OCP K3 ink set: the secret/solution is in the ...magenta !!!

[iladi]

Magenta is from octopous. I know i had to use k3 hdr inks. I was thinking that it can't be much difference, my mistake, it is. Wait a minute, I don't blame ocp or octopous for ink ink quality. It is all my fault. I tried and not succed, that's all. I was just tring to give some info for others and spare a few from making the same mistake.

Yellow and black creates some problems in a mutoh draftstation as well. Opposite as epson, cchannels get bolcked while printer is idle. A clean cycle and it's geting ok. While printing all it is normal.

 

[jtoolman]

I just finally filled some virgin refillables for my R2400 with the new OCP K3 inks I recieved a while ago.
They were originally meant for one of my 3800s

I created a Colormunki profile for some Staples Photo Supreme Luster. Really a beautiful paper for such a low cost.

Results are outstanding for both color and B&W images printed using the CM profile I made for it.
I printed a B&W image using the Profile and through ABW set for neutral / Dark with the printer handling color managemen,t and those results were a TINY and I do meant tiny bit warmer than the really neutral tones obtained through printing with the profile, letting photoshop handle color and with Color management turned off in the driver.

Now I am committed to filling my spare set of Inketfly 3800 carts.
By the way, the cost per ml with these OCP turns out to be 3.4 cents each.
So printing costs using these inks will pretty much be dependent on the paper you use.

I still have about 225ml of each color to play with.

Now I have a question. Would it make sense to use this K3 set and substitute the Vivid Magenta with one of the other brands ( More expencive per ml of course ) Profile the combo and use it on R2880 / R3880 or the R3000?

You'd save a bundle over even normal 3rd party prices and if the rsults are as good as the ones I am getting with the OCP K3 on my R2400, that would be a dream situation.

 

[pharmacist]

Hi Jtoolman,

Just the same conclusing I had with the ABW neutral/Dark setting: a bit warmer, but still very neutral. Which is quite a pretty good achievement with a third party K3 ink. Also the gloss is execeptionally good. Black is not as good as the one from Inkrepublic.com. There is only one strange thing: on pearl/satin paper there is a strange metameric shine under certain sharp angles.....Strangely enough this is almost absent on glossy papers. I am still not clear what causes this, but I suspect it has to do with the yellow.

Jtoolman: because you use the smaller R2400 refillables, maybe you can do the test and use another yellow pigment ink (not OCP) and see if this removes that strange metamerism. If this is the case, I might substitue thie OCP K3 yellow ink with the one from Octopus Office for the K2, just like I have done with the magenta ink to increase gamut.

I am using the standard K3 ink set of Inkjetfly.com (IMA 24/36 V3) in my vivid magenta K3 Epson R3000 with fantastic results, so it would be no problem to use this fantastic OCP K3 in your R3000.

The price/ml of the OCP pigment ink is just fantastic, despite the minor problems with metamerism on satin/pearl papers and the problem with the magenta (which I could elegantly resolve by substituting this with Octopus T0343 magenta).

Jtooman: did you also notice the quite pungent glycol scent of the OCP K3 ink ?

 

[jtoolman]

It appears that we have achieved the same results. Light warmth whicih printing through ABW though it looks a bit redish to me under daylight and just a slightest warmth under tungsten light. Actually seems very pleasent.

I can maybe use some of the yellow ink from my IS set for the R2880 ( Mikling )
So you are suggesting a replacement magenta from say inkjetfly or inkjetcarts and that should increase overall gamut?

I do not own a R3000 but do own a R2880 so I am looking for a good replacement for that but unfortunatelly OCP has been "Working" on developing the K3 VM set for quite a while. So I am thinking about putting together a sort of Hybrid set with VM from another company. Should work just fine after custom profiling it.

Yes, the ink is smelly but not unbearable. I have some ink that had an ammonia smell and that was much worse.

I will report my results with a substitute yeallow and magenta with the remainder being OCP.

Yes the cost per ML was so shocking I had to recheck my math! : )

 

[pharmacist]

Hi Jtoolman,

The price is indeed very good and a very good gloss. Black could be a bit better, but it is very satisfactory.

