InkTec Powerchrome for Epson 3880

[pharmacist]

HI Kjell,

My experience with the Inktec Powerchrome is generally very good: high gamut (vivid magenta/light magenta), good gloss (even the difficult magenta colours: many pigment ink manufacturers have difficulty making a really glossy magenta).....but like ink stained fingers said: the metallic shine and bronzing of the photo black is a bit annoying. I solve this by mixing a rather matte looking photo black from Ocbestjet (aliexpress.com) with the Inktec Powerchrome Photo Black (1 part Ocbestjet Photo Black with 3 parts of Inktec Powerchrome Photo Black). Also Inktec Powerchrome hardly ever clogs the print head and ink flow is very consistent.

I am going to replace my other P800 printer (now still running with original cartridges) with refillables in the next few months with this Ocbestjet K3 compatible refill ink, which I have tested in my previous Pro 3880 printer and two things I need to improve: the LB is too light, causing ABW prints to be more sepia than neutral black and white, so I need to do some tweaking (adding a bit photo black to the LB to increase darkness) and the aforementioned tweaking of the matte looking photo black with the highly glossy (almost metallic shine) of the Inktec Powerchrome Photo Black. Despite these two disadvantages this chinese ink does produce remarkable good glossy prints: good gloss (even the magenta's), good gamut.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

When we discuss performance of 3rd party pigment inks we should keep in mind that the paper we are using influences the look - gloss - bronzing - as well; I have seen visible differences between glossy papers in this respect.

 

[ice-t]

Of course you are right, stay with the processes that works. But, curiosity is a well known motor for us photographers. Could I do something better if i try another way? Try another paper - or ink. Worse or better, you get more experience and more tools in your toolbox.
I still intend to test my InkTec inks, but the supplier made a mistake and sent me two bottles of C, instead one C and one LC. So as I have to get the right cyan, I was thinking if changing the magentas to Powerchrome should be an advantage.
But again, as Mikling has stated in a post, if inks differ too much from OEM specs, it´s not always (did he write never?) profiling can solve that difference.
Right now i hope @pharmacist see this thread and can explain why he uses InkTec Powerchrome K3.

Hi Kjell i use Inktec in my Epson 1500W
https://www.octoink.co.uk/products/UltraChrome-K3-6x50ml-Ink-Set.html
i use the hybrid black
and i print mostly on PPD Satin Pearl 280g/m 13x18cm A4 and A3 and 200g/m A3

 

[robwignell]

Hi Kjell.

I bought a badly blocked Epson 7880 a few years ago and, because half the cartridges were empty, used Inktec ink, initially to flush the printer clean and get it going and subsequently to learn about creating icc profiles using ArgyllCMS. I also have an Epson 3880 which has OEM ink cartridges and I found that with identical patch sets, and paper the InkTec ink had a smaller gamut volume by about 15%.

By the time I had used about half of the InkTec ink, mostly on printing targets for making ICC profiles, I decided to buy a set of Cone K3 inks with the extended (and more expensive) PK ink option. I installed and used this ink for a while but, as I profiled the range of papers I normally use, it was obvious that the gamut volume hadn't changed much. It certainly doesn't match the gamut volume results I get from my Epson 3880.

With this disappointment in mind, I bought a set of ink for the Epson 7880 from Marrutt. I was using their Ultra Pearlescent Hi White 300gsm with the Cone ink and was happy with the results.

I have now been using the Marrutt Ink for about 12 months and, again, the gamut volumes with their ink and my selection of papers is similar to the gamut volumes for both InkTec and Cone Color inks.

Initially, with the InkTec ink, my printing results were a little flat. I assumed that this was a result of the ink having a smaller colour gamut. More likely, it was my inexperience in printing. I am now getting results that I am extremely pleased with from the Marrutt K3 ink set with the 7880 and a range of papers. The results match the results I get when I use my 3880 but I prefer the 7880 because it doesn't use pinwheels to advance the paper, and, if I want to, I can print very large prints.

Being a slow learner, it took me three sets of inks to work out that numbers like gamut volume, while informative, are less important than whether the prints you can produce are good enough to hang on the wall with pride.

I think that InkTec was the most economical of the three that I tried, but, compared to OEM ink for the 7880 the cost of any of them is trivial.

Print your best images and, if you like the results, stick with the ink that you are using.