Affordable/Entry level Printer for "Digital Negative" prints

B-9

B-9

Devin Bro
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Title says it all,

Looking to print some negatives from a few old digital photos.

Thanks!

*Affordable/Entry level
 
A couple of years ago I toyed with the digital negative workflow in the context of alt. print types - contact printing. Started to build a DIY vacuum frame, even bought some chemicals to coat my own paper... ran out of time after being over whelmed by other projects... just a word of encouragement as it's a very interesting area... please let us know how it proceeds.
 
Looking at local classifieds,

Found a 7800 for 850$

Or a 3880 for 500$

I think both could be had less than the asking price...
 
I'm not sure what constitutes affordable in this case but if you consider going the Piezography route you can find epson 1430s for nothing these days and they make great DN prints.
 
I guess I never really looked at Piezography before

Looks to be exactly what I'm after including their DN software

500$ for the 3880 and 600$ for the Piezo kit is on the top end of my budget.
 
Does the Piezo kit make so much difference? Have a Epson P600 cuurently and was thinking about DN with the matt black inks.

Jürgen
 
"The software will definitely make it easier to "plug n play around" with Digital Negatives.

I was thinking of buying the software and just having my local copy shop print what I need as a cheaper alternative." False, I am mistaken.

You cannot use the DN software with any other ink set. They say it just wont work. Also you are narrowed really to their Epson kits for a handful of printers. As well as only being usable with a single type and brand of transparent film. The 1430 kit is cheaper at 400$ add PeizoDN 75$ then QTR for 50$ and a 39$ Print-Tool... So 565$ w/o postage of ink kit. The film alone runs around 40$ at BH for 20 sheets (Pictorico Ultra Premium OHP) not a bad price. Likely go this route as the cheapest way into Peizography with an emphasis on Digital Negatives.
 
A friend is using an epson 1430. It cost him less than $300Cnd brand new. He uses it mostly for digital negatives for use in Cyanotypes.
 
I was just saying it would cost 600$ on top of the printers price to go Piezo.

Is your friend using his with the Epson Ink for Digital Negatives? Any clue what film they use?
 
Don't let anyone tell you that you have to spend tons of money on a "system" to make it work. You can do it yourself by eye if you have the time. Also, you don't need anything fancy to make a neg. I was making enlarged negs for friends starting all the way back in '97 with the primitive technology back then. You just need to understand the relationship between what your printer prints and the resulting tone in your process. It is easy to get something really good without much effort.
 
From my friend Rob:
Bah, the admins haven't approved my account yet.

I would say that it [Epson 1430] does pretty well for digital negatives. I did a bunch of test prints to get the curves right for cyanotypes and thought it did pretty well. I use the stock ink, they get much better reviews than the after market ones. I'd talked about getting a continuous ink system, but after reading more about inks I decided to stick with Epson.

If I did it again, I might get the P800, I think the ink economy is better and the software drivers are better. That said at the time it was way easier to swallow the cost of the 1430 and really like it. :)
Click to expand...
 
B-9 said:
Looking at local classifieds,

Found a 7800 for 850$

Or a 3880 for 500$

I think both could be had less than the asking price...
Click to expand...

Always keep in mind when buying a used, non warrantied, printer that you must then buy a new inkset just to see if it works. And even if it works, it may not be the best deal.

Example the 3880 for $500 will require a $525 inkset (B&H price) or $1,025 total just to see if it works. But you can buy the new replacement P-800 with inkset from Epson for $1,000 after rebate.

Realize that printers use the old Gillette razor blade business model where they sold the handle for less than cost but make everything up on the profits from the blade replacements. Now it is cheap printers but expensive inks.
 
Bob Michaels said:
Always keep in mind when buying a used, non warrantied, printer that you must then buy a new inkset just to see if it works. And even if it works, it may not be the best deal.
Click to expand...

I'd reconsider purchasing any used Epson inkjet printer, at the risk of throwing away good money after bad. I bought a used Epson 3800 a few years ago with partial head clogging (very common). No amount of head cleaning cycles would clear it, and after much wasted ink and research I replaced DIY the dampers in the printer head, flushed the waste ink port, etc.--essentially refurbished it. The cost to have Epson do it would have been prohibitive--google it for horror stories. Even with the repairs, the aftermarket ink cartridges always gave me some trouble not registering with the printer, despite changing chips, etc. Now I get a service error not related to the printhead. The printer cost $200, the dampers about $80 and inks and refill cartridges at least $300. I made a few prints and I learned much about the mechanical side of printers, but given the costs and potential problems I'd avoid any used printer.
 
B-9 said:
Title says it all,

Looking to print some negatives from a few old digital photos.

Thanks!

*Affordable/Entry level
Click to expand...

I print digital negatives for producing platinum prints. I've mostly used an Epson 7800 running Quadtone RIP software on my Macbook Pro.

A Quadtone RIP is tricky to set up (you will need a densitometer) but has the advantage of using the standard inkset - meaning your printer can still be used for normal print duties.

I would recommend using Richard Boutwell's newly developed system. Whilst it is still in essence a Quadtone RIP, it is much more straightforward than the system I've used.

https://www.bwmastery.com/
Richard is a very clever and helpful guy.

Regarding printers. Almost all DN systems seem to use EPSON so you should buy one of those. However as a cautionary tale My 7800 recently died and needed a new print head. The cost for replacement was astronomical, so basically it is now junk. Luckily I got the printer for free so lost nothing, but I would consider buying either a brand new printer or one of the Epson models for which replacing a print head is doable for a keen DIY engineer (if you are one).

My next printer will either be an Epson Surecolor P-600 (A3) or P-800 (A2) as my experience is that I don't need bigger due to the cost of platinum and the size of my contact frame/lightbox.

Remember that those printers can print from a roll so you can print as long as you like and are only limited by the print width.

Hope this helps.

Bob.



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