Ink Blots

Using canvas in the Epson 3800

In a recent discussion group post, “paulgotts07036” wrote:

To load canvas in the epson 3800 just by itself, I either get skew message or paper not loaded correctly. It seems the only way I can get the canvas to load is to tape it to a stiff piece of 140lb watercolor paper, which is also what I had to do with my epson 9000 printer. The only reason I bought the epson 3800 was that I thought I would be able to just take a piece of canvas and load it by itself. Any one else have these problems, or has anyone found an easy way to load canvas in a epson 3800?

My tech support guy, Chris, recommends the same loading method for the 3800 that he uses for the R2400.

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/23 at 06:41 AM
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$10,000 per gallon for ink!

Two weeks we posed the question, ”Just how much ink is in those little cartridges?”

I mentioned that Epson’s “standard capacity” R260 and R380 (T078 series) ink cartridges carry only 7.4 ml of ink.  Epson’s Online Store charges $14.24 for those cartridges. That calculates to $1.92 per milliliter.  Since there are 3,785 ml in a gallon, that would make this Epson’s most expensive ink, at over $7,267 per gallon!

But Michael McNamara, Popular Photography’s Executive Technology Editor, reports that the Magenta HP ink cartridge for its Photosmart 8200 series holds only 3.5 ml and costs around $9.99. That equates to $10,788 per gallon!

Since MIS Associates sells an “Epson equivalent” dye based ink for $85 per gallon (and even an Epson equivalent pigment based ink for $384 per gallon), one wonders if Inkjet printer manufacturers are making much more than the 75% profit margin Kodak claimed in their Feb. 6 news release. I think it’s a LOT more, and it’s no wonder they are very protective of their market shares. (HP holds a 41% share of the inkjet printer market, followed by Epson with 18%, Canon with 17%, Lexmark with 13%, and Dell with only 6%—as reported by USA Today.)

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/21 at 04:22 PM
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Aqueous Coatings

In a recent discussion group post, “photog0946” wrote:

I’m just now getting started with some canvas printing. I have recently been researching various coatings and have almost settled on the Premier Art Eco Print Shield. I have tried it and quite like the results. However, when it comes to producing large canvases, I’m not at all certain I want to be applying it with a brush or roller. I imagine the best application would be achieved with a HVLP system. I’d appreciate any information I can get on this product from those already using it, including your response as to the best application procedures. I like the idea of an aqueous base for various reasons, ease of cleanup being one.

The best application of an aqueous coating like the Eco is with an HVLP system. I’ve listed the hardware you’ll need and step-by-step instructions in an article I wrote on September 27, 2005.

This is the same set-up I use for my BairArtEditions.com company (although my own experience leans more to the Glamour 2 Giclee Veneer coating - the Eco is a little “hazy” for me, and produces a little more of a “gritty” texture or feel to the surface).

I’ve also used the spongy, Quali-Tech RollerFoam rollers with good success on small to medium canvas jobs. These instructions are for the Glamour, but will work with the Eco, using some adaptations.

You can buy these foam rollers at most hardware stores (like Home Depot) for about $10. They are much smoother and more even in their application than other paint rollers, as this image shows.

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/19 at 06:23 AM
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Ink cartridge test standard is established

There may soon be a way to determine how many printed pages you really get out of an inkjet printer cartridge.

Currently, each manufacturer applies its own standards for determining cartridge life, which makes it hard for consumers to comparison shop adequately when deciding on a printer or printer cartridge.

CNet reported on February 9 that major printer manufacturers like Canon, Epson, HP, Kodak, IBM and Ricoh are to get behind printer cartridge standards that will allow customers to make a more informed choice as to what cartridge produces the most pages.

The International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) is to get behind the ISO/IEC 24711:2006 and ISO/IEC 19798:2006 printer cartridge yields standards produced by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The new standards for inkjet and color toner cartridge yields clearly define the key attributes that affect yield so all manufacturers can use the same methodology when measuring yield for their products. The standards can be applied to OEM, remanufactured and refilled cartridges.

Despite the new standard, there’s no word on when manufacturers who support the INCITS plan to implement the standard, or when consumers can expect to see an ISO rating on cartridge packaging.