The reason why I ask for the yellow substitute is that my Epson Pro 3800 uses large ink tanks and it is not easy to replace it for an experiment so easily. And I cannot put a little ink in it. The Epson R2880 is easier to this, hence my request for you. Before doing so: print a picture in colour on pearl/satin paper with OCP K3 only and then again the same picture on the same paper, but now with yellow substituted with for example IM-K4 yellow.

I have contacted Octopus-office.de about the rather poor magenta of OCP and I have got indirect respons from OCP that the problem with the magenta is due to the raw material used to formulate this ink. You can already see this when you print the very first patch chart using your Colormunki: the magenta patch is not magenta, but actually a dark red. The purer the primary colours: yellow, magenta and cyan, the greater the gamut of the ink.
Because the Octopus T0434 magenta is the same price as the OCP K3 magenta I ordered this R2100/R2200 compatible magenta and the gamut increased significantly, especially in the pure reds, pure blues and purples. Using the OCP K3 magenta will get you muted reds/blues and very poor purples (it will become a dark jeans blue instead of a vivid purple).

 

[Tin Ho]

Pharmacist, I have been using K3 inks from Hobbicolors. Actually not just me, I am a member of a community photography club with about 100 participants. We have an Epson R3880. I ordered a set of K3 ink from Hobbicolors about 3 months ago for the club. About half of the ink (ordered 1 liter for each color) is gone now. So far everyone seems very happy with the prints the printer and the K3 ink produced. No custom profile is used and no one seems to have complaints about the colors. I am not an expert about Epson printers. I think the K3 ink I got from Hobbicolors are really great stuff. To my eyes the ink produces photos that look just about identical to the ones by OEM inks, including glossy and matte prints. I have almost never used my Pro9000 any more. The ink bottles show that the ink is made in USA. I am sure it is not OCP ink.

What is rather strange is that Hobbicolors does not offer this K3 ink for sale like the Canon inks they sell on eBay. I don't know why. But when I contacted them I was able to place an order for the ink. My guess is my order was somewhat large enough for them to get it from their source for me.

I will try to post some report about the ink soon.

 

[pharmacist]

I think we should all ask Hobbicolors to commercialize this K3 ink: the more choice the better....Their UW-8 ink was/is marvelous and outstanding. I really hope they will sell this ink.

 

[Hainz]

Used I'm same set OCP inks K3 in combination with ink Octopus Magenta 0343 as user pharmacist (printer Epson R3000). Unfortunately is in print expressive bronzing. Used papers Sihl glossy and Satin (and other) and on all is bronzing very apparent. Do you have anybody similar experience?

 

[pharmacist]

Yes, this is totally normal for the OCP K3 ink: it suffers from bronzing. Gloss is however excellent as you can see. Note: It is a very cheap ink, nice gloss and great colours, but the problem is the bronzing and it is even worse on satin papers.

 

[jtoolman]

Very important but bad news on OCP K3 Vivid Magenta and Light Vivid Magenta.

My friend who has connections which OCP received a liter of each color for him to test the other day.
We were very excited to test on the R3000 and after putting it through its paces the results were,,,, The Magenta inks are absolutely MATTE zero gloss.
A photo of a bright red car with a foliage background, looks as if the car was masked and printed matte where as the rest has very good gloss.

He uses CONE K3 with VM inks and I have seen many of his test prints and I can not tell them from OEM for color and for gloss properties.

I was curious after his report to me that I went to my printing room and printed a similar image of a bright red car next to a tan one. Using my R2880 using Image Specialists K3 VM inks and the red car was also Matte.
I quickly shared my findings with my friend.

Unless this problem is addressed by OCP we will be forced to substitute these VMs with something else.

I have been able to produce excellent prints on all papers on my 3800 after profiling the ink to the papers I am using. I was able to make direct OCP to OEM comparisons since I have two 3800s. One with OEM and one with OCP.

Both inks are profiled and the differences were extremely minimal. So at this time I am satisfied but will be experimenting with other magenta sources to increase gamut.