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Thread: Inkjet printing larger than 64"

  1. #11

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    Re: Inkjet printing larger than 64"

    I can't imagine that the EFI printer could compare in quality to a fine art Canon or Epson printer. The other problem you are going to run into is good paper. Unless you custom order it you're not going to be able to find a paper larger than 60" worth calling a fine art print. As a printer, Epson can go to 64" however most fine art paper manufacturers only go to 60". All the work I have ever seen that is larger on the short end of 60" has been made on a commercial printer. So you may have to choose size verses quality.

    -Joshua

  2. #12
    Resident Heretic Bruce Watson's Avatar
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    Re: Inkjet printing larger than 64"

    Quote Originally Posted by artcorr View Post
    I'm trying to find some info (and not having much luck) on inkjet printing larger than the max allowable by the biggest Epsons which is 64" on the short end.
    They are out there, but they generally are not pigment ink printers. Mostly they are either UV cure or dye sublimation printers or solvent ink printers (which can be pigments). And they don't come from the traditional (I love that -- an industry that's like all of 15 years old is "traditional") big three of Canon, Epson, or HP. These are graphics arts printers from companies like Agfa, Xerox, and DGI. Agfa has printers that can print on a web 3.2m wide for example. DGI uses solvent pigment inks, prints using piezeo drop-on-demand heads somewhat similarly to Epson, and can print at 400x400 ppi, and out to about 2.37m wide, but it's a four ink system (designed for advertising, not fine arts).

    Roland used to be the bridge between the wide format graphics arts world and the fine art printing world, but it looks like they've shrunk their biggest printers to meet the "industry standard" of 64" (which implies that the whole industry is in America, since America is the only country left using imperial units, sigh...).

    Anyway, the keyword for searching is "wide format" and not really "large format" because of course the printing world uses different terminology than the photography world.

    Bruce Watson

  3. #13
    bob carnie's Avatar
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    Re: Inkjet printing larger than 64"

    I am starting to investigate UV pigment printing on flatbed this month , I am going first to discuss this with my Durst rep.

  4. #14
    Angus Parker angusparker's Avatar
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    Re: Inkjet printing larger than 64"

    C prints are probably the best option by a professional shop.

  5. #15
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Inkjet printing larger than 64"

    Bruce - there is no such thing as a pigment ink printer. No set of consistently real pigments would squeeze through those tiny programmable nozzles. That's the limiting common-denominator priority with those systems. The particles first of all have to be tiny, and then every other factor is subsidiary. So, not only are there inkjet printers in contrast to dye printers; but it's incorrect to classify those inks as pigments to begin with, and misleading to market them as pigment prints - they're not. They're actually complex blends of fine pigments, lakes (dyed inert particles), and actual dyes. Halftone press inks work on a somewhat different premise.

    Bob has apparently left behind laser printing onto RA4 C paper in order to concentrate on both inkjet printing commercially, as well as true layered pigment printing, which requires UV exposure. There are all kinds of hypothetical options out there for large prints, including thermal printing. But inkjet is the most common these days. I do C-printing optically, using enlargers, but have no interest in big just for sake of big, so limit myself to up to 30X40 inch prints, a nice size still capable of great detail when viewed up close, especially when enlarging form 8x10 color film.

  6. #16

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    Re: Inkjet printing larger than 64"

    I have a close friend who can print up to 10 ft wide, any length.

  7. #17

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    Re: Inkjet printing larger than 64"

    Drew,

    With respect, modern printers like the Canon printers I use, use pigment. It's explained pretty well in this article. I have been printing on with pigment based printers for years.

    You are correct (at least to the best of my knowledge) that the larger printers discussed in this thread are not pigment based.

    -Joshua

  8. #18

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    Re: Inkjet printing larger than 64"

    I imagine the commands to make an inkjet printer print in color may be complex and larger in size, therefore, more than a C64 can handle by itself. The size of the driver itself could be quite large. Not to mention, most Commodore printer drivers are written for dot-matrix printers. I would even go as far as to say modern printers like these do not have the facilities to process a text dump properly. Kinda like "winmodems".

    If your printer is a little older, it may still support text dumps. In that case you would be printing straight black, and would probably work. You'd have to forget graphics and fonts, though. Now, if there were some kind of hardware interface for it, like the Xtec, but something made for modern printers....

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