Piezography Pro

[Calzone]

UPDATES:

It seems there has been some delay to the 17th of November shipping date due to some production difficulties. Understand that Piezography is a boutique product, so this is no big deal to me. I believe that Shipping will be today.

I also have been actively been receiving corespondance from Walter Blackwell who is new to the Piezography crew. Know that Walter is an artist and fine art printer.

So today I was surprised by a personal level of support to a private forum of early adopters and users. I am getting a personalized (I assume tailored to my glossy only, 3880 and 7800 printers) download to set-up my systems. I will still be able to do K-7 seamlessly.

The download of the new Piezography Professional Edition manual will be released when the shipping begins, again I think today.

Then there is Piezography Professional Edition which features a DIY Linearization Workflow. Basically with K-7 in the past I used the downloaded "canned" profiles offered by Jon Cone for my papers and inks. I was notified that new profiles are being updated into the new library, but that part of this new system makes it seamless to profile my own printer and papers, and on top of this I can also use this new capability for K-7.

At PhotoPlusExpo my friend Robert Rodriguez, the Artist In Residence at the Canson Booth gave me some sample packs of a new Baryta coated paper that just came out. How cool is that, and perfect timing.

So anyways this winter I can do my full immersion into my own little space, and leave the larger world and all its problems outside. I have new things to learn to take printing to a new level, and a lot to obsess about. LOL.

I have always enjoyed great support from the crew at Piezography, but this is a whole new level. It seems that all the data mining and journalism required to navigate the Piezography website is no longer needed as things are really being streamlined.

At this point, as was a year and 9 months ago, I am a bit overwelmed and anxious. Pretty much about $3K worth of ink and carts will be delivered shortly, as I ordered two 700ml glossy inksets, so I have 1.4 liters of eack ink to start.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

23 November 2016

Yesterday I had difficulties setting up a password via a link to set up and gain access to all the downloads.

Today I e-mailed Walker and somehow he got me in. It seems the hospital I work in and also the compounding of a second firewall by an academic institution provides a double firewall to negociate. Even placing an order online can present difficulies.

Anyways I have to tell you that the support is superb. I will likely download and read the just released Piezography Pro Manual over the Thanksgiving break.

Via my G-mail account I recieved a Piezography Error Corrector for 51 step and 129 step linearizations for profiling. Basically a download of a look-up table.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

28 November 2016

Downloaded and read the new manual. I learned that part of Piezography Pro includes the capability of using a Spectrophotometer to linearlize and profile my printer and papers. I also got sets of step wedges and instructions on a new way to think about printing. Jon calls it "printing-by-numbers." BTW being able to profile my printer, inkset, and papers extends to K7. Understand that I only have used the "canned" profiles and got stunning results, but even with my 27 inch EIZO dimmed down to 85 Lux I print more than I can see on my EIZO in a darkened room.

I learned in the new manual that I can reduce the DPI from 2880 to 1440 and go bi-directional when applying "Gloss Overcoat." Anyways the shorter exposure of my print head will save me lots of time and lower maintenance.

I took advantage of a Black Friday sale (20% off) and ordered 700 ml of Selenium Shade 5 to fill out my stockpile of K7 splitone, and I further decided to load the new Piezography Pro into my 3880. One reason is that the 3880 does not have a vacuum platine for the paper transport like my 7800, and when gloss overcoating Canson papers I get "Pizzawheeling." The one pass printing of Piezography Pro will eliminate this artifact.

In reading it seems that the 4900, 7900 and 9900 printers that offer 10 functional carts (11th is switchable) utilizes two additional light-light greys for better highlights, so for the ultimate Piezography Pro set-up a X900 is required for the expanded inkset. K-7 with my custom made splitone is mighty good with seven shades of black, but Piezography Pro features glossy black with three warm greys and three cool greys.

I am not sure which inkset will be smoother or have a wider range of tone. Perhaps a X900 series printer might be required to match my K7? Maybe not? It seems like my 7800 is the ultimate K7 machine and only a 9800 or 9880 is better only because it is bigger. the 7800, 7880, 9800, and 9880 are durable printers with long print head life that are user rebuildable, but the X900 printers have the added cart slots for the wider range of inks (larger inksets).

It seems that part of the system allows for cleaning individual nozzles instead of wasting ink doing Power Cleans. Since I already have Quadtone RIP installed and Print-Tool basically I just have to install the Piezography Pro and set up the curves library.

