Print head problem fixed

I have spoken with HP regarding the print head problem and have been advised to tap the head on a hard surface to get the ink flowing. Not a very technical approach, but it works. The heads are now all working. I have been supplied with nine sheets of media for this review - not my ideal number for performing a full review, never mind lets get on with the review.

I have installed the drivers and am using the DJ90 on a Windows XP system computer. There are two connection ports, USB 2.0 and Parallel (Centronics) ports - no Firewire.

First prints

I have some HP Premium Plus Photo paper and will use this for the first prints. The photo-i test print took 4 minutes 47 seconds to print, this is just under the 5 minute mark which I feel is an acceptable time for quality printing. I used the "Let Printer Determine Colours" setting and set the quality to best, the colour tab settings were set to ColorSmart sRGB. The resulting print displays excellent colour swatches, perhaps a bit too much better than the original file. The Vivera colours certainly jump off the page at you, for graphic use this may be ideal, but for realistic looking photographs it may be over the top. The overall print is far too cool, Sophie looks like she has been in cold storage for the last week. The grey's are clinically correct, but esthetically not very pleasing.

The original file	First print using default settings
Second print - Photoshop settings	Third print - ICM
The printer properties panels

The second print was created using "Let Photoshop Determine Colours", again quality was set to best and the colour tab settings were set to "Application managed colours". The Vivera colours have calmed down and are a reasonable match to the original file, with the exception of the blue, this has picked up far too much magenta. The third print is by far the most pleasing of the prints, the settings used for this print were "Let Printer Determine Colours" and on the colour tab the settings were set to ICM. Sophie's skin looks healthy and most of the colours are looking very nice, again the blue has picked up too much magenta. The b/w image in all three prints is far too cool for my own taste, although it is completely neutral.

The original file	First print using default settings
Second print - Photoshop settings	Third print - ICM

One very slight problem that is worth mentioning, when loading the A4 media is is very easy to not have the media loaded squarely, resulting in prints that have a slight rotation - see the Third print. This happened on another print and I put it down to not having loaded the media correctly, however, I have been making sure the media sits squarely in the tray on subsequent prints - obviously I didn't get it right again. Loading A4 sheets is not as convenient as loading larger media.

HP DJ90 eye detail	HP 8450 eye detail
Epson R2400 eye detail	Canon i9950 eye detail

The eye detail shot shows that the DJ90 id not delivering the same amount of detail that other printers can achieve, micro detail seems to have been lost especially on the eye lashes and pupil detail.

HP DJ90 reels

Epson R2400 reels

HP 8450 reels

Canon i9950 reels

B/W printing

As stated earlier, the DJ90 produces very neutral grey tones, these are perhaps too neutral for my own taste, however there will be some who will like this as a starting point. I have included a straight print and one that I have warmed up in Photoshop before printing. You can alter the print to suit your own taste, but this is an extra step in your workflow. Using HP Matte media the problem resolves itself, the b/w quality is spot on.

Straight BW print using ICM

Same file after a +10 red and +10 yellow is applied in Photoshop

My overall conclusion on print quality is that this printer needs some better profiles especially for Premium plus Photo paper. The actual printed image quality is very good, and when the correct settings are used the colours are very accurate. There are currently only a few quality large format printers available - however they start at nearly £1000 more. This makes the HP DesignJet 90 seem like a bargain.