Advice on Epson 9800 printer

[bmarcin]

I am planning on buying an Epson 9800 wide-jet printer and was hoping I could get a little advice from the esteemed members of this forum. I am a color photographer (www.benmarcinphotos.com) and use a 4x5" Ikeda field camera, as well as a Hasselblad, to take my photos. In the past, I did my own cibachrome (now Ilfochrome) printing using a Jobo processor. However, for a number of reasons, I've decided to go the digital route for printing. These include extreme difficulty in finding the Ilfochrome chemistry these days and a desire to print beyond 20x24". I would also need to purchase a new enlarger that can handle 4x5" negatives. I have had some of my Ektachromes printed on an Epson 9600 with superb results - except for the bronzing in the black areas which, if I understand correctly, has been somewhat corrected in the 9800 series.

Here are a couple of questions regarding the 9800.

1. I imagine the 9800 works best when operated regularly throughout the day. Unfortunately, I have a regular day job and, although I consider myself a serious photographer, I would probably go through some periods of inactivity between printing sessions. Can anyone tell me if they've had any problems with their 7800/9800s if they've gone unused for 2-3 weeks at a time?

2. I've seen some sites on the web that advertise a pro bundle for $5995 that includes an unspecified postscript RIP. Is this worth the extra thousand or would I be better off with the ColorByte rip I keep hearing about? Is a rip even necessary if I stay with one type of paper (Epson premium glossy)? I am intrigued by some photographs I've seen printed on Epson enhanced matte paper and I've read - on this forum - that the ColorByte rip allows for the changing of the black cartridges without having to dump $60 worth of ink on each change.

Thanks very much in advance for any help and/or guidance!

Ben Marcin

[Bruce Watson]

Can anyone tell me if they've had any problems with their 7800/9800s if they've gone unused for 2-3 weeks at a time?

All pigment inks settle over time. They settle in the carts. They settle in the lines running from the carts to the print head. Several weeks may not cause you a problem. Several months might. The "cure" is to pull the carts and shake them, and print a few feet of paper (I use the back of test sheets) as wide as the printer can handle to shake up the ink in the lines.

The other problem is clogging. If you keep the printer's parking station pad wet and the wiper blade clean you shouldn't have much of a problem, but it does vary machine to machine and with your printers environment. They like darkroom like conditions (20C and 50% RH) when they can get it.

I've seen some sites on the web that advertise a pro bundle for $5995 that includes an unspecified postscript RIP. Is this worth the extra thousand or would I be better off with the ColorByte rip I keep hearing about? Is a rip even necessary if I stay with one type of paper (Epson premium glossy)? I am intrigued by some photographs I've seen printed on Epson enhanced matte paper and I've read - on this forum - that the ColorByte rip allows for the changing of the black cartridges without having to dump $60 worth of ink on each change.

As an individual photographer, I doubt seriously that you'll ever need a RIP. Mostly what they are used for handling gang printing of many images at a time across the width of the printer.

ColorByte's "Phatte Black" system does swap out the photo gray cart for the matte black cart. This lets you keep both photo black and matte black in the printer at all times so it's easy to switch back and forth between glossy and matte papers. Colorbyte claims there is no loss in image quality doing this, but I have considerable doubt. They want us to believe that Epson put the photo gray cart in the mix just for fun and that it serves no purpose? I need some proof - ColorByte's marketing department's word isn't sufficient for me. But YMMV.

The question you didn't ask is "what are my alternatives?" I suggest that unless you are doing a lot of printing that needs a machine as big as a 9800, it may be a waste of your resources to own one. You'll have to do the math yourself.

Most of what you'll be doing is making work prints. You could just as easily do that on a 2400 for example, on 13x19 paper. When you get a work print that makes you happy, you can send your file and your work/proof print to a print-for-pay house and have them print the large print for you. Takes longer, isn't as convienient. But you don't have to own the printer, deal with stocking the papers and canvases, make the profiles, deal with maintenance contracts, or any of the rest of the overhead of owning a big printer. Not to mention the ink settling and clogging issues that come with letting the printer sit for weeks without being used ;-)

Anyway, that's my $0.02. Do with it what you will.

[Ted Harris]

What Bruce said with some additions. When you buy the pro edition of the 4800 you are paying most of the difference for the Ethernet card. The Colorurst RIPthat is included is badly crippled and not whrth th emoney. I use the regular full blown Colorburst RIP and find it is an excllent investment and do find it a useful addition to my printing capabilities. However, the crippled version only allows the use of Epson papers and thus is useless to me and most others. Don't by the Pro version if it is primarilythe RIP you are after.

