LF printers *Question about paper types too*

[Kev M]

As much as I'd love to have my own A3 printer I can't really justify the outlay, I simply wouldn't use it enough to warrant the investment or desk space. At work we have a HP Desingjet Z2100 Photo which only ever gets used for the occasional CAD drawing (two a month on average at most).

I'm sure my bosses wouldn't mind me using the printer if I supply my own paper and contribute to ink costs. (I'd buy my own ink but I'm sure it'll do more harm than good to keep swapping cartridges over). Are the papers easy enough to swap mid roll?

The other thing I'm thinking about is colour management. Are large format printers any more difficult than desktops with regards to colour managment? I'm a complete colour management retard so either I'll have to learn about it or forget the whole idea if it's too difficult.

Cheers,
Kev

 

[mho]

No they are easier with colour management in the respect most of the papers will have profiles already made for them, but with a z2100 you have a built in spectrometer for profiling the paper for you, I suggest a look at the link below should give you more info on what the Z series HP's are capable off.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/HP-Z3100-review.shtml

Its a z3100 in the review but a lot of what they do holds true for the Z2100.
Z3100 uses 12 inks Z2100 uses 8 inks.

As for changing paper mid roll it very easy.

I have used a Z3100 quite a lot and love it. Just as I love my Epson 7800 and Imageprint RIP.

Mark

 

[Kev M]

Hi Mark,

Cheers for the link it made for some positive reading. HP roll paper is surprisingly cheap. Is there any way of finding out what the running costsof the ink?

I thought large format printers were supposed to be complicated with RIPs and other things I know nothing about.

 

[artona]

they used to be Kev when processors were a bit slow. They still are if you are in a graphic design area and need to match pantones otherwise print straight from PS. As to the price of inks its really hard to tell because the HPs do not use that much

stew

 

[mho]

Hi Mark,

Cheers for the link it made for some positive reading. HP roll paper is surprisingly cheap. Is there any way of finding out what the running costsof the ink?

I thought large format printers were supposed to be complicated with RIPs and other things I know nothing about.

If i remember correctly the z series will give you ink used per ml per job, i know the Epsons do so you can actually price each job correctly for cost.

As for RIPs I use one with my Epson and the Z series (Image print by Colorbyte) they are very pricey but woth it, it certainly makes for better prints and can also save a fortune in inks, due to its custom features. B&W printing is taken to a whole new level. Better than Photoshop CS4 which has built in print engines for Epson, the HP Z series drivers work like a mini rip as well.

As for paper you will get nice results from Hanhamule as they in combination with HP have developed profiles for their paper and it comes standard with the printer.

 

[Kev M]

If I remember rightly we got the printer 2nd hand from another company that didn't use it much and I'm not sure we got the software disks. I think the drivers were downloaded from the HP website but I don't know if we've got all the profiles or even where to find them.

Any chance you could give me quick rundown on what RIPs actually do? Remember to speak slowly

 

[Dino f]

I think the raster image processor processes each colour seperately before sending the information down to the printer heads. This allows adjustments to be made to seperate colours.
Probably wrong though.
Dean

 

[mho]

A RIP originally used in Publishing, rasterises text and combines it with a graphic for printing, they include numerous processes and adjustments and allow you to customise how you want it to put the image onto paper, they are used mainly in desktop publishing for outputting proofs of pages so they can be accurately checked before being sent to print, this is know as proofing, the whole process is a calibrated process, with absolute items like, paper and ink which reach a set standard, on printers which can achieve that standard.

They also communicate directly with the internals of the printer meaning they bypass the generic drivers and all control of the print head is handled by the RIP. giving control of droplet size, ink amount, speed, and number of passes, and accurately handling the paper profile.

They also have superb interpolation algorithms which are geared to the printers output resolution of the print head, ie Epson prints at a resolution of multiples of 180dpi, ie 180, 360, 720, 1440, 2880 etc.

They also have the capability to store images in a hot folder and do various things as you send images to print in the hot folder,
-Store images untill you have enough to nest and limit paper wastage.
-Print images which use the paper profile installed in the machine, waiting to print others until the media is changes ie Gloss / matt.
-To print images automatically as they are dropped in the folder from a network.

There are some rips that are geared to DTP and some to Photography

DTP

Colorproof
Harliquin
Shiraz

Photography

Imageprint
Shiraz Focus
Imagehunter

to name a few.

Their is loads more about RIPS just google it and enjoy the reading.

 

[Kev M]

I've had a good read on the printer thanks to Mark (not quite finished it all yet) and got the green light from my boss to print away. Having looked briefly at RIPs I think they're OTT for my small personal needs and I know I can't afford one.

All the software is there for the printer so I can create custom paper profiles etc so now all I need to do is select some paper. On Marks recommendation I looked for the Hanehmule/HP papers but they're all sheet and I want roll paper for what I want to do initially. My previous printing experience is limited to supermarket photo paper or Photobox glass or matte but there's such a wide selection of papers out there I don't know where to start so I'm hoping for some more pointers. I'm probably best sticking with HP papers for now but even their range is huge.

My first job is to print off my portfolio for college which is all portraiture of different sorts. The prints will be going into a sort of presentation book being mounted on the pages which are a type of board. I know I don't want gloss but I've got no practical experience in the difference between matt, sating, semi-this and that type papers so don't know which would be more suited to this application. Of course I need to be able to use the roll afterwards as well so I don't want to be something so specialist I won't use it again. Also what thickness is recommended for high quality printing?

Cheers,
Kev

 

[mho]

Kev hahnemuhle paper is available in both sheet and roll, all I use is roll, maybe the stuff branded with HP is only sheet.

I would recomend looking at

Hahnemuhle
Ilford
Permajet
Fotospeed
FujiHunt
Epson
HP
GMG
EFI

I would say their would be something in that lot which would be what your looking for and all available in Roll.

For Fine art style stuff I use Hahnemuhle photo rag 308gsm a very nice smooth matte paper, or Hahnemuhle fine art pearl 285gsm.

 

[Kev M]

You were supposed to be making it easier for me Mark not giving me more choice!

 

[EOS_JD]

You were supposed to be making it easier for me Mark not giving me more choice!

I used Permajet papers which are fantastic but recently bought a Fotospeed CIS system and am trying ot papers from the and Hahnemuhle which are equally great.

 

[mho]

You were supposed to be making it easier for me Mark not giving me more choice!

I did.

For Fine art style stuff I use Hahnemuhle photo rag 308gsm a very nice smooth matte paper, or Hahnemuhle fine art pearl 285gsm.