Another going-at-right-angles post here. My current printer is an HP Photosmart 8750, which, like Epson's 2400, prints up to 13 x 19" size. it prints fantastic black-and-white as well as quite stunning color, has been stone-reliable in the eight months I've been using it, and gets the Wilhelm thumbs-up in terms of archival stability (or at least archival stability "as we know it" in the digital printing world). Where the 8750 aces the Epsons somewhat, IMO, are these bits:
- bronzing/gloss differential: while the 2400 is a light-year or two ahead of my old Epson 2200 on both counts, I've heard low-level griping from some ownerrs that these artifacts are still apparent, although you have to look more closely for them. Of course, once the print is matted and framed behind glass (real or plexi), it's a moot point. The prints I've made with the 8750 show virtually no bronzing or GD, although the prints have to settle for a day or two after printing.
- metamerism: what metamerism? 🙂
- price: depending on where you shop, the HP can cost around 40% less than the Epson.
- paper: I don't know about anyone else, but when I first tried HP's Premium Glossy and Premium Plus Glossy, I thought I'd hate the look, bracing myself for prints with way-excessive sheen. Big surprise: I like the look of both these papers, which exhibit a much more restrained sheen than expected; more gloss than a typical ferrotyped fiber-paper silver print, but not nearly so far off from that as I'd feared. And between HP's Glossy and Soft Gloss/Satin papers, I've felt little need to run after third-party papers the way I did with other printers.
- supply access: here's the killer. Prior to the 8750, I had a two printer setup: Epson SP 2200 for color, Epson SC 1160 with Lyson Quad Black inks for b/w. A bit of a headache in terms of care-and-feeding (surprisingly, the 1160 didn't clog as much as I thought it would, but when it did, it would take a few days to set things right). I was lucky that B & H carried the Lyson carts as a regular item; however, my favorite paper for b/w printing (Lyson Darkroom Range Glossy) was murder to track down, even via mail-order. How nice it is that the 8750's ink carts, and many of the HP papers I prefer (at least up to 8-1/2 x 11") are as close as my nearest Staples if I'm in a pinch and can't rely on my usual sources (say, any time between 1:00PM Friday afternoon and late Sunday morning;-).
- ports: My Epson 2200 had both USB (1.1) and FireWire ports; My 8750 comes with USB 2.0 and Ethernet ports. I started with USB, but since I have a nework setup (My Mac G4 tower, galfriend's G4 tower, and my PowerBook G3 Pismo via wireless) I switched to Ethernet, which is about as fast for printing and more convenient.
- no need for a third-party RIP: 'nuff said.
- clogging/head-alignment issues: Epson printers, of course, have permanent print heads; HP (and Canon, for that matter) have user-replaceable heads, either built into the carts themselves or the modules which hold the ink tanks. In the case of the 8750, the print heads are built into the carts, so when you change carts, you automatically change heads as well. The one critique heavy Epson users have levelled against this system is the need to realign the heads each time you change a cart; the 8750 manages things by way of automatically aligning the heads each time you change a cart, making this a fairly quick and non-fussy routine. I might add that I haven't had a single head clog since I bought the thing.
That's all for now. 🙂
- Barrett