For Christmas I will either get a Color Munki or I1. It seems all this will make me a better printer and a better photographer. Tally for Piezography Pro and 700 ml K7 ink is about $3.1K. Know that in my first year of printing I spent $10K on paper and ink. I started in January 2015 and loaded my printers with Piezoflush for 6 months to take a break from printing. I still need to stockpile papers.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

UPDATE: I learned that my K7 on my 7800 can be used for making digital negatives without having to do any ink changes. It the past Piezography Digital Negative required exchanging two carts and flushing, but now the updated digital negative system is designed around a straight glossy Selenium K7 inkset.

I am currently running a glossy Warm Neutral to Selenium splitone where I blended my own custom inkset, but the new ability to profile my system from Piezography Pro Edition allows me to profile my printer and inkset so I can use my custom K7 inkset to also make digital negatives without having to exchange carts and purge ink.

About 4 years ago, when I got my Monochrom, I envisioned that I wanted to make silver wet prints via digital negatives utilizing contact printing to make editions of my work. It seems now my dream has come true: one printer (24 inch wide) with one inkset where I can print a Piezography print as a proof, and then print a digital negative to contact print editions to make silver wet prints.

I'm in heaven. I know what I want to do when I retire in a few years...

Cal

 

[Timmyjoe]

UPDATE: I learned that my K7 on my 7800 can be used for making digital negatives without having to do any ink changes. It the past Piezography Digital Negative required exchanging two carts and flushing, but now the updated digital negative system is designed around a straight glossy Selenium K7 inkset.

I am currently running a glossy Warm Neutral to Selenium splitone where I blended my own custom inkset, but the new ability to profile my system from Piezography Pro Edition allows me to profile my printer and inkset so I can use my custom K7 inkset to also make digital negatives without having to exchange carts and purge ink.

About 4 years ago, when I got my Monochrom, I envisioned that I wanted to make silver wet prints via digital negatives utilizing contact printing to make editions of my work. It seems now my dream has come true: one printer (24 inch wide) with one inkset where I can print a Piezography print as a proof, and then print a digital negative to contact print editions to make silver wet prints.

I'm in heaven. I know what I want to do when I retire in a few years...

Cal

That's very cool Cal, and something I've been thinking about for a while as well. Looks like I might get back into a wet darkroom after all.

 

[Calzone]

That's very cool Cal, and something I've been thinking about for a while as well. Looks like I might get back into a wet darkroom after all.

Tim,

I really love my K7 and 7800. What a surprise that the updated PDN now uses K7.

Using digital to optimize your image and contrast, proofing, and then contact printing like a large format shooter. It does not get better than this.

It also seems like a DN system will eventually evolve from Piezography Pro.

Seems like my PPE inks will ship at the end of November. The original shipping date was November 17th. I know it will be worth the wait. The early adopter availability is reported to have been sold out in the first week. Glad I doubled up my order and took advantage of the discount pricing.

Cal

 

[rogue_designer]

Interesting developments Cal. Thanks for sharing all this. I've got a partially clogged 3800 and some empty carts - time to order some pizeoflush to rescue it and get printing again. 😀

 

[Calzone]

Interesting developments Cal. Thanks for sharing all this. I've got a partially clogged 3800 and some empty carts - time to order some pizeoflush to rescue it and get printing again. 😀

R-D,

It seems the 3800, 3880, and all the X800 and X880 are all highly regarded as durable workhorses that have a long print head life. I feel really lucky to have both a 3880 and a 7800. I was able to download the service manual for my 7800 for free. These printers are deemed user servicable.

Piezoflush is a wonderful thing. Check out all the info at Piezography.com on maintenance and reusing the maintenance tank. My 7800 I bought for $100.00. In its 9 year life before I got it, it only made 1802 prints, and it was used just enough not to have any clogs. I let the 7800 sit for months with Piezoflush which really freshened up the printer. I made about 2000 prints, but because of a deadline I abused my printer a bit, so I am reconditioning the printer yet again with Piezoflush.

For me I already got impressive results with only the "canned" profiles. Some of my friends call my prints "stunning." I can only imagine how big a jump will be having a fully calibrated system.

Even if you are not ready there is lots of data mining available by reading through the forums and articles that explain all the nuances. The information use to be speadout all over the place, but now their website is streamlined, updated, and definitely more concise.

The support is amazing. Fast response and it is like I have an engineering team helping me.

