RMM
Fan of Printing
So I got a new toy! (Wife was ALMOST going to kill me! I told her I'd sell one of my NIB MP560s 
)
I was browsing my local classifieds (I know, bad thing to do!!!) and I found a very nicely cared for Epson Stylus Photo 2200 for $60. It included refillable cartridges and an almost full ConeColor K3 series inkset! (These cost around $250!) The printer initially shipped with the K2 series inks but the K3 inks are supposed to improve the gamut.
This is an "old-school" 13" format pigment printer released in about 2002. It has 7-inks in the printer at any one time (M or P Black, Light Black, Magenta, Light Magenta, Cyan, Light Cyan, & Yellow), with the ability to swap between Matt & Photo black inks. It has large by today's standards 4 pl nozzles, and judging by the print speed it doesn't have very many of them!
This is my first attempt at a full color pigment printer. I plugged it in, did a nozzle check, and fired off a test image print. I learned quickly that my HP paper does NOT like pigment ink! In the heavier colored areas the ink pooled a bit on top of the paper. Luckily, the Kirkland paper seems to work pretty well. Without a dedicated profile the colors and saturation were a bit off.
I then set off to generate a custom profile with Profile Prism 7.0 to correct the colors. The printout is now pretty nice! It does look a bit different than my Pro9000. The colors seems a little bit "flatter". The gamut isn't quite as good (About 5% less available colors according to Profile Prism) but the colors still look good to the eye, even when comparing prints side by side to the Pro9000. Metamerism isn't that bad with this inkset and paper, definitely not something I worry about. Unless I look really close I can't see the 4 pl droplets, so I don't consider them to be a big problem either.
Another side note... this printer is SLOW!!! I guess that my Pro9000 has spoiled me. I didn't time the two printouts but I would guess that the Canon on highest quality vs. the Epson on 2880dpi and High Speed Printing (Bi-Directional) that the Canon is about six times faster. This isn't a big problem for me as I'm not going to be printing out hundreds of sheets on a regular basis but I was surprised at the difference in speed.
It will be nice to be able to print "archival" photos at home. I will still use my Pro9000 and other printers for the higher volume day to day stuff, but if I'm going to print a portrait to put on the wall or to give to friends or family it will be printed on this printer from now on!
)I was browsing my local classifieds (I know, bad thing to do!!!) and I found a very nicely cared for Epson Stylus Photo 2200 for $60. It included refillable cartridges and an almost full ConeColor K3 series inkset! (These cost around $250!) The printer initially shipped with the K2 series inks but the K3 inks are supposed to improve the gamut.
This is an "old-school" 13" format pigment printer released in about 2002. It has 7-inks in the printer at any one time (M or P Black, Light Black, Magenta, Light Magenta, Cyan, Light Cyan, & Yellow), with the ability to swap between Matt & Photo black inks. It has large by today's standards 4 pl nozzles, and judging by the print speed it doesn't have very many of them!
This is my first attempt at a full color pigment printer. I plugged it in, did a nozzle check, and fired off a test image print. I learned quickly that my HP paper does NOT like pigment ink! In the heavier colored areas the ink pooled a bit on top of the paper. Luckily, the Kirkland paper seems to work pretty well. Without a dedicated profile the colors and saturation were a bit off.
I then set off to generate a custom profile with Profile Prism 7.0 to correct the colors. The printout is now pretty nice! It does look a bit different than my Pro9000. The colors seems a little bit "flatter". The gamut isn't quite as good (About 5% less available colors according to Profile Prism) but the colors still look good to the eye, even when comparing prints side by side to the Pro9000. Metamerism isn't that bad with this inkset and paper, definitely not something I worry about. Unless I look really close I can't see the 4 pl droplets, so I don't consider them to be a big problem either.
Another side note... this printer is SLOW!!! I guess that my Pro9000 has spoiled me. I didn't time the two printouts but I would guess that the Canon on highest quality vs. the Epson on 2880dpi and High Speed Printing (Bi-Directional) that the Canon is about six times faster. This isn't a big problem for me as I'm not going to be printing out hundreds of sheets on a regular basis but I was surprised at the difference in speed.
It will be nice to be able to print "archival" photos at home. I will still use my Pro9000 and other printers for the higher volume day to day stuff, but if I'm going to print a portrait to put on the wall or to give to friends or family it will be printed on this printer from now on!
