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The three major players in the photo printer business are Epson, HP and Canon. All three companies offer a wide range of printers, using dye or pigment inks. Fine Art photographers should be looking for a printer which uses pigment inks. All three manufacturers have A3 Pigment ink printers: Epson - R1800 and R2400; HP - B9180; and Canon the Pro 9500.
An A3 printer should be regarded as an entry point for fine art printing. Ideally you should set your sights on a larger format printer, in the long term they are going to be more economical to run. Epson has five A2 models: 3800, 4400, 4450, 4800 and 4880; it also has four A1 (24 inch) printer models: 7400, 7450, 7800, and 7880; four A0 (44 inch) models: 9400, 9450, 9800 and 9880; and the 11880 a 64 inch printer. Epson printers use the UltraChrome K3 inkset, which will produce superb B/W prints.
HP has the Z series of printers, the Z2100 an eight ink printer and the Z3100 a 12 ink printer, both available as 24 or 44inch printers and the Z6100 a 60 inch printer. All Z series printers feature a built in Eye – One spectrophotometer, this creates a custom profile for any media type that is loaded into the printer.
Canon has the imagePrograf range of printers which includes the 5000 (A2), 6100 (A1), 800 (44 inch) and 9000 (60 inch).
The best way to eliminate any colour cast with b/w printing is to use a printer with dedicated grey inks. Permajet produce MonoChrome Pro inks and Lyson produce Lysonic Quad Black monochrome inks. These black inks replace the colour inks in a printer and produce superb quality monochrome prints. The only drawback is that you have to commit a printer solely to producing b/w prints. If you intend doing a lot of b/w printing then this may be an option worth considering.
The HP 8750 (A3) and HP 8450 (A4) both dye ink printers, have a dedicated grey ink cartridge for b/w printing. Each HP cartridge incorporates a print head, so each time you purchase a cartridge you get a new print head. This means you can swap the b/w cartridge for a colour cartridge without having to waste ink by flushing out inks from the print head. A replacement head also solves the problem of clogged and worn out print heads.
Epson, HP, and Canon have their own pigment ink printers fitted with one, two, or three dedicated grey inks, albeit they are commonly referred to as Light Blacks. The printers will use the grey/black inks for monochrome printing and with the right media will produce stunning b/w prints. Together with 100 – 200 years print longevity, the pigment ink printer is probably the best all-round solution.
When you make a media choice in your printer properties dialogue panel, you are telling your printer to use a profile for that particular media. During the printer installation process, a set of “canned” profiles will have been installed. For 95% of all printing needs these profiles will produce excellent results, after all it is in the manufacturer’s own interest to produce high quality profiles of their own media and inks. When using third party media you will have to either create your own profiles or visit the media manufacturer’s web site to download a profile for your printer and media.
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Use the correct profile for best results |
When printing from within Photoshop, select “Print with Preview”, and from Colour Handling drop down list select “Let Photoshop Determine Colours”. From the “Printer Profile” list select the profile you have downloaded or created. Next press the Print button and then open your “Printers Properties” dialogue box. From here navigate to the colour tab and select “Application managed colours” or ICM “Off, (No Colour Adjustment)” . Failure to follow this step will result in a print which has been double profiled, this produces a very dark print with awful colours.
Each of the three main printer manufacturers, Epson, HP and Canon, offers an extensive range of media, which may or may not be sufficient for your own needs. I know these manufacturers would like you to exclusively use their own branded media, but in doing so are you getting the best results from your printer. Let’s take a look at the competition.
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