You just missed cyber Monday and Black Friday sales, but I think there still is a 20% off inks, carts and Piezoflush. I tend to bulk up for savings. In my most recent reading they state that they print 35%-40% more ink than OEM. Add on top of that a layer or two of Gloss Overcoat on my K7 and I'm not too far off as far as being correct: "I use about twice the amount of ink as OEM."

What is really scarry is having to top off my 7800 refillable carts. The Jon Cone carts are oversized, so I removed the doors/covers off my 7800. Perhaps they are 400-450 ml. With these carts you do not use large syringes to load ink, you use funnels and literally pour to fill. It seems that I do mostly have to fill shades 3,4 and 5 which are mid-tones.

A further reading tells me that my K-7 splitone already uses the Warm Neutral shade 1 and Selenium shades 5,6 and 7; so the only shades that are different in my custom splitone are a Warm Neutral shade 2, and shades 3 and 4 that I blend Warm Neutral and Selenium inks. It seems by buying Piezography Pro I am getting a calibrated system that is engineered for DIY. Know that the PDN system utilizes the black from the Warm Neutral inkset (more opague than the Selenium black) with a Selenium shades 2-7.

Know that I went to art school and have a good eye, but as far as computer skills I consider myself a computer "Bone-Head." All I know is Lightroom 5.

Two books, The Digital Negative, The Digital Print, by Jeff Schewe taught me a lot about how the algarithems in LR5 interact. Jeff was involved with the development of Lightroom, and gave me great insights to understanding how to exploit its functions.

For me because all this involves spending big money, and the requirement of investing an obsessive amount of time, I think it very wise to explore all the free exchange of information. All this requires careful consideration.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

It is my understanding that the new Piezography Pro has a new black that is darker than even the newest Epson OEM inkset.

Already there is clamour on the Piezography Forums about when the new black will be adopted and intergrated into P7, P6, P2 and Cone Color Archival Pigment inks.

So eventually I will be able to update my K7 with a blacker black.

Cal

 

[walkerblackwell]

Piezography Pro has a new UltraHD-MK ink that we worked long and hard on. It is 100% carbon and it passed final QC on the production batch. That is the major hold-up on the new ink at the moment. We'll have the first batch bottling this week so we hope to have stuff shipping out the door from our Vermont facility this week.

Current measured dMax on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag is 1.81 and on Epson Hotpress it's 1.82.

Those numbers will differ with curves, paper, humidity, printhead type, etc, but will fall within the 1.77 to 1.82 range in general for matte papers that are good. This is a significant change for both Piezography and inkjet printing in general.

You will be able to drop-in replace it with current Piezo MK ink. It is not a cheap ink to make or purchase but it is superior to even HP K and it's encapsulated.

Cheers!
Walker

 

[Calzone]

Piezography Pro has a new UltraHD-MK ink that we worked long and hard on. It is 100% carbon and it passed final QC on the production batch. That is the major hold-up on the new ink at the moment. We'll have the first batch bottling this week so we hope to have stuff shipping out the door from our Vermont facility this week.

Current measured dMax on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag is 1.81 and on Epson Hotpress it's 1.82.

Those numbers will differ with curves, paper, humidity, printhead type, etc, but will fall within the 1.77 to 1.82 range in general for matte papers that are good. This is a significant change for both Piezography and inkjet printing in general.

You will be able to drop-in replace it with current Piezo MK ink. It is not a cheap ink to make or purchase but it is superior to even HP K and it's encapsulated.

Cheers!
Walker

Walker,

Thanks for joining this thread.

I am looking forward to upgrading my MK (gloss black) to the new MK-HD to enhance my K7. I actually need to order some and have been holding out.

Also thanks for all the support.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

SMUT: My(our) friend Dirk raves about this Red River paper that prints well and is not costly. I have been reluctant to try it because I don't have a profile.

In the past I could of purchased having one custom made for me for about $100.00 from Cone Editions, but now I will have the capability to create and share profile rather easily.

A community of users is being developed in a private user's forum, and yesterday I learned in a thread that eventually Red River paper will be in the updated curve library soon for the people who are going to make books.

Anyways I'm getting really-really excited. I did a bookbinding workshop with Susan Mills a great book artist almost two decades ago. Also know here in NYC there is the Center For Book Arts. I'm pretty sure that I can collaborate and elevate my pursuits in an interdiscplinary manner.

Anyways lots of possibilities are opening up. One pass printing just makes everything easier, and the Gloss Overcoat makes prints durable. How timely for creating limited editions. Books are meant to be objects that are handled.

