Epson P600 for prints and digital negatives

[mijosc]

I’ve been thinking about getting into alternate processes. As a first step, I’m looking into printers. Ive been considering various printers from Canon and Epson, and tentatively settled on the Epson P600 for size, price and other reasons. I’d like to use the printer for digital negatives as well as standard prints.

Is anybody out there using a P600 for digital negatives? If so, would you recommend it?

I do have a few specific concerns.

Pizza wheel marks. I’ve read a lot about this with regards to the P800, but I haven’t seen much related to the P600.

I’ve read some concerns about problems printing on transparency media with this printer. Apparently there are workarounds such as masking the edge of the media.

Are there any other considerations I should be thinking about?

[Tin Can]

Don't buy any Canon printer.

Epson!

[bob carnie]

Don't buy any Canon printer.

Epson!

I agree,,, Canon is really difficult to deal with up here on any issues... epson will work with quad tone rip...


But to the OP please google Richard Boutwell, he has an amazing system Beginner and Advance for making digital negatives and is a very bright , energetic young man, and has a very good pedigree as one of Michael and Paula's assistants for years and understands silver contact printing and is a full on digital nerd.
I highly recommend his services.

[PRJ]

I have been dealing with stinkjet printers since 1997. I am not going to give you a resume, but I wouldn't buy an Epson myself unless I wanted to convert it to black and white. For smaller printers get a Canon. Less problems. I've turned down free Epson printers in the past just because I know how much of a pain and money pit they can be. Free. Think about that.... If someone offered me a free Canon or HP I would be stumbling all over myself trying to get it before they changed their mind.

Epson had what is called market effects. They took the early lead in printers since they were hackable. Canon's printers aren't so you can't convert them to black and white. That gave Epson an advantage for people who wanted to make better prints than they were capable of with Epson's software. That says something right there. Someone who is not Epson made the Epsons better. Fast forward all these years and everybody just assumes Epson. Tinkerers love Epson too I think. A lot of "photographers" are really just tinkerers.

For the size of printer you are looking at, you should compare the Epson to the Canon Pro 10. Canon has user replaceable print heads. If your Epson has an issue, you are going to have to send it back to Epson meaning any print head problem, like clogs, makes the Epson a doorstop. Clogs are going to be your #1 problem. Canon printers have less tendency to clog, which doesn't mean that they won't, just that it won't happen as often. This depends in a large part on you and your environment though. If you aren't gong to use the printer frequently, then the case for Canon can be a very good one. I just went three months without making a print on my Canon and the first print was perfect. Try that with an Epson.

The case for Epson is a good one if you are a beginner, or don't understand printing much. There are probably 50 times the articles on how to do things with an Epson than with a Canon.

Finally, there have been questions, and assumptions, that you can't use a Canon printer to make digital negs. You can. You just have to know how. In fact I've come up with a new way to make digital negs that doesn't use that whacked up curve nonsense. The printer does make perfectly fine negs the way most people do it though.

My advice, for you, is if you want to mostly do color prints, then get the Canon. Canons have better color IMO. If you are a neophyte in printing then you may be better off getting the Epson since there is so much info available, but only if you are going to use it at least weekly. If you plan on doing great color prints, great black and white prints, and great digital negs, then get the Canon for color, and an older Epson you can convert to black and white. Keeping more than one printer going is a royal PITA though.


Hope that helps.

[bob carnie]

the OP is asking about digital negs... I use a Epson 7800 with K3 inks and have to date made over 1000 digital negs..... I also own a Canon IPF 9400 and though it makes beautiful prints I curse the day I purchased it... Canon is not reliable in Canada for getting inks , maintenence cartridges and support.... Epson on the other hand is readily available with many sources... I guess different regions will have their specific pros and cons.

I have no issue with Epson for this purpose.... I will admit that there may be a workaround to using a Canon for this purpose, and I believe Richard B is a great resource.

[Alan9940]

I've used Richard B's QCDN system for making digital negs on my Epson R2880 for pt/pd printing for a couple of years and I've been very satisfied with the results. My recommendation for a printer would be to see which Epson models Richard's system supports and buy one of those; I think he uses a P800 or used to.

[mijosc]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I haven't seen a clear and concise process for Canon printers to create digital negatives, although I know some people are successfully doing it. Based on all the resources I've seen, I think Epson is the way to go for creating DNs.

I have come across Richard Boutwell in my research and think his technique and software may be a good route to go for a beginner like me. I am unsure if his process supports the P600. His website https://www.bwmastery.com/quadtonepr...ital-negatives gives the following requirement for printers "Epson Printer with UltraChromeK3 inks (StylusPro or SureColor series 8 or 10 ink printers)". I'm pretty sure the P600 uses UltraChromeHD inks. Is that the same, or equivalent to the K3 inks? I did reach out to Richard via a contact form on his site, but I haven't heard back yet.

There's a $200 rebate on the P600 though the end of the month, so I'd like to make my purchase soon.

[bob carnie]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I haven't seen a clear and concise process for Canon printers to create digital negatives, although I know some people are successfully doing it. Based on all the resources I've seen, I think Epson is the way to go for creating DNs.

I have come across Richard Boutwell in my research and think his technique and software may be a good route to go for a beginner like me. I am unsure if his process supports the P600. His website https://www.bwmastery.com/quadtonepr...ital-negatives gives the following requirement for printers "Epson Printer with UltraChromeK3 inks (StylusPro or SureColor series 8 or 10 ink printers)". I'm pretty sure the P600 uses UltraChromeHD inks. Is that the same, or equivalent to the K3 inks? I did reach out to Richard via a contact form on his site, but I haven't heard back yet.

There's a $200 rebate on the P600 though the end of the month, so I'd like to make my purchase soon.

Send Richard an email. he is very responsive.

[mijosc]

Send Richard an email. he is very responsive.

His email isn't listed on his sites; that I can see. If you have it, would you mind sending it via PM?

[mijosc]

I see it now
Thanks!