Epson 7000 Series Printer Advice

[BrianAdererPhoto]

Hello All

I find myself in the possession of an Epson 7600 printer, and with a bit of a question. I know for my purposes (pro quality lab output) that the 7600 will be insufficient. I have the following options: 1. Sell the 7600 (probably for around 500) and pick up a 7900 locally for approx 1500 2. Convert the 7600 to Piezography (looks about 500 for ink plus 400ish for ink, cartridges, and heavyweight rag paper?) and pick up a 7800 locally for $400.

I'd love to run Piezography if possible, I shoot enough b and w to make it worthwhile, my question is whether the 7800 can go toe to toe with the 7900 on semi-matte color prints only? No changing cartridges or surfaces, and no B and W - or is consolidating both functions into the 7900 the better option?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Brian

[vinny]

why would it be insufficient? The prints made from it way back when were "archival" and epson's latest and greatest, right?

[BrianAdererPhoto]

Yes I remember this... I have two concerns though: The first is that I don't think they had altogether eliminated metamorism at that point, and B and W capabilities were still a bit marginal.. I'm really looking for top quality stuff as I intend to sell these as fine-art prints of my work. Secondly, as I will be running in the background a small repro operation based on a Heidelberg Tango, I think having just a 7600 on the output end, even if the quality is indistinguishable, might scare away potential clients as I really would like to market direct neg to print services. I'm open to suggestion here however - what is the CW on this?

[Tyler Boley]

I'd be amazed of you could get $500 for the 7600, I have to literally give my 9600 away, and that was years ago, worth even less now. I'd say if it's been well taken care of, and has more years in it, put piezography in it. The x600s are quite reliable for that, and with K7 you get no perceivable benefit from newer models.
The different between x800s and x900s (I've had both) is primarily color gamut due to the expanded ink set, there is little to no B&W performance difference between them, they both have 3 blacks. Practical matters are as you suggest, more expensive K ink changes with the x800. But you'll never approach the K7 quality for matte B&W with either, so doing it all in the 7900 is really not comparable.
The problem with multiple printers, and trying to run a business.. it's damn slow out there these days.. you need enough business to keep both of those in operation every few days if possible, at least weekly.

[BrianAdererPhoto]

Thanks Tyler. On the basis of your reply I've decided to delay the investment into printing and focus on the Heidelberg Tango that's arriving next week (we've talked before on Scan Hi End, I'm Brian Aderer)... I'll roll with the 7600 for now and gradually upgrade as necessary.

Thanks Again

[Paul Cunningham]

Brian, there is a very active Yahoo! group called EpsonWideFormat. I've been following it since I got my 7600 and there are some very experienced users there. That's the first place I would ask about any usability or conversion issues. Paul

[Peter De Smidt]

I have a 7600. I run Paul Roark's EB-6 BW inkset in it. This system produces very good BW output. If the printer is in good shape, it should be able to produce top flight BW output with the Piezography system.