Cal

 

[Particular]

Cal, I had profiles made by
http://www.greatprinterprofiles.com

They were $40 each. I am very happy with the quality. He can do monochrome as well as color profiles for any paper/ink combination.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Calzone]

Cal, I had profiles made by
http://www.greatprinterprofiles.com

They were $40 each. I am very happy with the quality. He can do monochrome as well as color profiles for any paper/ink combination.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Christian,

I was very happy with the "canned" profiles available for free from Piezography. I did mucho printing of my favorites: Jon Cone Type 5 and Canson Platine Fibre Rag.

Soon I will be able to roll my own and optimize the precision further.

With the new PK-HD I also will be able to print digital negatives for contact printing using my custom splitone without having to do any ink change on my 7800.

It seems the system has become more turnkey than ever. Anyways it seems there are many possibilities and a lot to learn. As printing evolves it does seem I am advancing into surprised spaces I only dreamed about. Pretty much I'm in heaven.

Thanks for the link.

Cal

 

[walkerblackwell]

Piezo PRO HD-PK will not work as a drop-in for Piezography WN1 ink. We tried it. The problem is that PiezoPRO HD-PK is actually "less opaque" than WN1. It is a "stacking" ink, meaning that we can put a large amount of HD-PK ink down without seeing gloss differential and this creates the amazing dMax. This also creates so much gloss that even after gloss optimizing the darkest tones are glossier than the other tones with tradition Piezography. So, after a few other projects we hope to work on some new curve architectures that may enable PK-HD to work with traditional Piezography.

tl:dr; UltraHD-MK will work with Piezography K6-K7 directly, but HD-PK will require a different curve architecture.

best,
Walker

 

[Calzone]

Piezo PRO HD-PK will not work as a drop-in for Piezography WN1 ink. We tried it. The problem is that PiezoPRO HD-PK is actually "less opaque" than WN1. It is a "stacking" ink, meaning that we can put a large amount of HD-PK ink down without seeing gloss differential and this creates the amazing dMax. This also creates so much gloss that even after gloss optimizing the darkest tones are glossier than the other tones with tradition Piezography. So, after a few other projects we hope to work on some new curve architectures that may enable PK-HD to work with traditional Piezography.

tl:dr; UltraHD-MK will work with Piezography K6-K7 directly, but HD-PK will require a different curve architecture.

best,
Walker

Walker,

Thanks for the clarity. Really excited to set everything up.

I know that some color printers like Gloss Overcoating color prints for enhanced detail and more color saturation. Is this possible with the new Gloss optimizer?

I know K7 and PP use the same cart slot for the overcoating, so in theory I could run say a modified K7 GO pass to maybe Gloss Optimize a color print. Anyways this is just a creative thought. If possible it would be my dream come true.

I am wondering about this before I load my inks because I already have two printers and want to consider of maybe as an option setting up the 3880 as a color printer (Cone Color Archival Pigment) and using my 7800 for PP and K7. The third option is yet another printer: color; PP; and K7.

Thanks in advance.

Cal

 

[walkerblackwell]

At Cone Editions Press we gloss optimize a ton of our color prints. It makes them more archival as well as better gamut and scratch resistance and zero gloss differential, etc. We have not tested the new GCO with color ink. My first thought it that it will work, but it's very different chemically so it might not. If you have a 7800 w/ old-school GO in it, this is the best printer for color gloss optimizing.

 

[Calzone]

At Cone Editions Press we gloss optimize a ton of our color prints. It makes them more archival as well as better gamut and scratch resistance and zero gloss differential, etc. We have not tested the new GCO with color ink. My first thought it that it will work, but it's very different chemically so it might not. If you have a 7800 w/ old-school GO in it, this is the best printer for color gloss optimizing.

Walker,

I do have a 7800 with old school GO that I do my K7 Splitone. I really love the K7 with the 7800, but it seems like I will likely add a color printer in the future to my studio. The paper handling of the 7800 (vacuum) is superior to the 3880.

I have delivery of my inks. The latest e-mail blast that included the results from an early adopter shows that you guys did a great job in engineering a great system. Thanks for doing all the heavy lifting. Have a great Holiday break: you guys deserve it.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Today is Christmas the legal Holiday, and I am at work borrowing a Dymo printer because I am now ready to load inks. This is a job that requires care and no rush because mistakes could be costly. I intend to label all my carts with slot numbers and ink shades for clarity.

