looking for a pigment ink printmaker

[Bruce Watson]

I'm looking for a printmaker who meets the following criteria. If anyone has a reference I would appreciate it.

1) I need someone who is closer to my location so I can cut down on the package delivery lag time. I'm in Raleigh NC so someone on the east coast of the USA is good. Someone between Washington DC and Atlanta is better.

2) Epson 9800, K3 inks. Trust me on this please. For what I'm doing, this is what I need.

3) Canvas, Fredrix 901WR or equivalent.

4) Coating, a satin finish UV protective coating.

5) Can provide an ICC profile for the above, made after coating the test targets. In other words, this combination of canvas, ink, and coating should be in normal use for this printmaker and should be fairly well "dialed in" as it were.

6) For extra credit, it would be nice if the printmaker is also a photographer, or if at least a decent chunk of their business comes from photographers. For double extra credit, make that an LF photographer ;)

Thanks for your help!

[D. Bryant]

I'm looking for a printmaker who meets the following criteria. If anyone has a reference I would appreciate it.

1) I need someone who is closer to my location so I can cut down on the package delivery lag time. I'm in Raleigh NC so someone on the east coast of the USA is good. Someone between Washington DC and Atlanta is better.

2) Epson 9800, K3 inks. Trust me on this please. For what I'm doing, this is what I need.

3) Canvas, Fredrix 901WR or equivalent.

4) Coating, a satin finish UV protective coating.

5) Can provide an ICC profile for the above, made after coating the test targets. In other words, this combination of canvas, ink, and coating should be in normal use for this printmaker and should be fairly well "dialed in" as it were.

6) For extra credit, it would be nice if the printmaker is also a photographer, or if at least a decent chunk of their business comes from photographers. For double extra credit, make that an LF photographer ;)

Thanks for your help!

Try Dean Imaging - http://deanimaging.com/index.php

Don Bryant

[Bruce Watson]

Try Dean Imaging - http://deanimaging.com/index.php

Don Bryant

I talked to John a few weeks ago. He told me he's still using his trusty Epson 9600.

I need a 9800 for the K3 inks. The problem I'm having is with dark greens which is one of the places where the K3s excell. Which is why I'm looking for a 9800...

John's a good guy though, and the next time I need a large B&W print on canvas he's probably who I'm going to send it to.

[Gordon Moat]

Hello Bruce,

You might want to read through this article, and perhaps contact one of these places:

http://www.bigpicture.net/index.php3?openchan=yes&channelnum=12&content=3919&displaynow=yes

I think a couple of the places in that article are on the East coast. It is not always simple to have highly specific needs, and find what you want. I hope you accomplish your goals. Best of luck.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[Bruce Watson]

OK, maybe I've restricted this request for a reference too far. How about anywhere in the USA?

[Ted Harris]

Bruce,

Staying on the East Coast .... call Jon Latimer at ejarts in Rochester. www.ejarts.com

I am almost certain he can meet all of your needs and he is an LF photographer as well ... also on the faculty at RIT. If you are going to be at the VC Conference you can talk to him there.

[David A. Goldfarb]

A friend of mine uses David Adamson in Washington, DC, and the prints that I've seen from him are made to a very high standard. I know he also is able to work closely with him during the process. Info at http://www.adamsoneditions.com/

[Greg Lockrey]

OK, maybe I've restricted this request for a reference too far. How about anywhere in the USA?


I can do everything but the 9800. My large printer is a 9600 but I can run some small canvasses on a 4800 though. But those would be pretty small like 13x if you leave room for the stretchers.

[Gordon Moat]

There is always the Large Format Lab at Bowling Green State University:

http://bgsu.edu/colleges/technology/cat/lfl/services/services.html

These are the people who run FLAAR. Sometimes controversial in reviews, but they have some quite nice gear.

I am a little curious about the Epson 9800 request. Is that to match earlier prints, or some other reason for that preference? I have many sample prints off a wide variety of printers, including some canvas prints (best I have came off a ColorSpan). So are you trying to match a print, or just familiar with the 9800 output?