[Ron Marshall]

What is the proceedure to clean the print-head parking sponge and the wiper blade, and is there anything I should be careful with when doing it?

[Jack Flesher]

I have owned a 9600 and 4800 and still own a 7600 and 7800. I print on the wide-bodies about one week per month, usually all at once -- IOW my printers sit for three weeks off regularly, then get used a week, then off again for three.

1) I had/have hardly any clogs on the 9600, 7600 or 7800, but got them regularly on the 4800 (it's one of the reasons I got rid of it). I do a simple nozzle check before each days run and maybe need to do one or two of the simple cleanings if a printer has sat for over a month. I've never needed a power clean except for the 4800. (I acknowledge I could have had a bad 4800.)

2) Bronzing has been reduced to essentially a non-issue with the new K3 inks on surfaced photo papers. It was already essentially a non-issue on fine art papers with the 7/9600 Ultrachrome inks.

3) I don't use a RIP but do make my own dedicated paper profiles -- I think you should plan on doing one or the other if you want the best results. FWIW, I can print dead-neutral B&W prints using my color profile normally with my 7800. (In fact this is how I now print B&W on my 7800 since Epsons x800 K3 B&W driver does not let you accurately preview the effects of image adjustments.)

3a) B&W is not nearly as neutral on the 7600, but since that printer is dedicated to the matte black ink and fine-art papers, I use Roy Harrington's B&W RIP (shareware $50 or so) on that machine for art-paper B&W.

4) I'd take the money you'll spend on the pro bundle and put it towards a Gretag Eye-1 photo profiling kit instead.

Hope this helps!

[bmarcin]

Thanks for all the help...

Bruce,

Your point about getting a smaller printer is great advice and I might consider getting the 7800 instead. I do know a couple of colleagues who own 7600s and they both ended up unexpectedly subbing out a lot of work to somebody who has a 9800 but you are right, most of my printing will be in the form of work prints clocking in at around 18x24".

Ted,

You mentioned that most people are paying for the Ethernet card when they get the Pro bundle. I have a $10 Ethernet card already in my computer - is the Ethernet card for the 9800 a completely different animal?

Thanks to everybody for the clogging notes and RIP comments. I sure hope this works out!

Ben Marcin

[Jack Flesher]

The ethernet cards for the Epson printers are a special fit.

[steve_782]

I've owned a 9600 and now own a 9800. The 9800 monitors the print heads (unlike the 9600) and will automatically power clean the print head. Like your printing cycle, my 9800 may sit for 2-3 weeks and then print daily for 3-4 hours per day. I have had no problems with the printer with this type of work cycle.

One of the best deals going at the moment is buying the Colorburst RIP (not the one bundled with the printer - but the full version) and getting an X-Rite Pulse profiling system for $700. With that setup, you can create RIP paper environments for any paper you choose to use.

I am intrigued by some photographs I've seen printed on Epson enhanced matte paper ...

EEM's the bottom of the matte papers. Great for proofing, but doesn't even begin to compare with prints on other papers. If you think the prints look good on EEM - you'll be really impressed on the higher performance matte papers.

[Ted Harris]

Clarification of Steve's comment: "One of the best deals going at the moment is buying the Colorburst RIP (not the one bundled with the printer - but the full version) and getting an X-Rite Pulse profiling system for $700. With that setup, you can create RIP paper environments for any paper you choose to use."

You do not get the X-Rite Pulse and associated software with the RIP. What you do get is software developed by Colorburst that vastly simplifies the paper profiling process reducing it to a near no brainer that takes very little time. The system works with the Pulse and several other X-Rite model further up the line than the Pulse. The Pule system itself, which is a full digital imaging calibrationa nd monitoring solution, needs to be purchasd separately. You can pay anywhere from ~ 1300 to 1800 for it depending on where purchased. IIRC, Midwest is urrently selling it for $1295.

This recent software addon to the Colorburst RIP is, IMO a very valuable addition to an already excellent product. it wa one of the reasons I opted for Colorburst as opposed to ImagePrint. If you need additional information or just want to dicuss how to use the RIP and the profiling software call Josh Lubers at Colorburst.

[JohnnyV]

> The Pulse system itself, which is a full digital imaging calibrationa nd monitoring solution, needs to be purchasd separately.

I just checked Epson's website and it appears that if you buy any of the wide format "Pro Edition" printers you will get the Pulse for free. That's a great deal!

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/B...=C&coid=-13591

I have the 4800 and it has been problem free for ten months...knock on wood!