Sorry, still confused... (ink choice)

[WolfgangExler]

I'll choose an ink with as close as possible match to OEM ink (necessary to use printer's copy function), the best fading resistance in the same price range. Although is not THAT important, fading resistance is always a good thing, don't you think?
I do prefer buying from UK or Germany.

I can recommend a german dealer which support several refill shops

http://www.octopus-office.de

They sell inks from different manufacturers and I have very good experience with their pigment ink for my Epson Stylus Photo R2400.

Wolfgang

 

[jopereira]

http://www.octopus-office.de

They sell inks from different manufacturers and I have very good experience with their pigment ink for my Epson Stylus Photo R2400.

Thanks, I'll bookmark it for future reference.

 

[jopereira]

Well, been using INKTEC for a while (but remember, I'm not a frenetic printing kind of person ).

Without profiling, colors are on the cool side, maybe not the best equivalence to OEM inks. No clogs, and I sometimes take a week between prints.
Everything is alright, but I would like to post some results from a 3-week sun exposure to inks I've used so far. INKTEC was in diferent 3-week period with much more sun that the others.
Still not capable to indicate a profile to use with plain paper (Windows) and that makes me mad as I though I could do so with these drivers .

LEFT: Original (kept is a box during test period)
RIGHT: Sample exposed to direct sun (behind window glass)

CANON:

INKTEC:

Arc-En-Ciel (used in my Brother printer):

 

[stratman]

jopereira:

Not good. Your fading reminds me of Tin Ho's recent posts about fading in a short period of time. It is unclear if you were printing on photo paper or plain paper. Still, you would think that either would not fade as much as they did. While the Inktec fading was disappointing, the ink for the Brother printer was awful. Embarrassing performance for that ink.


Maybe the sun is more intense in beautiful Lisbon. I'm sure the girls on the beach prefer it that way... and so do the boys. (just kidding for all you serious readers)

 

[jopereira]

Yes, I forgot to mention all printings were on HP Premium Photo Paper.

Arc-En-Ciel inks are VERY, VERY cheap (~1/100ml) and they are just fine on plain paper. I have profiled this printer to both plain and photo paper (Stapples and HP Premium) and profiling is just OK, with very restrited dynamics in red component.
I also must say I have printings made with these inks, in Staples Photo Basic paper (cheap photo paper) near that window (~1 m), away from the sun, and printings ara ok after 2 months. I believe if printings are not exposed to extreme conditions, they work just fine for a long period of time.
I have to think this way - maybe I'll never spend as much money with INKTEC inks during my printers life as I would buying one set of CANON's original cartridges. I've refilled 2-3 times each cartridge, and still have lot's of ink to refill!!! And lots of money to spend too!!!

Note 1: in real life, INKTEC prints don't look so diferent from CANON's as they appear in these scans
Note 2: INKTEC's printing were made before profiling; of course, CANON's are already "profiled" (is not strange to have better color reproduction with original inks, just try to flat CANON's drivers and you'll be scared with ugly results )

 

[pharmacist]

Which version of Inktec are you using ? CLI-8, CLI-521/CLI-221 or universal version ?
I did a comparative test over more than a year now and I will soon post the results (Inktec CLI-8, Image Specialists IM-K4 and IRK4-nano Claria compatible pigment inks and Coralgraph dye ink).

 

[jopereira]

Please, see post #48. I guess I cannot have 100% sure about the ink I bought, but results are consistent with tintenalarm ones.