Epson XP-700 with CISS - Best Ink for Photo Printing?

[Nigel B]

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forum and am here because this seems to be THE place to go if looking for answers in the world of printers

Ok, so I have an Epson XP-700 with a CISS system fitted. I mainly print full page A4 photographs, not loads, but maybe a few per week on average.

My question relates to what ink I should be buying..... As i understand it the XP-700 as standard uses the Claria Premium inks with a combination of pigment black (for the Photo Black) and dye colour inks.

Up until now I just used the cheap ink which came with the CISS system (all pigment inks i believe) and the results seem alright to be fair. However I am wondering if I can achieve better results if i used some Genuine Epson inks as supplied with the EcoTank printers for example?

The A4 photo printing EcoTank model is the ET-7700 uses the same 4 dyes and 1 pigment idea, using the Epson 105 Black ink and the 106 Photo Black,Cyan,Magenta,Yellow. A full set of these bottles seems to be around £58 in the UK.

Or i wondered if I could use the Epson 664 range of inks (Black, Cyan, Magenta,Yellow) with the T7741 pigment ink Black as the photo black? These 5 bottles can be purchased for around £35 i think.

Please could anyone give me their thoughts?
Many thanks in advance,
Nigel

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The gamut of dye inks - on the same paper - does not vary so much, you may get a color cast with this or that ink , but that's something you can correct with a profile or color adjustments in the driver.
Much more critical is the fading performance of inks, no 3rd party ink can match genuine manufacturer's inks - Epson or Canon or HP, I have done lots of tests in this respect over the last years. You are looking for a bottled ink substitute for the Claria inks, you got it already - it is the Epson 106 ink for the ET-7700/7750, that ink performs as good as Claria inks, you probably don't need to buy the bundles, a bundle comes with quite a lot of pigment ink 105, it depens on your usage pattern if you really need it. The 106 inks are available as well individually. All other Epson inks - 664 or 102 - have a far inferior fading performance vs. the 106 ink, as well the ink for the L800/1800 which does not much better. The 106 ink was tested about a year ago in a German computer magazine, and I did some testing as well for confirmation.

 

[Nigel B]

Hi Ink stained Fingers - I was hoping you might reply (having read some of your comments elsewhere on this forum, its obvious you are seriously knowledgeable on this subject!!)

I had been wondering why the 664 inks for example were much cheaper than the 106 inks, but didn't know if this was some strange marketing thing by Epson or if there really is a difference between them - you have answered that one for me. I think that the 106 ink will be what I try next....

Is there a particular paper I should use to get the best performance out of the 106 inks? I'm using a relatively inexpensive glossy paper currently, but as with the ink, I don't mind spending a bit more to achieve better results!

Thanks again for your advice

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Papers - I assume you are talking about photo papers ? glossy type ?

relatively inexpensive glossy paper

You cannot really go by the price and expect a particular performance level - not with inks nor with papers, pricing is not based on performance in lots of cases but is supposed to create the most profit overall.
There are two types of photo papers - cc - cast coated - and PE/RC backed - both types in an overlapping pricing range.
cc-papers are more of the budget type, it's a paper with a paper like back side, you could print on in and the thinner ones get wavy after print from the solvent ingressing into the paper base. Such papers have a pretty limited color space and a poor black level.
PE/RC papers are laminated with a very thin PE film on both sides preventing the solvent to get into the paper base, and you cannot print onto the back side. These are resin coated on top of the
PE film, these papers give you a better performance, a wider gamut and a better black level, all
Epson or Canon or HP papers are of this type, and there are lots of suppliers for both types of papers on the market, but only a few tell you the paper type they are selling, they rather talk about the superb gloss etc.
The best bargain for a PE paper was a Sihl paper sold at Aldi stores at particular times, 50 sheets A4 for €4,99 in Germany but I have not seen such offers since a while. This is a pricing typically below Ebay or Amazon prices for cc-papers which go up to 2 to 3x of that price.

I had been wondering why the 664 inks for example were much cheaper than the 106 inks,

Pricing is not that much related to performance but much more to the overall volume sold, there are much more ET-printers sold using the 664 inks than ET-7700 printers, so the business volume for the 664 inks is much higher giving more room for the pricing, discounts etc.

 

[stratman]

There are two types of photo papers - cc - cast coated - and PE/RC backed

Thanks for the good explanation!

 

[Nigel B]

There are two types of photo papers - cc - cast coated - and PE/RC backed - both types in an overlapping pricing range.

Thank you again for your help and for a great explanation. This really helps me understand what I need to look for in future

 

[splashjetink]

Hi, If you are looking for Ink for Photo Printing I would like to recommend Splashjet photo printing ink for Epson Printer