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[Greg Lockrey]

There is always the Large Format Lab at Bowling Green State University:

http://bgsu.edu/colleges/technology/cat/lfl/services/services.html

These are the people who run FLAAR. Sometimes controversial in reviews, but they have some quite nice gear.

I am a little curious about the Epson 9800 request. Is that to match earlier prints, or some other reason for that preference? I have many sample prints off a wide variety of printers, including some canvas prints (best I have came off a ColorSpan). So are you trying to match a print, or just familiar with the 9800 output?

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

This is where I got my degree, BTW. :) :) :) They don't like Epsons last time I was associated with them.

[Bill Eger]

Bruce,

Aside from the distance -- I'm in Hawai`i -- I fit your other needs.

I have new Epson Stylus Pro 9800 Professional Edition, running ColorBurst RIP, Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premier, Quark or Corel X3. Have Epson 44" canvas in stock.

We usually use US Priority Mail. Rolled work in 4" PVC pipe with end caps is very secure.

Do you need imaging work? We use ONLY the Nikon D-80 with NIKKOR 105mm 28 Micro. That makes some folks nervous but it is wonderful for everybody else. Or is your work already in digital format?

Bill Eger

[QT Luong]

I was impressed with the canvas prints made by Michael Chambers http://pictureelement.com/ (formerly of Calypso Imaging) and from what I have seen at his studio in the SF Bay, he would have everything you require. He was a nice person to deal with.

[Harley Goldman]

Try contacting Marc Muench at Muench Photography. He is west coast, but one heck of a good printer.

http://www.muenchphotography.com/

[Bruce Watson]

Thanks all. I've sent email asking for info to some of those mentioned. Sorry Bill - Hawai`i, much as I love it (been there twice, before I got into LF though -- needs another trip!), is just too far away.

Actually, this looks like an opportuntity. Maybe I should buy that 9800 and become a printermaker for the "other side" of NA ;) It's a thought anyway.

[Bill Eger]

This is where I got my degree, BTW. :) :) :) They don't like Epsons last time I was associated with them.

:) There are always a bunch of people who don't like anything you bring up. Normally it is caused by some strange prejudice or, just as often, total lack of understanding of the technology. Scares 'em. Epson's UltraChrome K3 inks and the very stable jet systems used make Epson the most consistent printer in the world. The print you pull today can be matched precisely a year from now.

If there is a down-side to Epson it is in their tech support and sadly wrong profiles for their own media. That is correctable with ICC profiles and some patient tweaking for each type of work needed for the growing customer base.

Where is Bowling Green, by the way?

[Greg Lockrey]

:)

Where is Bowling Green, by the way?

In Ohio about 20 miles south of Toledo. I'm in Michigan about 5 miles north of Toledo. :) BGSU was a good school and still is in the Visual Communications and Art worlds. Kind of a "sleeper" college with some great talent. A lot of the college text books in those fields were written by BG professors at one time or another. The college team color wheel was "invented" by a BG prof BTW.:)

[Greg Lockrey]

Actually, this looks like an opportuntity. Maybe I should buy that 9800 and become a printermaker for the "other side" of NA ;) It's a thought anyway.

We'll welcome you aboard too, but be prepaired to spend about $20k to "tweak" that printer in to satisfy your work flow. :eek:

[Bill Eger]

We'll welcome you aboard too, but be prepaired to spend about $20k to "tweak" that printer in to satisfy your work flow. :eek:

:cool: Greg, I don't know where you got that information but it is dead wrong. There is a company in Los Angeles that supplies the 9800 plus a Mac and they get beginniners set up and calibrated -- if you believe them -- for about $20k. But the printers in Honolulu who have used their "service" weren't happy. I didn't use any outside service, bought my printer and supplies from IT Supplies and it's running fine. As I noted in a previous send, Epson tech support is very disappointing. The profiles supplied by Epson for THEIR media print way too dark. Tech Support for Epson doesn't know what that means. There is very good information from ColorBurstRIP which Epson supplies no extra charge with the machine.

