Best alternative to Epson cartridges?

[onlooker]

As I'm new to the digital darkroom, I'm experimenting with Photoshop and my

r2400 printer (looking at dpi, resampling, etc.). At least during this phase of

my learning, I don't want to buy expensive Epson inks or papers. At a 2 for 1

sale, I picked up some of Staples best 13 x 19 paper. Now, I'd like to find

affordable ink cartridges that will give good results and not harm the printer.

Pantone? Click Inks? Any suggestions? (I'm not ready to look at bulk ink

solutions; I want to stay with cartridges for now.)

[beauh44]

Hi Larry, While I'm sure there are some people out there using 3rd party inks with their Epson printers, I've read too many horror stories of people really screwing up their printers with the stuff too. Just my .02 cents but I wouldn't be penny wise and pound foolish with the inks. If things go awry the ink companies blame the printer and Epson's not going to support you using 3rd party inks. Paper's no big deal - inkjetart.com's "micro ceramic" paper is a virtual clone of Epson's in most cases and is much cheaper. Atlex.com has good prices on Epson inks. Good luck!

[will king]

Stick with Epson inks. I've had my lesson learned already.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Stick with Epson inks. And unless you want to start getting deep into color management,

stick with Epson papers as well. Once you start mixing and matching non O.E.M. inks and

papers you will need to get custom profiles made.

[godfrey]

Another vote for sticking with Epson inks. The K3 inkset is the real reason for the R2400's

desireability. I tried the Staples paper as a test. I ended up tossing half the box in the

garbage as it zsimply didn't work as consistently as the Epson paper I use.

 

Far as I'm concerned, there's no point to experimenting with inks and papers on the basis of

cost that do not respond consistently ... It's difficult to learn anything that way.

 

Godfrey

[Spearhead]

There isn't a good alternative to inks, but I highly recommend testing and using alternative papers. Epson often buys paper from the same suppliers that other companies use and they are virtually identical, except that only Epson uses their brand name for huge markups.

 

Try inkjetart.com, they know a lot about papers and can tell you exactly what is and isn't compatible with the Epson inkset. I wouldn't buy paper branded Staples, they are an office supply store. But I do buy paper branded by inkjet art, hannemuhle, legion, etc.

[bruce levy]

Running the R2400 on alternative inks is like running a Porsche on kerosene. stick with Epson inks or get an alternative printer and inks for your tests and print finals with the R2400.

[steven_clark]

There's a pretty large chance that the Staples paper is incompatible with pigment inks too. I'd run a small test to make sure before you really mess up the inside of your printer with a 13x19's worth of undried ink.

 

Also you CAN use 3rd party papers. Just make sure they're compatible woth pigment ink and the manufacturer provides a profile for your printer first. The Ilford Galerie Smooth series is a good example of this.

[ken allen]

Chorus: Stick with Epson inks. Besides all the other problems, print permanence often suffers with 3rd party inks. check out: wilhelmresearch.com

 

Best,

 

Ken

[andrew_sacco]

You'll be saving pennies and wasting time, possibly damaging your printer, and learning absolutely nothing by cheaping out. Stay with Epson inks. Gee..is there a trend here? I learned my lesson too on another printer, I won't feed my 2400 anything else.

[godfrey]

<i>Jeff Spirer:<br>

..."but I highly recommend testing and using alternative papers. ..."</i><br>

<br>

I agree with you on that kind of 'alternative paper' use, Jeff. For instance, Legion's

Somerset Enhanced Velvet is nearly the same paper as Epson Velvet Fine Art (Epson has a

different surface finish on the same stock). Curiously, however, in this case the Epson

product is less expensive per sheet. ;-)

<br><br>

I print on both of these, as well as a couple of Hahnemühle and Moab papers. But overall I

get good, consistent results with the Epson papers and competitive prices. For someone

just learning the printer and image processing/printing workflow, I would stick with the

Epson papers until good quality and repeatability were assured.

<br><br>

Godfrey

[dave_powell2]

Yes, I once tried third-party ink in my old Epson printer, during a period when I wasn't actually using the printer very frequently. In that case, any ink will dry and clog a bit. But the chapie stuff really clogged up...and I had to expend almost the whole cartridge just to clear out the head.

 

Dave

[greg lockrey]

Best alternative to Epson inks for and Epson printer is MORE EPSON INK.

[greg lockrey]

Then when you know what you are doing, experiment with non-epson papers...but stay with the EPSON INK.

[onlooker]

Wow, consensus! I guess I'll stay with Epson inks. Thanks for making the decision so easy!

[deirdre_ryan4]

i have 3 epsons, a picturemate, r220 and a 2200p. not trying to be a plug for anything here, but i used to sell digital photo gear and media. high end(remember fujix?) and consumer. i was also a purchaser for a large retailer of cameras here in los angeles for their digital dept. got to know a lot from the reps, etc.

 

i have always been skeptical about putting third party inks in my printer. that being said, i did more research and found a place and they sold xprint inks.

 

i had heard good things about them so i gave them a try through this site:

http://www.clickinks.com

so i bought some for my r220, and i was very pleasantly surprised! no clogs, colour was GREAT and they were so much less $$-ive.

 

my 2200p has not been used in literally 2 years. it's been off and covered, but now i need to get it back online again. so i need to clean the heads.

 

my picturemate i use frequently enough(i have an 8 month old baby girl, so everyone wants prints). the ink cartidge for that alone is about $30 and sure it includes a pack of 100 4x6 epson paper. on the site it's $12 and no paper, which for me is great as i have a ton and don't need it each time i change the inks.

 

for my archival printing, i used lexjet or ilford. fabulous results each time and i love their customer service.

 

the inks i get now, they do have the chip for the printers, so my results are the same. i also have RIP software called imageprint and that is wonderful, great program, i highly recommend getting it.

 

nothing has been clogged, etc. third party inks have come a long way since the late 90's, early '00. i know, a lot of you won't think that way, and that's cool ;)

 

just thought my opinion would be different :)

 

cheers!

[hoch-und-querformat]

Though I seem to be the first, I am absolutely satisfied with Mediastreet Generations Chrome G6 ink on my Epson Stylus 2100.

 

I've been running the system for a long time now and do believe the ink comes pretty close to the EPSON Ultrachromes.