Interestingly, the announcement coincides with Kodak’s release of its own inkjet printer line and an assertion that it will offer ink prices at 50 percent of its competitors. Critics contend that until Kodak, and every one else, provides how many milliliters of ink are in each cartridge, it’s hard to determine whether its claim is accurate.

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/15 at 06:01 AM
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Can Kodak pull it off?

Ever since Kodak announced on February 6th its entrance into the consumer photo inkjet arena, market analysts have been debating if Kodak can compete in this already mature market, especially against the printer giant Hewlett-Packard.

With its very profitable film sales market rapidly dwindling, Kodak quickly needs another cash cow. Kodak’s CEO, Antonio Perez, came to Kodak three and a half years ago from HP’s very profitable inkjet-printer business, with a plan to revitalize the company through a dramatic change in the consumer inkjet industry. Perez’s plan was to produce an inkjet printer and ink as good or better than the competition, but to attack the thing that has aggravated consumers the most—the high cost of inks.

Ink manufacturer profits often reaching over 75%, tempting companies to sell their printers at or below cost, just to get the ink cartridge sales (the old razor and razor blade principle). Kodak’s plan is to sell ink cartridges at prices that are one-half of their competition, and still be highly profitable because consumers will be induced to print more photos at the cheaper prices, and then buy more of their ink. See related story ("Kodak plans to break the ink cartel with cheaper ink").

High-ranking executives from both HP and Epson have scoffed at Kodak’s plans to compete in their markets. Market analysts predict that it will be difficult for Kodak to get shelf space at many of the big-box stores because HP offers so many incentives to dealers to keep their products in front of buyers, and exclude competitors. With so much on the line, industry experts expect HP to pull out all the stops.

After reading Business Week’s six page article ("Kodak’s Moment of Truth") in their February 19th issue, I believe Kodak and Perez’s team can pull this off. Analysts who have seen Kodak’s printers have come away impressed. Although this is a roll of the dice on a risky new strategy to reinvent the inkjet printer, all the right pieces are in place.

Susan Tousi, Kodak’s head of R&D (and affectionately dubbed by her colleagues as the “Queen of Geeks") kept sending the engineering staff back to the drawing board to get it right, after having been told by Perez, “We have only one chance to do this right. If our first introduction fails, we fail.”

Unlike HP, Kodak’s EasyShare printers follow Epson and Canon’s philosophy of placing the print heads in the printer and not on the ink cartridges. This allows the manufacturer to producer much cheaper inkjet cartridges, because their main purpose is just to act as a reservoir to hold ink. To really cut costs, Kodak could have gone with the cheaper and less problematic dye ink technology. But dye inks fade fast, often in less than 15 years, and dye made prints are very susceptible to smudging and water damage. Kodak’s R&D team spent almost three years developing a new pigment ink technology that produces water-resistant and fade-resistant prints that will last 100 years or more.

Kodak’s inkjet printers have 3,840 nozzles that fire at a rate of 24,000 drops per second. The pigment inks dry in just 15 milliseconds on Kodak’s microporous papers, and the printers can produce a 4x6 print in 28 seconds.

The Kodak EasyShare All-in-One printers (starting at $149.99) are focused on the consumer market, with black ink replacement cartridges costing $9.99 and color $14.99 (all 5 colors). If consumers buy Kodak’s economical Photo Value Pack, which combines paper and ink, the cost per print is about 10 cents, vs. 24 cents for HP’s comparable package and 29 cents for Epson’s.

To kick-start distribution, Kodak has made a deal with Best Buy Company to be the exclusive retailer of these products for the first three months, beginning in March, when the printers are introduced.

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/14 at 08:00 AM
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Printer for an Artist

Because I’m a photographer, a recent discussion group post caught my attention:

I am a digital artist. I need a good printer to print my artwork. I do in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. I also want to print artistic photographs. On the other hand, I want a printer that can still print word documents and spreadsheets.  I want to be able to print large paper format as well. Can anyone suggest a printer?

I’m going to present a list of 11 medium-format printers I’d recommend for artists, but first let me give a little background.