You have had a number of negative comments about Epson and I think it is time you refreshed your information sources.

[Greg Lockrey]

:cool: Greg, I don't know where you got that information but it is dead wrong. There is a company in Los Angeles that supplies the 9800 plus a Mac and they get beginniners set up and calibrated -- if you believe them -- for about $20k. But the printers in Honolulu who have used their "service" weren't happy. I didn't use any outside service, bought my printer and supplies from IT Supplies and it's running fine. As I noted in a previous send, Epson tech support is very disappointing. The profiles supplied by Epson for THEIR media print way too dark. Tech Support for Epson doesn't know what that means. There is very good information from ColorBurstRIP which Epson supplies no extra charge with the machine.

You have had a number of negative comments about Epson and I think it is time you refreshed your information sources.

Oh you misinterpreted my meaning, Bill. I have 5 Epson's from the small 3800 and 4800 plus 3 @ 9600's. I had as many as 5 at one time, but streamlining the production to smaller X800 machines. No, I like Epson. The $20k is about the amount of paper and ink you will use playing with the printers just getting the work flow to work for you the way you want it, if you are as critical as I am anyway. I don't have to do this with each machine since they are very close tolarances in production, delta 12, I read somewhere. I copy artwork for a living and the client expects that the print to be as close to the original as possible but not some facsimile to a perseived reality as in general photography. If the 3800 is any indication of where Epson is heading, I can't wait for a 44 inch version. ;)

[Bill Eger]

Oh you misinterpreted my meaning, Bill. I have 5 Epson's from the small 3800 and 4800 plus 3 @ 9600's. I had as many as 5 at one time, but streamlining the production to smaller X800 machines. No, I like Epson. The $20k is about the amount of paper and ink you will use playing with the printers just getting the work flow to work for you the way you want it, if you are as critical as I am anyway. I don't have to do this with each machine since they are very close tolarances in production, delta 12, I read somewhere. I copy artwork for a living and the client expects that the print to be as close to the original as possible but not some facsimile to a perseived reality as in general photography. If the 3800 is any indication of where Epson is heading, I can't wait for a 44 inch version. ;)

Greg, There is a ton of difference between the 9600 and 9800. The main change in Epson quality print is their fairly new UltraChrome K3. I have some questions for them that are unanswered about "Photo" and "Matte" blacks. My preference is Matte. Epson support dudes say that if it is used on Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper it won't dry. Nonsense. I just took a photo job off the machine and the most recently printed 100 percent black was dry!

I've had this shop in action since February. ONE problem erupted but it had nothing to do with quality except that I needed to hit the Pause button and the next few traverses of the print head when re-started made unacceptable extensions on a quarter-inch of space. Support denies that could happen, of course but...

I do a wide range of work including art. And, as said earlier, I use the Nikon D-80 raw for my imaging! The result to some very picky artist eyes is that it beats the color and resolution of two "fine art reproduction" folks here. I print 44" full frame wide. My main exhibit is a $100 bill printed 44" with all the engraving sharp as a needle. Takes me a 50th of a second to get art ready for PhotoshopCS3. What do you use for imaging?

I kid thee not.

[Greg Lockrey]

Bill, I know of where you speak. I like the colors out of the box on both the 3800 and 4800. In many ways it's better than the 9600 with Atcheson profiles which happen to use. My first "scans" were made with a Olympus E-20 in raw. Now I have both Epson 750V for film and 10,000XL for reflection. For really large pieces that I can't stitch from the 10,000XL I use a Canon 5D hooked up to a Sinar and make multible stitches from it. I prefer the Matte also, but the Gloss and Semi Gloss does look pretty good up to about 17x22" anything larger looks like an oversized business card to me. I do like the look of a matte that has been gloss laminated for the commercial client. It's like it picks up a stop or two in range.