The 3880 and 7800 are both loaded with Piezoflush currently and have been in storage mode for months. Saturday I ran power cleans on both printers and cleaned the wipers and capping stations to the extent that I dab only pink piezoflush with no traces of ink. I had to install my spare maintenance tank on the 3880. Know that Piezoflush seems to resolulize any ink, so that storing a printer for prolonged periods kinda inadvertantly refeshes a printer. My 7800 was nine years old when I bought it for $100.00, but over its 9 year life it had only made 1802 prints. Piezoflush made it like a new printer. I expect both my printers to be "fresh."

At work I took advantage of a lab sink to see if I could salvage the bedding of the full 3880 maintenance tank like I did on my 7800, but it seems while the 7800 bedding is felt, the bedding on the 3880 maintenance tank is only compressed paper. Oh-well. I improved and used a box of Kim-Wipes as replacement bedding.

My intentions are to replace the maintenance tank on the 3880 with my rebuilt one. Particularly with the 3880 one needs a brand new tank to fool the printer to accept a resetted maintenance tank, so I want to keep my spare as new.

Also know that a new 3880 maintenance cart can be reset and be continued to be used to capacity a second time by simply resetting, using a brand new maintenance tank to fool the printer, and replacing the used tank that has been reset to be continued to be used.

This was the present state of my maintenance cart. Basically Epson designed the maintenance cart to measure full when the capacity monitored reached only 50% to make more money by increasing sales.

So after a delivery delay I recieved delivery of my carts and two sets of 700 ml glossy Piezography Pro ink.

So here is what I learned so far, even without having printed.

Compared with two years ago performing the required instalation is very much more straight forward with easy and clear instructions. Two years ago I had to connect the dots a bit, and the information presented was not streamlined like it is now. Instructions are clear, organized and planned.

My old curve library automatically gets archived to eliminate future confusion and is arranged by date. ICC profiles got placed into Lightroom automatically. And updating the curve library and future updates is no longer spread out all over the place. When they say "Pro" they mean it.

After I use the canned profiles, for $150.00 I can upgrade to Piezography Professional Edition, which is an optional add-on software to calibrate my system so I can make my own curves and paper profiles. Now I can profile myself my custom K7 Splitone instead of relying on the "canned" profiles. I also will have to buy an I1 Pro.

A surprise bonus is I now have Digital negative capabilities using the Piezography Pro inkset, and all I have to do is use the supplied "Pro Curves."

The Piezography Pro curves overlap less than the K7 or K6 curves, so it is recommended that on the X900 series printers that the printing speed be slowed down to avoid banding on these higher speed printers. Also with the X900 series that Platine Gaps might require more consideration. Each nozzle has a curve that crests like a wave on a beach with a long trailing tail that overlaps with other curves. A lot more ink gets laid down, the tone is continuous, and this is what give Piezography its depth and look. My guess is that K7 or K6 might be smoother, but PP is likely to offer mor control. Might be a question of differences rather than which is better.

There seems to be suggested that in the future a K7 one-pass system is the next challenge to be developed. Also know that the profiling and curve building capabilities of PP extend to my K7, and that with this capability that Digital Negative capabilities get extended to my 7800 and K7 inkst.

It seems because of the one pass printing, there are some possibilities of bleeding under high contrast edges like text. Anyways of course this is highly paper dependent, and know that the curves are specifically designed and optimized for GCO to be printed at the same time of the image. Doing a K7 second pass is not a solution with PP.

It has become clear to me that to evaluate and compare my K7 to the new PP that I have to set up my 7800 and use the new updated curves. In a ways with PP my K7 got updated, so to do any fare comparison I would have to use the new updated profiles and curves to make any evaluation.

Anyways I'll report more after tonight's first prints.

Happy Holidays.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Last night I didn't make that first print with PP. I ended up getting organized and spent a lot of time labeling sets of carts to avoid future confusion. I also had to clear out some drying space.

Probably the best because after the initial loading it is wise to let the air settle in the carts, and very soon I'll have to refill the carts again.

I was fortunate to take advantage of a Container Store sale. Their Elfa modular systems are great to construct a work space. Know that the bedroom of my Luxury Madhattan apartment is 66% fashion blogger's closet filled with clothing, clothes racks, and shoes. My printing and work area is about a third of a bedroom, but it is well laid out in a vertical manner.

Kinda funny to have a 7800 that I call "The Jersey Barrier," a titanium bicycle and a Juki commercial sewing machine in for good measure to create the ultimate crazy print studio like no other. What really makes it insane is that I tend to print big. LOL.

So tonight is the night for my first prints.

Cal