HP makes some of the best laser and inkjet printers on the planet for office use, but they have never addressed the needs of photographers and other artists until just recently. Although there are only about 150,000 professional photographers in the world, this is a niche market that Epson has found very profitable. Canon has also became a player in this field. HP entered the photo consumer market years ago with their Photosmart series, but these printers never fully addressed the longevity issues that concerned professional photographers and other artists—that is, until HP’s introduction of their new HP Photosmart Pro B9180 ink jet printer.

The following list of inkjet printers share two things in common: (1) they can handle at least a 13” x 19” format (and can also print letter-size office documents with ease); and (2) they do an excellent job in printing photography or other art because of of their high definition printing technolog and wide color gamut (using 6 or more ink colors):

Canon PIXMA Pro9000 (13x19), 8 dye inks - $499.99
Canon PIXMA Pro9500 (13x19), 10 pigment inks (avail. Spring 2007)
Canon iPF5000 (17x22 + rolls), 12 pigment inks - $1945.00
Epson Stylus Photo R2400 (13x19 + rolls), 8 pigment inks - $849.00
Epson Stylus Photo R1800 (13x19 + rolls), 7 pigment inks - $549.00
Epson Stylus Photo 1280 (13x19 + rolls), 6 dye inks - $299.00
Epson Stylus Photo 1400 (13x19), 6 dye inks - $399.00
Epson Stylus Pro 3800 (17x22), 8 pigment inks - $1295.00
Epson Stylus Pro 4800 (17x22 + rolls), 8 pigment inks - $1995.00
HP B9180 PhotoSmart PRO Printer (13x19), 8 pigment inks - $699.99
HP DesignJet 130 (17x22 + rolls + 24” width), 6 dye inks - $1295.00

The HP DesignJet 130 is actually a 24” printer (entering the “large-format” category), but I added it to the list because it has a fairly reasonable price, and is still considered a “desktop” printer. Epson has the most choices in this arena, because they have been more focused on art and photography over the past 7-8 years.

LONGEVITY: The printers that use dye inks will do a great job, but their prints will only last about 10 years when displayed on a wall (but these dye prints should last for several decades if kept in an album). Some claim a display longevity of up to 80 years (like the HP DesignJet 130), but this is only when using a limited number of glossy or semi-gloss special, “swellable polymer” papers. Those printers using pigment inks have much greater fade-resistance, on a wide variety of media, including fine art papers and canvas (50 to 200 years, depending on the media).

MEDIA HANDLING: Those printers that have “roll” capability can usually print images longer than 19 inches, which allows one to print long panorama images (the Epson 3800 does not have roll capacity, but it can print on custom cut sheets up to 37"). Some of these printers can even print on canvas (Canon iPF5000, Epson Stylus Pro 3800, Epson Stylus Pro 4800). The Canon iPF5000, Epson Stylus Photo R2400, Epson Stylus Pro 3800, and Epson Stylus Pro 4800 can all handle thick, fine art papers (the other Epson printers can also handle thick papers, but not without some fussing and coaxing).

INK ECONOMY: The Canon iPF5000, Epson Stylus Pro 3800, and Epson Stylus Pro 4800 printers all use very large capacity ink cartridges that will greatly reduce ink costs.

JUST FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: If you don’t have a need for fine art paper handling, and your needs are more in the area of glossy and semi-gloss papers, I’d recommend the modestly priced Epson Stylus Photo R1800. It’s a pigment ink printer (for great longevity) that actually has an 8th ink cartridge—a clear, gloss optimizer that helps to make pigment inks look more like true photo lab prints. The Epson Stylus Photo 1280 and Epson Stylus Photo 1400 produce very rich prints (a little better than most pigment ink printers), but you need to be aware of the display longevity limitations of their dye inks. The HP DesignJet 130 is also highly recommend as long as you use their two swellable polymer gloss and semi-gloss papers (for up to 80 years of display life).

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/13 at 06:43 AM
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Epson 1280 dye inks vs. Epson 3800 pigment inks

Recently, someone asked the question why the Epson 3800 they just purchased didn’t produce the “richness of blacks and saturation that I can obtain with the Epson 1280.” His main papers were the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag and the Epson Enhanced Matte. He also mentioned that he was a commercial photographer and used his printer mostly for his portfolio, and that image quality is his #1 priority.

