New York May NYC Meet-Up

PRINTING UPDATE: Because of the ICP Symposium I came up with an ideal print size exploiting roll paper, and that size is a 13x19.5 print on 17x23.5 paper for generous borders. The prints actually look a lot bigger than they are due to the borders, and in a way the big borders add an element of sculpture because the print occupies its own space. Anyways this ends up being dramatic.

Know that on verticals I go 17x24 and this adds an extra half inch for a signature or title. Last night I discovered that the largest sized Muji frame actuall works well for my print size, so if I ever got the opportunity to hang a show I would have to reconsider using the Muji's due to cost, even though they are dust magnets.

Earlier in the week I filled my 3880 with Piezoflush and put that printer into storage. I have two options: one is load Selenium inks to have a different B&W inkset; and two is go with a Cone Color K3 pigment inkset to print color.

Understand that since I have the 7800 that I have the ability to Gloss Overcoat color prints using the larger printer to add detail, saturate colors and as a protective barrier. Then today I had the epiphany that I could cut rolled paper and create a custom paper size to fully exploit the 3880 as either a second printer with a different inkset or as a color pigmented ink printer to print larger than 17x22.

I already have a really pro paper cutter. I was surprised by how cheap the Cone Color inks are when compared to the Piezography inks. A 700ml Piezography inkset that is 7 shades of black plus a Gloss Optimizer costs $1553.24, but a 700 ml Cone Color pigmented inkset that is comprised of 9 colors only costs $889.84. There would be an additional one time cost for refillable carts of $184.84, but know that an OEM Epson K3 inkset for the 3880 costs $450.00 and the carts only hold about 90 ml. For the $889.84, about twice the cost of 2 OEM inksets, I get 7.77 times the amount of ink. The cost of the ink alone is less than 1/3 the cost of the OEM inks, and is about half the price of my Piezography inks.

Anyways I'll figure out by the fall which way to go. Colder weather means printing season, and I expect that I'll be using both.

Cal
 
Looks like I will be back in NYC tomorrow 5/15, so can make the meetup. Can someone confirm the time and place, including the address &/or link to a map. I am interested in talking about experiences with the Leica M 240. Thanks -- Steve
 
It looks like at least 2 of us will show up...
Steve, here is the map:
Loreley

I suppose it is 1pm as usual. Perhaps others that are coming can confirm too?
 
Sorry I didn't make this one.

I did see that Puck Fair and the BP gas station has a plywood construction wall set up getting ready for demolition.

The Puck Building Penthouse was originally priced at 66-65 million dollars. There was a price drop to 58.5 million when "Maggie" did that interview for Corcoran. I wonder how much of a discount for living next to a construction zone will lower the price further.

Maybe it will become a rental. LOL.

Cal
 
dshfoto said:
Anyone have any experience with the Bushwick Community Darkroom, 110 Troutman St Brooklyn, NY 718-218-4023, Any good comments post them here, any negatives you can private message me. Thinking of going over there today to check it out. http://www.bushwickcommunitydarkroom.com/ Steve
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They are a little bootstrapped. I think they are ok if you are doing b+w printing. They have some good enlargers including a 8x10. They aren't really set up for batch developing, or color developing. I did some color batch developing, and I needed to bring everything I needed, so it kind of defeated the purpose of renting space.
 
It seems "Maggie" is going to fund me $1K to set up the 3880 I just filled with Piezoflush and put into storage mode into a color pigment printer. Its about $800.00 for nine 700ml bottles of ink and about $200.00 for refillable carts.

Will likely set this up in the fall.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
It seems "Maggie" is going to fund me $1K to set up the 3880 I just filled with Piezoflush and put into storage mode into a color pigment printer. Its about $800.00 for nine 700ml bottles of ink and about $200.00 for refillable carts. Will likely set this up in the fall. Cal
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The dye inks are 1/2 as much.
 
Range-rover said:
Guy's You all like the print's you get from Epson printers?
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Bob,

I love both my 7800 and 3880. Both are work horses built like pick-up trucks. I basically can keep these going for decades if I accumulate some spare parts. Already downloaded a 600 page service manual for the 7800 for free.

As far as a system goes I have mucho flexability: I can do color; I can do 4 different inksets of Piezography; I can even print on clear overhead projection film and make digital negatives for contact printing. Understand that to make digital negatives all I have to do is change two carts out of my current Piezography system and down load some free profiles, and I can print digital negatives.

My 10 year old printer (7800) and my discontinued printer (3880) are far from being obsolete. I love the 7800 because of the more advanced paper handling. Now I'm spoiled.

Cone color inks seems to be the way to go for color printing. Actually color printing is about half the price of printing B&W. Also know that all the extraordinary efforts of using Piezography IMHO goes wasted unless you intend to print 13x19.5 or bigger. The enhanced detail, resolution and tonality I think becomes apparent at 13x19.5 or bigger, otherwise on smaller prints the extra quality seems to go unnoticed from the color OEM inkset and OEM driver.

Understand what I like is the creative freedom. I don't have to use OEM inks, and in fact I created my own splitone inkset. I can also use a third party ink of archival quality and save money without any compromise. I basically am good for a long-long time unless I for some reason need a 44 inch printer.

Cal
 
Range-rover said:
Guy's You all like the print's you get from Epson printers?
Click to expand...

I do like the 3880. I am using the dye inks, which are cheap, but not archival. I had profiles made for a couple of papers, because the standard profiles don't work for this ink. Now the prints are a very close match to both my screen, and prints that I sent out for. So I have a great set up for proofing stuff to be printed elsewhere. The great thing with these inks is that they are less prone to clogging, so the maintenance is not so daunting.

Btw, there is a 7900 on CL for $200. I know Cal paid less for his, but the money is in the ink and paper.
 
I ask because the H/P which has been working great so far one of the new heads
just died, so I've been thinking either to get a new head or printer. It happen right
in a middle of a job I did two weeks ago, lucky that I still had the Canon i9900 which
I used and they came out nice, but still alway's thinking.
 
CNNY said:
Btw, there is a 7900 on CL for $200. I know Cal paid less for his, but the money is in the ink and paper.
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Christian,

The newer 7900 has proven not to have durable print heads. In this regard the 3880, 7800/7880, and 9800/9880 are among the most durable, meaning very long print head life. Over the long run these printers could last you a very long time.

The newer P600 and P800 are showing robustness, but time will tell. The problem with these printers is that so far Epson figured out a way to cut off use of third party inks, so basically they have you cornered into using expensive OEM ink.

Jon Cone is a stubborn guy, but so far he hasn't come up with a workaround. My understanding is that the P600 and P800 utilize higher pressures to prevent clogs.

It seems that 4900, 7900 and 9900 series printers are known for very short print head life, but know that a free X900 series printer has extra channels and carts and can be reconfigured into say a dedicated printer for Gloss Overcoat, a dedicated matte B&W printer, a P6 Piezography, or even a digital negative printer that requires only 7 channels.

I would not purchase any X900 series printer, but I would take a free one. Pretty much expect x900 printers with clogged channels to be available in abundance.

For me I think I will stick with the discontinued printers that are a lot like pickup trucks. I would say that the 7800 prints with higher resolution than my 3880, and I think this is likely due to superior paper handling.

Cal
 
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