Continuous Ink System Problem

[jon_noble]

Hi

 

I'm in a spot of bother. A while back i bought a CIS system from Echostore.com

(that was an unpleasant experience) for an Epson R1800. I used OCP inks which i

acquired from where i work (Cartridgeworld).

 

Now that installed all well and no blockages. However, prints always came out

too blue/cyan. I tried to counter this by using sliders but always made the

shadows go a bit purple and basically not right.

 

So, i thought it was the inks, bad batch or not from OCP. So i bought from a

reputable ebuyer and asked previous buyers (~10) of the ink on what there

experience with the inks were like. They came back very pleased with the inks.

Needless to say i bought them.

 

Flushed the old ink out,put the new stuff in, head cleans and nozzle checks.

Ahhh! Exactly the bloody same!

 

Sure, i can put up with a slight mismatch in colour but i am yet to get a decent

print out of it using CIS. I have had no problems with CIS for my C66 and that

is providing better colours and greyscale ( using cheapy inks) than my expensive

R1800 setup.

 

 

What is causing this problem. Could it be the CIS system is allowing too much

cyan through, which i find highly unlikely. I have wasted a lot of money and

have been wanting to do high volume printing for ages.

 

Cheers in advance for any help.

[adzy]

Is your monitor calibrated ? If not, thats the first thing to fix.

 

How are your pints with the Epson inks, if that come out fine, then it is the profile that is the problem.

 

Despite having a calibrated monitor, I am getting a reddish hue with CIS ink (but not with Epson ink), so the only option in that case would be to get a custom profile.

[jon_noble]

Well, the monitor is not calibrated. But i do not edit my images on that computer. It's a seperate workstation. With original inks it printed fine with that setup.

 

According to the replies from previous users of the inks were that they did not need to do any profiling.

 

Profiling has been in the back of my mind since i got the CIS but prices are not cheap as the printer is meant for more than one person, meaning they will all have their own preferencial paper.

[les]

"According to the replies from previous users of the inks were that they did not need to do any profiling."

 

Sorry mate, but you really should start getting your information from a reputable source rather than from e-bay users (Bruce Fraser's books could be a good start).

 

A calibrated monitor is No 1 thing to do. Without it you are just wasting time spent on processing your pics.

 

When this is done - use genuine Epson ink and paper with appropriate Epson profile - you will have no problems. If, however, you insist on using other inks (and possibly other papers), then you need to invest in something like Eye One to profile your specific ink/paper combination.

 

Or you may continue to keep doing what you are doing and keep wondering what the hell is happening. Been there, done that, now just sharing my (admittedly limited) experience. Your choice.

[anthony_r]

I second everything Leszek Scholz just said. Like I said in another forum, use original inks OR

SUFFER.

[anthony_r]

I'm going to add that nearly always the people using non Epson inks are doing it to save

money. Those people are not going to invest in printer or monitor profiling and insist that it

must/does work well. You see these threads every other week somewhere... sigh

[jon_noble]

Hi again Ant. I'm going to have to admit defeat. If it was just me using the printer i would get the 2 main papers i use. Yes, both 3rd party (Mipo Satin and Silk) but are among the best i have seen, superior to Epson (their main sellers as they do have some very nice pro stuff) and at least on par with Ilford.

 

However, this printer is used by a Uni Photographical society and the logistics in finding a few papers that everyone uses, getting them profiled, then teaching members how to use the created profiles (not forgetting trying to get them to understand Colour Management) would quite frankly been a right royal pain in the arse as it'd be just me doing it (yep, im the Pres and the eager new comittee have lost their enthusiasm and bundles of energy).

 

The main reason for using the 3rd party inks is becuase we do not have much money to just spend it on inks for 75members.

 

If only this damn R1800 was as easy to setup as my CIS C66. Well, i had a dream. Unfortunatley it was flawed.

[jon_noble]

"If it was just me using the printer i would get the 2 main papers i use"

 

should read

 

"If it was just me using the printer i would get the 2 main papers i use profiled"

[alec_myers]

You must, must, must use a profile written for the ink and paper combination. Different papers give different colour casts with the same inks - and vice versa. There's simply *no* two ways about it.

 

The Profile Prism system (http://www.ddisoftware.com/prism/) is pretty cool, and cheap too. All you need is a regular flat-bed scanner and you can create your own profiles for whichever paper and inks you like. The profiles I've created with it have been pretty much indistinguishable from the few I've sent print samples away to get.