The 1280 dye inks will typically produce on most fine art papers a D-Max that is 0.4 to 0.7 greater than what you can archive with the Epson K3 pigment inks (Epson 3800), even though they are super pigments inks. This means that where you might get a D-Max reading of 1.6 to 1.9 with the K3 inks on the Hahnemuhle paper, you can archive a D-Max range of 2.0 to 2.6 with the 1280 dye inks. This not only gives you incredible blacks, but in increases the richness and saturation of all your other colors.

If you’re not displaying your 1280 dye prints on a wall, but only in a “portfolio” book, they should last for decades. On the wall, even behind glass, you’ll be lucky to get 5 to 10 years before significant fading occurs. The K3 pigment inks will give you 50 to 100 years of display longevity (or more), depending on the media and other display factors.

Despite some of the limitations of pigment inks, they’ve come a long, long way since I started using some of the first pioneering inks. The gamut of the K3 inks is incredible when properly profiled. This may be part of the problem. Even the canned profiles that come with your Epson 3800 for Epson’s own media can be improved with good custom profiles.

I don’t get any money or brownie points for making this recommendation, but you should give Inkjetart’s custom profiling service a try. They typically have a profile emailed to you within 24 hours of receiving your printed targets. Some places charge as much as $500 for this service. This may be the best $25 you’ve ever spent.

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/12 at 05:50 AM
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Just how much ink is in those little ink cartridges?

I was recently asked to help someone compare several printers and they wanted to find the cartridge capacity for the Claria ink cartridges of the Epson R380.

Evidently the government regulations in the UK require companies to tell more than they do in the USA. According to a 2007/01/13 post on the “Printers & Printing” forum (http://www.dpreview.com)—“It was learned from forum members in the UK that standard R260/265 cartridges have 7.4 ml of ink in them.”

I’m pretty sure the R260 UK version is the same as the USA R260—and we know the R260 and R380 use the same carts (T078 series).

Keep in mind, the “7.4 ml” is for a standard capacity cartridge. Since Epson claims their “High-Capacity” ink cartridges “offer about 50% more prints for just a few dollars more”, I would presume the hi-cap carts have 11.1 ml ink in them (7.4 times 1.5). This would appear to be about right, since most of the information I’ve seen out there puts the R800/R1800 and R2400 carts at about 15 ml ink capacity (these carts are a little larger than the “high capacity” R260/R380 carts—as you’ll see in a picture that is mentioned in my next paragraph).

Here’s an interesting review on the R260, with a comparison photo of an R800 cart (similar in size to the 2200 and R2400 carts) and an R260 cart. I love Alain Briot’s comment under the comparison photo:

“The R800 ‘regular size’ $15 Yellow cart on the left with the R260 ‘High Capacity’ $20 yellow cart to the right… What was Epson thinking? Is Claria ink so much more expensive to manufacture? Do I dare ask how much smaller the ‘regular size’ R260 cart is?”

And I’m not here to pick on Epson today. Forum members from “Printers & Printing” have examined some HP color cartridges and found as little as 3.5 ml of ink in each of the individual color cells—which would make even the standard (7.4 ml) Epson R380 cartridges appear to be “high-capacity”!

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/10 at 06:13 AM
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Kodak is focused on women inkjet users

In my Feb 6 news article, ”Kodak Plans To Break The Ink Cartel With Cheaper Ink”, I mention that a Kodak 10 cent print will now compete with the 29 cents per print that one ends up paying when using the Epson PictureMate Print Packs.

Epson’s Vice President, Keith Kratzberg, claims he isn’t worried by the Kodak competition - “Kodak will have to exceed our level of quality, which won’t be easy,” he says.  Epson has established a niche with photographers, but secretly, I think they are worried about Kodak’s entry into the general consumer market—at least, they should be.  Surveys show that Kodak has a sizable following among women consumers.  And for every pro photographer and serious amateur, there are probably a 100 women wanting to print pictures for their scrapbooks and memory pages.

