Prints

[Calzone]

So, can I use the Cone inks (?) in my 3880 and still print decent B&W and Color? I'm not quite clear what the difference is among all the choices.

Maggie,

Piezography is Jon Cone's B&W only systems. If you only print B&W this is the way to go. The darkest blacks. With K-7 you are printing with 7 shades of black and the inks are carbon base so they are not prone to fading. The resolution and fidelity I would say is realized in big prints, and with Piezography I bet any file would or could be printed bigger. I print 20x30 and still can nose-up into a print.

Jon Cone Color are encapsulated inks just like Epson OEM, but are about 1/10th the price per ml. Of course you have to buy refillable carts. The compatibility is so transparent that you could even use the Epson profiles with the Jon Cone inks, but of course the best results would be to use the canned profiles available that are optimized for Jon Cone's inks that are available from their free library.

What I have to do further research on is using the new blacker black developed for Piezography Pro (the B&W inkset) with the color inkset. Not sure these profiles are free. I can tell you that the black is blacker than anything else I have seen except perhaps some blacks made by alternative process. This new High Density Black is a great thing.

For B&W and color printing the Jon Cone archival pigment inks is the way to go because of the cost savings. Also know that the 3880 is a printer that has great durability, and long print head life.

Cal

 

[ptpdprinter]

Jon Cone Color are encapsulated inks just like Epson OEM, but are about 1/10th the price per ml. Of course you have to buy refillable carts. The compatibility is so transparent that you could even use the Epson profiles with the Jon Cone inks, but of course the best results would be to use the canned profiles available that are optimized for Jon Cone's inks that are available from their free library.

You buy the refillable cartridge kit once. It is cheaper than new cartridges from Epson. Then you just refill your cartridges as needed. It is a slick system and saves a ton of money. I have found the inks interchangeable with Epson's except in one respect. When printing digital negatives for alternative processes, the Cone inks appear to block more UV light. I had to adjust my curves significantly. Of course, that doesn't affect normal BW and color prints.

 

[Calzone]

You buy the refillable cartridge kit once. It is cheaper than new cartridges from Epson. Then you just refill your cartridges as needed. It is a slick system and saves a ton of money. I have found the inks interchangeable with Epson's except in one respect. When printing digital negatives for alternative processes, the Cone inks appear to block more UV light. I had to adjust my curves significantly. Of course, that doesn't affect normal BW and color prints.

PTP,

You are further along than me. I too want to eventually make digital negatives, but in my case it will be for contact printing silver wet prints.

The technology now is fully developed and seamless. A guy like me can now do a Salgado without the support of the best Lab in Paris. Contact printing silver wet prints seems like the ultimate expression. Well suited to allow exploiting digital to create the perfect negative to contact print limited editions that are perfect.

Now Jon Cone has a system called "Piezography Pro Edition" that fully calibrates your system. $150 software and an I1 Pro is my next upgrade and I'm there. The only problem is I will need studio space that is big enough for a vacuum frame and drying large prints.

BTW Walter Blackwell has joined Piezography. He is also a master printer. Really great having the support. Walter has streamline the information overload and has helped organize the mess that Jon Cone had created with too much information. Much improved.

Everyone should know that Piezoflush is really great stuff. Will unclog print heads and refresh used printers. Also some of the later printers with mucho channels can be remapped. If you know of anyone throwing away an Epson printer it is basically a free useful printer.

If I had the space I would stockpile 3880's, 7800, 7880's, 9800's, and 9880's. These were the most durable printers Epson ever made, their print heads have long lives, and they made many of them.

Cal

 

[maggieo]

Thanks for the info, Cal. I'llhave to try it after I'veused up my Epson inks!

Oh, and I found a photo of the metal print I mentioned upthread.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

Thanks for the photo, Maggie. Looks great.

I just received my metal B&W print, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the quality. Really nice. The image I had printed had a good range of tones and the print held the details really well- deep, dark blacks and very clean whites and an impressive range of gray scale in the image.

 

[rbrooks]

RB,
For readers as I remember Hahnemuele offered covers and pages separately. Am I remembering correctly?

Yes, that's the one. I'll try and paste a link below.
https://www.hahnemuehle.com/en/digital-fineart/protect-authenticate/inkjet-photo-albums/p/Product/show/34/313.html

I'm curious for your opinion, as these are about as good as it gets in terms of quality as I see it. I understand you're making your own concept book/album and it's bigger than these? But if you'd settle for an A3 size these might do the trick?

I printed a full A4 album using Eboni-6 carbon inks and was happy with the results. I've got a few unused ones in a storage box. Once I get a printer again, I'll start using these as my main output. Solves presentation as well as storage and with double sided it becomes a slightly cheaper option all things considered....

 

[Jamie Pillers]

Thanks for the link. It doesn't appear that the albums and paper can be purchased directly from Hahnemuhle. The "Online Purchase" button doesn't seem to be active. How did you obtain yours? Thanks.

 

[maggieo]

Thanks for the photo, Maggie. Looks great.

I just received my metal B&W print, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the quality. Really nice. The image I had printed had a good range of tones and the print held the details really well- deep, dark blacks and very clean whites and an impressive range of gray scale in the image.

Thanks, Rick. I was impressed and delightfully surprised at how good it is.

 

[Calzone]

Thanks for the info, Cal. I'llhave to try it after I'veused up my Epson inks!

Oh, and I found a photo of the metal print I mentioned upthread.

Maggie,

Well done. Thanks for posting.

Cal

 

[maggieo]

Thank you, Cal. I recommend Precision Camera in Austin unreservedly.