Inky Mess
Unlike traditional photographers who use an enlarger to produce their images, digital photographers must use a printer of one type or another, if you don’t print any of your images then there seems little point in taking them with an expensive camera as a monitor does not have the resolution to display the images in their best possible way. There are many printers on the market but they pretty much all have one thing in common and that’s that they use ink cartridges. In order to reduce costs it is possible to replace the cartridges with various after market continuous ink systems.
A continuous ink system (CIS) replaces the normal cartridges with a set of cartridges that pull ink from a reservoir system. The reservoirs are filled from bottles of ink and this can considerably reduce the price of printing. Given that I like to print at A3+, and this will usually last around 10-15 prints before I need new cartridges, a continuous ink system is definitely the way for me to go.
Now this post is not actually about my experiences with a CIS, that will come later, but rather the road to getting there. I decided to go the CIS route about six months ago and, after looking at various manufacturers, chose the Lyson system that was advertised. Lyson have a good reputation regarding their inks and so, given the expense involved in initially setting up the system, they seemed like a good choice.
I found a company that could supply the system and had a special offer and placed my order.
Now apparently Lyson were not happy with their ink formula for the Epson R2400 that I use and so have actually taken an extra six months to make the system available, and I have been told that it will dispatch to me to me on the 2nd January. However, About six weeks ago the company I had placed the order with told me of a competing CIS system that was available, was recommended and was also available in cartridge form so that I could try it. I decided that I would try it.
The cartridges were from Media Street and arrived shortly after I ordered them. I decided to wait until I finished the Epson cartridges before switching to the Media Street ones and so they sat on my desk until just before Christmas. I carefully took the cartridges out and put them in the printer and did a head check. The output was bad so I did the head clean and tried again. Another bad nozzle check. The instructions advise leaving the system for ten minutes if this happens. I did this process 8 times before getting a good nozzle check, by which time I had used half the ink in the system. I was not happy, but figured at least it was set up and I should get some prints. I printed the calibration sheet so I could generate a printer profile and did just that. By then it was late so I went to bed.
The next day was the first real print, but, oh dear, stripy prints. A nozzle check showed that again the ink was not flowing correctly. It took another three nozzle checks and cleans to get it clean again. At this stage I had used 75% of the ink to get two A4 sheets with the calibration prints on them. No real images at all.
I complained to the supplier and they did the right thing and offer me a refund. However, a day later I received the confirmation that the Lyson system would ship on the 2nd Jan and while that was fine, it also included a little statement that in order for the warranty to be valid I would need a clean nozzle check pattern printed with genuine Epson cartridges.
So, in the end my attempt to avoid having to buy more Epson cartridges was a complete waste of time as I had to order new cartridges so that I can get the print that will be needed for the warranty.
As a final note; I received the Epson cartridges and put them in the printer, after one head cleaning round I got a good nozzle check and now they work as reliably as ever. Thus Epson get my cartridge recommendation and Media Street do not.
Accompanying this post is the Roswell Ivory showing us what she can do with a long coat.
A continuous ink system (CIS) replaces the normal cartridges with a set of cartridges that pull ink from a reservoir system. The reservoirs are filled from bottles of ink and this can considerably reduce the price of printing. Given that I like to print at A3+, and this will usually last around 10-15 prints before I need new cartridges, a continuous ink system is definitely the way for me to go.
Now this post is not actually about my experiences with a CIS, that will come later, but rather the road to getting there. I decided to go the CIS route about six months ago and, after looking at various manufacturers, chose the Lyson system that was advertised. Lyson have a good reputation regarding their inks and so, given the expense involved in initially setting up the system, they seemed like a good choice.
I found a company that could supply the system and had a special offer and placed my order.
Now apparently Lyson were not happy with their ink formula for the Epson R2400 that I use and so have actually taken an extra six months to make the system available, and I have been told that it will dispatch to me to me on the 2nd January. However, About six weeks ago the company I had placed the order with told me of a competing CIS system that was available, was recommended and was also available in cartridge form so that I could try it. I decided that I would try it.
The cartridges were from Media Street and arrived shortly after I ordered them. I decided to wait until I finished the Epson cartridges before switching to the Media Street ones and so they sat on my desk until just before Christmas. I carefully took the cartridges out and put them in the printer and did a head check. The output was bad so I did the head clean and tried again. Another bad nozzle check. The instructions advise leaving the system for ten minutes if this happens. I did this process 8 times before getting a good nozzle check, by which time I had used half the ink in the system. I was not happy, but figured at least it was set up and I should get some prints. I printed the calibration sheet so I could generate a printer profile and did just that. By then it was late so I went to bed.
The next day was the first real print, but, oh dear, stripy prints. A nozzle check showed that again the ink was not flowing correctly. It took another three nozzle checks and cleans to get it clean again. At this stage I had used 75% of the ink to get two A4 sheets with the calibration prints on them. No real images at all.
I complained to the supplier and they did the right thing and offer me a refund. However, a day later I received the confirmation that the Lyson system would ship on the 2nd Jan and while that was fine, it also included a little statement that in order for the warranty to be valid I would need a clean nozzle check pattern printed with genuine Epson cartridges.
So, in the end my attempt to avoid having to buy more Epson cartridges was a complete waste of time as I had to order new cartridges so that I can get the print that will be needed for the warranty.
As a final note; I received the Epson cartridges and put them in the printer, after one head cleaning round I got a good nozzle check and now they work as reliably as ever. Thus Epson get my cartridge recommendation and Media Street do not.
Accompanying this post is the Roswell Ivory showing us what she can do with a long coat.
posted by Richard at 9:17 AM
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