The DPNow guide to better photo printing, Part 2

[DPNow]

Ink for ink-jet printers is not just coloured water and photographic paper bears little relation to the sheets that go into a copier machine. Last time we described the way an ink jet printer lays down millions of microscopic droplets of ink to built the smooth and rich tonal qualities that make a photo-realistic print. The way those drops of ink behave when they crash into the surface of the paper has a big influence on the colour, contrast, tonality and sharpness of the final print.

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[Patrick]

Originally Posted by DPNow

Ink for ink-jet printers is not just coloured water and photographic paper bears little relation to the sheets that go into a copier machine. Last time we described the way an ink jet printer lays down millions of microscopic droplets of ink to built the smooth and rich tonal qualities that make a photo-realistic print. The way those drops of ink behave when they crash into the surface of the paper has a big influence on the colour, contrast, tonality and sharpness of the final print.

More...

I must take issue with two points made in this article.

First the universal assumption that third part inks are inferior, please please accept there are good and bad third party inks. There are available from very reputable suppliers, inks that are the equal to the print manufacturers own. They are not cheap but may offer better value. I am thinking of manufacturers such as Permajet, Fotospeed, Lyson there will be other we could add to this list. These suppliers provide not cheap but a little more ink per cartridge for a similar price to the print manufacturers. I use Permajet and it is in every way the equal to Epson.
Good research is not the exclusive territory of Epson, Canon, HP or anyone else.
I know Permajet have been developing and refining their inks for many years in the same way Epson and the rest of the print manufacturers have.
The three companies mentioned above are all involved with and supply bulk ink to professional photographers and the trade.

Second Point
The three suppliers I mentioned above also market some excellent papers along with Olmec, Fuji and many other high profile names.
They all supply profiles by download from their respective web sites. Companies that supply ink will provide profiles for both their own inks and the inks of the main manufactures of photo printers, particularly for Epson printers (not so much the all in one variety or the very cheap printers)
Some suppliers will also write free custom profiles for their own papers, regardless of the ink being used, or indeed the type or brand of the printer, a voucher is usually included with the paper plus instructions on how the get the profile.

The above point accepted a very useful series of articles for many forum members.

Patrick

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Patrick

I must take issue with two points made in this article.

First the universal assumption that third part inks are inferior, please please accept there are good and bad third party inks. There are available from very reputable suppliers, inks that are the equal to the print manufacturers own. They are not cheap but may offer better value. I am thinking of manufacturers such as Permajet, Fotospeed, Lyson there will be other we could add to this list. These suppliers provide not cheap but a little more ink per cartridge for a similar price to the print manufacturers. I use Permajet and it is in every way the equal to Epson.
Good research is not the exclusive territory of Epson, Canon, HP or anyone else.
I know Permajet have been developing and refining their inks for many years in the same way Epson and the rest of the print manufacturers have.
The three companies mentioned above are all involved with and supply bulk ink to professional photographers and the trade.

Second Point
The three suppliers I mentioned above also market some excellent papers along with Olmec, Fuji and many other high profile names.
They all supply profiles by download from their respective web sites. Companies that supply ink will provide profiles for both their own inks and the inks of the main manufactures of photo printers, particularly for Epson printers (not so much the all in one variety or the very cheap printers)
Some suppliers will also write free custom profiles for their own papers, regardless of the ink being used, or indeed the type or brand of the printer, a voucher is usually included with the paper plus instructions on how the get the profile.

The above point accepted a very useful series of articles for many forum members.

Patrick

Hi Patrick,

I've added a paragraph to the article that, hopefully, deals with your points. Basically, the series is aimed at beginners and covers the mass market area, not specialist inks and fine art printing.

I don't think the article says that paper suppliers never provide custom profiles for their papers, but it's unlikely that they can supply profiles for many of the hundreds of different consumer printers that are currently in use.

I'd definitely plan to follow up this series with one on high-end printing techniques, covering fine art and archival printing.

Ian

[joefoto]

The Kodak Ultima photo paper package includes direction on how to improve results with their paper by modifying printer controls in various ways. I don't know how much difference this really makes in the print, but it boosts my confidence that I'm doing all I can with that paper when I use it. If nothing else, Kodak seems to understand the marketing side of their paper. I wonder what they will do when their Kodak-branded printers and inks start getting some use? Might they drop the printer parameter info from their packaging for non-Kodak printers?

Joe

(p.s. HP D5160 is producing great results; thanks for recommending it.)

Joe

[Ian]

Originally Posted by joefoto

The Kodak Ultima photo paper package includes direction on how to improve results with their paper by modifying printer controls in various ways. I don't know how much difference this really makes in the print, but it boosts my confidence that I'm doing all I can with that paper when I use it. If nothing else, Kodak seems to understand the marketing side of their paper. I wonder what they will do when their Kodak-branded printers and inks start getting some use? Might they drop the printer parameter info from their packaging for non-Kodak printers?

Joe

(p.s. HP D5160 is producing great results; thanks for recommending it.)

Joe

Hi Joe, I don't see that being an issue - Kodak will want to preserve its interests as a supplier to its new competitors in the printer market.

Glad you're getting on with the D5160

Ian

The first two parts of this guide have been very enlightening. Will we ever see the promised continuation of this guide? I'm not holding my breath.

[Caz]

Originally Posted by lumix

The first two parts of this guide have been very enlightening. Will we ever see the promised continuation of this guide? I'm not holding my breath.

- Hiya Ron, and I totally agree... it's like everything else on this site

As been discussed on the other thread, I only pop in a couple of times a week now - that way, at least I've got a full page of messages to read!