Advice needed

[mr500cm]

Hi all, I'm Lance and I'm a professional photographer with over 30 years experience. I am new to inkjet printing, I was just given an Epson Pro 4800 printer and really need some advice. There is a full set of OEM inks that were included but no paper. I like luster aka "E" paper the best. am I best sticking with Epson paper or are there others that are as good or better and are reasonably priced? Inks, I know that this printer is going to suck down ink like water, should I consider refilling or try and find deals on genunie Epson ink? If not what brands are good. I know its a lot to toss out right now but I have this beast out of the box and I'm itching to try it. At the same time I don't want to drain my wallet too. Any advice you can give me would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Lance

 

[santer]

You could ask for samples here

http://www.redrivercatalog.com/

Wish someone would give me an Epson 4880

 

[lotsawa]

I use a 3880 with refillable cartridges. It's a bit of work to prepare the cartridges (you have to take the chip off the OEM cartridges and install them in the refillables, than you have to fill them properly) and I did have some minor problems with cartridges that had not been recognized by the printer sometimes, but it's all manageable and the system works (maybe it's not meant for the faint hearted). The ink is great.

BUT: the colours of the ink that I use (Photochrome) are not 100% the same as the original Epson colours. So for exact colour rendering you need proper profiles. My ink dealer provides profiles for the Epson paper, but of course not for all the other papers on the market.

From the part of the paper dealers (I use Hahnemhle for example, or cheaper papers called "Photolux") it's the other way round: They provide profiles for they paper if you use original Epson ink, but of course they don't provide profiles for other types of ink.

That means (at least in my case): If you use both non-Epson paper and non-Epson ink, you need to prepare new colour profiles for each paper type. My ink dealer provides a service for that: You download a test chart from their website, print it on the paper that you want to use (of course using the third party ink) and send it to the shop. They do a measurement of the printed colours and create a profile from that information that you get by email. Then you choose that profile when printing from Photoshop, Lightroom of whatever program you use (disable all colour management in the printer driver).

Instead of using that service I eventually bought a calibration system called SpyderPrint by datacolor, so I can do the calibration at home, and it works pretty well. Of course it's extra work, so you probably don't want to change paper type too often.

If you don't like this calibration procedure, than you should make sure your ink dealer provides profiles for certain paper types (usually Epson, but he may provide profiles for other papers, too) and stick with that paper.

And there is another (minor) issue: The chips on the carts will reset the carts to 100% filled each time the printer is turned on, irrespective of how much ink is left in the cart. So the printer will show 100% even if the cartridge is completely empty! An empty cartridge will cause air to enter the ink path and you need to follow a certain procedure to get it out again. Maybe printing without ink in one of the cartridges over a longer time may even damage the print head, I am not sure. So it's up to yourself to check the carts regularly, you can't not at all rely on the display.

And a last thing: I don't know about warranty. Using third party ink and cartridges will certainly not please Epson, so you might lose your warranty, and in the case of a defect of the printer, it will be difficult to put the original carts back in their places before you bring the printer to service, since you had to take off the chips and I am not sure if you can place them back and the OEM cartridge would function again.

But maybe I am wrong on some of the points, so others may comment.

Good luck!
Christof

 

[jtoolman]

Hi all, I'm Lance and I'm a professional photographer with over 30 years experience. I am new to inkjet printing, I was just given an Epson Pro 4800 printer and really need some advice. There is a full set of OEM inks that were included but no paper. I like luster aka "E" paper the best. am I best sticking with Epson paper or are there others that are as good or better and are reasonably priced? Inks, I know that this printer is going to suck down ink like water, should I consider refilling or try and find deals on genunie Epson ink? If not what brands are good. I know its a lot to toss out right now but I have this beast out of the box and I'm itching to try it. At the same time I don't want to drain my wallet too. Any advice you can give me would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Lance

Have you had a chance to check out the printer yet to make sure that the nozzles are all firing? The 4800 was not know to be the most clog free model. The 4880 and the much more expensive 4900 has a better rep when it came to clogs.

You can get individual carts for your 4800 on ebay at very reasonable prices. Ieven if slightly expired, they will operate perfectly. I speak from experience on that.
You can even sometimes get full sets for a lot less than is purchased from EPSON indvidually. There is good 3rd party support for it as well as ready to us compatible carts.

EBAY Example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Epson-220ml...7927?pt=US_Ink_Cartridges&hash=item1c2f84aad7