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Illford Gallerie Gold in a epson 9880

Mark Prins

New member
Hi All;
I am still in love with my 9880 but….partial head clogs become very obvious when you are running the best ink quality on Galerie Gold paper. Since upping the resolution I have had ink showing up on the back side of the paper and it looks like my ink pads in my printer are filling, not the maintenance tanks. Any one have these issues? I never had them at 1440 resolution and may drop back to this resolution. But the images at 2880 have better depth and detail. I used to think that it just slowed my print process but when you put the loupe to the print the purples and blacks are denser and better detail (if I haven’t over sharpened still an issue with my eyes). So I want to print my work at 2880 but my printer is giving me issues there and I am wondering if anyone has had this issue and what their solution was. Thanks in advance.

Mark Prins
Inandaimages.com
 

Alan Rew

New member
I am still in love with my 9880 but….partial head clogs become very obvious when you are running the best ink quality on Galerie Gold paper.

I've used some of the new papers of this type (Baryta) on my Epson 2400, which has the same ink but probably different ink limits, but I'll chip in my two pen'orth anyway. I also have owned Epson inkjets for a long time and am familiar with their quirks.

I've had insoluble problems with fine banding on some Baryta papers, even with perfectly clean heads. So it can look as if you have blocked nozzles, just looking at a print, even when you don't.

I suspect that the dot gain on my 2400 (or rather its print driver) isn't quite high enough to 'join up the dots'. Other glossy papers don't have this problem. I suspect that these newer papers are absorbing the ink better and have less dot gain - anyone done any measurements?

Do take the trouble to print a nozzle check pattern before a head cleaning cycle - your heads may in fact be perfectly OK, the problem is not enough ink on the paper, or dots not close enough together.

Since upping the resolution I have had ink showing up on the back side of the paper and it looks like my ink pads in my printer are filling, not the maintenance tanks.

If you've been doing lots of head cleaning cycles then the ink pads will saturate. Leave them overnight & they might drain a bit. Alternatively, what I've done in this situation is just gently apply some lint-free cloth to the pads to soak up excess fluid (wear surgical gloves to keep the ink off your fingers - can be hard to wash off!). You will be surprised how much ink the pads can hold. Have plenty of cloth available.

Some ink might have got onto the rollers and/or paper path. Feed some heavyweight matte paper through the printer a few times to clean the ink off.

I never had them at 1440 resolution and may drop back to this resolution. But the images at 2880 have better depth and detail.

Based on my experience, I suspect that 2880 (or higher if you can do that) will work better. Tonal gradients should be smoother as well with less visible dots.

HTH

Alan
 

Mike Shimwell

New member
I suspect that the dot gain on my 2400 (or rather its print driver) isn't quite high enough to 'join up the dots'. Other glossy papers don't have this problem. I suspect that these newer papers are absorbing the ink better and have less dot gain - anyone done any measurements?


Alan

There may be something in this - the Baryta papers can appear very sharp - the dots stay put. I was very struck by this with the Harman when I tried it, but the Ilford is similar with a different overall look. You might try different media settings to increase the ink limit - it would be helpful if you know the ink limit for each media setting or can adjust it though. I've no experience iwtht eh epson LFPs.

Mike
 

Mark Prins

New member
When you stay in the envelope life is easy and everything looks reasonable. When I print on Epson Premium Luster paper with the canned profiles at max DPI native to the printer everything prints swimmingly. It is when I move to the Ilford Galerie Gold I still get banding in the deep blacks at max dpi but at 720dpi the banding goes away. Go figure. I have also found the galerie gold creates a lot of paperdust while the Epson luster seemingly creates none. I have taken to vacuuming my machine when I switch back to the luster. My black ink issue seems to have cleared itself or I have changed a setting and fixed it unknowingly. I have given up for the moment the 1400 dpi settings on the Galerie Gold and will get back to that when I have more time.
Another problem I seem to be running into is that very few people can see any differences between the papers. I see all kinds of differences but clients are clueless or at least most of them even when I have a wall of prints at different settings. Go figure..or I live in the bubble of what I want and am clueless as to what happens outside the studio.
When I started with this printer I thought that since I had spent a lot of time with the 2200 & 7600 I would have no issues or curve with the 9880. Like my cameras and lenses this printer has the same damm learning curve once you wade through the easy stuff and start pushing the edge of the envelope (is there any other place to be?). I wonder if this a fundamental law of photography
Mark Prins
 

Mark Prins

New member
Re: Banding in the blacks with Galerie Gold on a Epson 9880 printing HDR prints. I did a lot of reading online trying to solve this issue but it was a suction setting issue that finally sorted this out. According to the 9880 manual on certain media you have to adjust the paper feed speed to reduce or remove banding. I have experimented and found a slight increase in feed speed removed the banding.

Other recent lessons my printer has taught me. It doesn't like cool, it was in the low -37 C here for a few days and I have a cheep landlord. I did a cleaning cycle while she was cool and sucked back over 50 ml ink. Always ensure printer is warm. Cold paper doesn't unroll well, head strikes result. Moral of the story, bought 2 large electric heaters (landlord pays power) and I love my printer again.

Don't leave paper in printer the paper feed rollers dent the paper. Don't unspool paper and let hang overnight, it creates dents epically in the Galerie Gold, head strikes result and 40x60 raven prints are rendered garbage.

There were a few frustrating days printing but as I figure out my printer I like it more every day.

Mark Prins
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Thanks Mark for these insights. So you can just roll back your paper at the end of the work shift? With film, especially 6x9 or longer, leaving the film in position too long creates a curve that spoils the flatness of the plane needed for focus.

Asher
 

Mark Prins

New member
Thanks Mark for these insights. So you can just roll back your paper at the end of the work shift? With film, especially 6x9 or longer, leaving the film in position too long creates a curve that spoils the flatness of the plane needed for focus.

Asher

Hi Asher;
Yes I roll my paper back and at first I let it hang. On a new roll of Luster the paper hangs a bit and where it hangs it creates a crease in the paper and I end up with head strikes. I now roll the paper back onto itself and use the paper that came with the new roll and put that back on the paper roll holding it tight to the spindle. I now do this for every paper and canvas.

Mark Prins
Inanda Images
 
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