Epson 2200 to 4800 - practicle for hobbiest?

[Helen Bach]

Lino,

I don't know how anyone could make an absolute comparison. A comparison needs criteria, and each of us have different criteria. We have different skills, preferences and expectations. Five or six years ago I read posts from people saying that an Epson 3000 with Piezography inks was the equal of silver gelatin. My first thought was that their darkroom skills must have been pretty bad, but maybe they had a different idea from me of what made a print 'good'.

If your idea of print quality is based solely on numerical D-max and usable density range for example, then the R2400 could nudge ahead of silver gelatin or C-type prints, but it is far more important how that density range is used. The resolution of the R2400 is pretty good as well. If printing on an R2400 doesn't appeal to you, but printing in a darkroom does, then the R2400 may not even be in the running.

Best,

Helen

[John Brownlow]

The question is not so much whether an ideal inkjet print is better than an ideal silver gelatin print, but if YOUR inkjet print is going to be better than YOUR silver gelatin print.

I am no slouch in the darkroom but my inkjet prints surpassed my darkroom prints in most respects a long time ago, around 2000-2001. No, they didn't have the same Dmax but in most other respects they were far better because I could iteratively improve them in a reliable fashion.

Now with the advent of the new (eg Museo Silver Rag) papers there are basically no metrics on which MY darkroom prints would be better than MY inkjet prints. That's not to say that someone else couldn't whup my ass with a darkroom print, or indeed an inkjet print.

So I would argue that any comparison of darkroom vs. inkjet in the abstract is utterly meaningless, but once you start to take into account your own predelictions, habits, and prejudice, a clear winner usually emerges. Of course only you know which one it is.

[Ed Richards]

Get the HP 130 instead. 24" wide, less than 1/2 the price, and the service agreement is peanuts - 300 for three years, I think the 7800 is several hundred a year. The HP satin paper gives great DMAX, it does not use much ink, and the ink is pretty cheap.