two negatives and sandwich them to get sufficient density. Pizza wheel marks can be spotted out of a print if they're obvious, but out-of-register negatives can't be fixed.

I'm using the QTR and QuickCurveDN software set to create my own custom curves and print my negatives. It makes the process of profiling your transparency/negative/print much less painful.

Thanks! I think I probably will just pick up the P700. It's a pretty great price with the current rebate imo, of course, it seems to only have like 15% ink when new, but oh well! I wish Epson would adopt the clear coat that Canon uses like on the Pro 1000, not really for digi negs but for black and white inkjet prints I really prefer it, but oh well. This printer is for my digi negs and maybe the occasional color print for around the house.

QuickCurve DN looks pretty great. It looks like I can make a high quality scan and use that to make the curve based on reading the lab values. Though, I may see if I know someone with profiler hardware.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Thanks! I think I probably will just pick up the P700. It's a pretty great price with the current rebate imo, of course, it seems to only have like 15% ink when new, but oh well! I wish Epson would adopt the clear coat that Canon uses like on the Pro 1000, not really for digi negs but for black and white inkjet prints I really prefer it, but oh well. This printer is for my digi negs and maybe the occasional color print for around the house.

QuickCurve DN looks pretty great. It looks like I can make a high quality scan and use that to make the curve based on reading the lab values. Though, I may see if I know someone with profiler hardware.

It will work just reading the LAB values, but you can also couple it with dedicated hardware readings to be more precise. I don't know that it is worth the extra effort, frankly.

 

[nmp]

It's been a long while, but I'd like to give platinum palladium another whirl using digital negatives. I have access to Phase One equipment for digitizing my negatives, so that side of my workflow is locked down, but I'm scared about buying or using a printer. In all honesty, I hate all inkjet printers and find them to be money pits especially when not used regularly in professional settings. . I've owned a few epsons over the years and have even had piezography kits. I now live in a small Brooklyn apartment and don't want to take up too much space, but do want quality platinum prints! I own a Canon Pro-100 that works fine for occasional proof prints and junk to put on the wall. I'm tempted to just use that, but since you can't use QTR, it seems like I'd have to do a lot of work to tweak curves etc. I like QTR and own it, so don't mind using that, so it seems the way to go would be an Epson. What would you recommend? I'm not planning to print real big. I was thinking maybe the Epson P700, with it's current $200 rebate may be a good deal, but I'd love to spend even less! I've been scanning threads here, and only saw a limited mention of a Pro-100 from 2016. Also, are people still using print profiling to dial in their curves? If so what software and hardware? Can it be done with a scan or is hardware needed? Any tips on anything that's changed or to keep in mind over the last few years would be greatly appreciated!

Sorry, but before going and buying a new printer, why not try out the one you have - at least go thru the process of making a digital negative the basic way using a scanner and a free script like the ChartThrob. Pt/Pd as far as I know does not require the densest of the negatives (like a salt print does) so more than likely the Pro-100 would be fine from that perspective. If the straight PK (or MK) does not work, you can find a color that gives better UV opacity. Peter Mrhar has a system to do that. At least it will be a good learning experience from which you can decide you want one of the the more sophisticated approaches down the line.

Just my 2 cents.

:Niranjan.