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/09 at 03:48 PM
Inkjet News • Permalink

Kodak plans to break the ink cartel with cheaper ink

Rochester, NY - February 6, 2007
Kodak announced Tuesday that it plans to bring out a new line of consumer inkjet printers with cheaper ink. “After today, the inkjet market will never be the same,” said Antonio M. Perez, chairman and chief executive officer, Eastman Kodak Company. Kodak’s ink will sell for about $25 when the printers hit stores in March—that’s much less than the $60 to $80 it typically costs for replacement ink for photo inkjet printers.

In a Kodak news release, Perez went on to say, “We are changing the rules in this industry to ensure that consumers can affordably print what they want, when they want, easily and at the high level of Kodak quality they’ve come to expect.”

“For far too long, people have felt restrained from printing due to the high cost of ink,” Perez said. “For years, the high price of inkjet cartridges has kept consumers from freely using their printers. With affordable premium inks, families can now create crisp documents and KODAK lab-quality photos at home.”

Beginning in March, Kodak will introduce two All-in-One (AiO) EasyShare printers (the 5100 for $149.99 and the 5300 for $199.99 - shown here with it’s 3-inch color LCD display). A third EasyShare AiO printer (the 5500 for $299.99) will arrive in May, and add fax functionality, an automatic document feeder and a duplexer attachment.

All three new printers will be using Kodak’s new premium, pigment-based inks, which are part of their exclusive Kodacolor Technology. This technology is a combination of four key elements?pigment-based inks, micro-porous photo papers, color and image science, and their Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) print head. Kodak claims their technology will enable consumers to affordably print crisp, sharp documents and Kodak lab-quality photos at home, with a savings of up to 50 percent off the competition.

The Kodak EasyShare AiO printers use Kodak’s premium, pigment-based ink, priced at $9.99 for a cartridge of black ink and $14.99 for a five-ink color cartridge. For every $15 spent on color ink and $10 spent on black ink, consumers can print the same number of pages at half the cost of other consumer inkjet printers. When the Kodak Photo Value Pack is purchased, a 4x6-inch photo costs as little as 10 cents per print. This compares to the 29 cents per print that Epson costs when using their PictureMate Print Packs.

USA Today recently reported that HP holds a 41% share of the inkjet printer market, followed by Epson with 18%, Canon with 17%, Lexmark with 13%, and Dell with only 6%. They also reported that manufacturers can make as much as 75% profit on the sale of ink cartridges, and that printer ink is a $32 billion market worldwide.

Although Kodak lost $600 million in 2006, their positive showing in the last quarter (after eight consecutive quarterly losses) has been attributed to their efforts in making the transition into digital (see related story).

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/07 at 12:13 PM
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Kodak finally turns a profit

DIGITAL OPERATIONS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE. After eight straight quarterly losses in a row, Eastman Kodak Company recently announce a modest profit ($16 million) for the fourth quarter of 2006. For the first time, Kodak generated more earnings from digital photography and commercial printing than from its film business.

(Kodak’s “commercial printing” is a mix of digital and conventional offset printing supported by Kodak workflow software, computer to plate and digital printing solutions. It also includes Kodak thermal printing plate makers and Kodak’s Matchprint Inkjet Proofing System.)

Despite shrinking film sales in recent years, Kodak has benefited from the demise of former competing film operations at Japan’s Konica Minolta and Belgium’s Agfa-Gevaert NV.

Even though Kodak made more money from traditional businesses (like film) last year, the profits from their digital businesses rose to 92 percent in the fourth quarter, for a total of $271 million. Older businesses profits only came to $98 million.

Kodak’s Chief Executive, Antonio Perez, who helped develop Hewlett-Packard’s very profitable inkjet-printer business (before being hired by Kodak in 2003), is excited about Kodak’s future. Kodak is gearing up next week for a long-awaited entry into the home inkjet-printer market that has been dominated by Hewlett-Packard Co.

Analysts estimate that Kodak has invested more than $400 million into its inkjet projects, yet they feel this is an area that offers a greater profit opportunity.

Posted by Royce Bair on 02/02 at 12:06 PM
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