Compare STS & OEM ink

new STS ink and OEM HP 932/933 from Octoink.

I want know where is differences between them.


Bottom image OEM. Top STS.

Hi Issa
To be honest I can’t see any difference.
But you could do with increasing the contrast on your scanner..

Which print came from what inkset?

Top print in the image i would guess is OEM bottom is STS... Black is slightly greyer (if thats a word) in the bottom image, blue is also slightly paler. Other than that not alot in it and i personally would be happy with either.

I think the reds are a little bit more saturated in the OEM print. The OEM grays seems to be a tiny bit more neutral. I'm sure the STS ink would look just as good if not better than OEM with a custom profile.

Yep its very, very, very slight with the red, you can just about make out the top strawberries are slightly a deeper red.

To be honest unless you are really anal there is basically anything in it, certainly no where near enough that in a side by side test people would be able to reliably pick the cheap (or relatively speaking cheap) ink over the original stuff.

I would be more than happy with results that ink has given the poster, in fact i may try some STS inks, though that will not be for a while still not even close to half way through my excellent Image Specialist ink from octoink.

Hi,
this is another sample right image for STS, left for OEM.
But left image taken before six months. STS inks look more rich color than oem as CakeHole said.

I think the image printed with the STS inks is the best, so it seems that you have found a very good refill ink and you have got your refill technique right

Tigerman said:

Hi,
this is another sample right image for STS, left for OEM.
But left image taken before six months. STS inks look more rich color than oem as CakeHole said.

Click to expand...

I actually thought it was the other way round and the more saturated original image was OEM ink, guess i was wrong lol.

I actually from that latest image prefer the STS ink output (image on the right), HOWEVER technically the paler/less rich (LEFT OEM) is better although it does not look it at first glance to normal eyes. If you look at the greyscale next to the black and white image in the centre you can see the various grey scales are more accurate near the bottom for the OEM ink with more separation between the scales. Having said that for a rich colour print the STS can look better as it is more saturated. In the case of black and white (grey) image printing the OEM ink would probably do a more accurate job, for colour rich prints the STS would look better to most people. ALL THAT IS ASSUMING both images were printed on the same paper with the same printer settings set obviously.

Either way they IMO are pretty close and that ink i would still be more than happy with, i may actually try some as mentioned for my next batch, even if that is a year or so off yet

I think the only reliable way to compare inks is by creating icc color profiles and comparing the color spaces of those inks. Such color space depends on the ink used, the driver settings - quality settings and the paper selection , differences in the color space can be different levels of saturation for CMY and the black level. And once areas of discrepancies are identified it is possible to look specifically for those in printouts of test images. The difficulty ist that a typical printer user does not have the measurement equipment and software to create such color profiles, so he is left with guessing based on some personal observations. Ink suppliers for budget inks would not be willing or able to provide such profile information, only premium suppliers for inks and photo and art papers typically can provide profiles for their papers and inks for typical foto printers - Epson, Canon.