PaulWhiting

My apologies everyone. I pulled the Magenta cartridge just to check it out. I'm embarrassed, very embarrassed. These are new carts and when I pulled the air intake tape it must have left a small piece covering the hole. Hardly visible. I ran the nozzle check several times and the pattern still has just a few lines. Still, it's an improvement over what my Magenta shows in the original post. Will this pattern continue to improve? Did I cause any harm? Sorry, everybody. Paul

I've been away from this forum for a while, my two Epson 1430'a were giving me perfect nozzle checks every few days. Then one of them started giving me bad nozzle checks, actually in just one position, the Magenta. The Magenta pattern is getting worse... but can the folks on photo.net tell me if this looks like an air or a clog pattern? It would help me start my work of cleaning up the Magenta position to know what I'm dealing with. I tend to think of this pattern represents some air in the lines but I could be wrong. It's getting worse... yesterday I had about half the dashes, today I just have a few lines. I've tried the cleaning utility, that didn't help. Thanks all! Paul

I'm using Paul Roark's inksets. For those who aren't familiar with it, this set involves a six position cartridge inkset: one 100% carbon cart, four different dilution carts, and a blue/cyan toner to weaken the slight warmth of the carbon. The ink I used was from Inksupply.com. Mine is almost all gone, and that ink is no longer available from them. I have now an unused set of inks: carbon black, cyan, and blue from Inkjetcarts purchased in March of 2020 and now that source is no more. Should I top off my Inksupply filled carts with the Inkjetcarts ink? Both sets use presumably the same carbon ink. The toner in the two sets are different however... Inksupply used a single color whereas InkjetCarts used two colors, blue and cyan. Is it good or bad practice to mix the two? Is my InketCarts carbon black expired? If I top off the existing carts I won't have to buy new carts, I have two brand new sets, from the two companies manufactured. I can afford that, however. And I may have to buy fresh carbon ink, probably from OctoinkJet. Thanks all!

Thanks... I can see where dust could indeed enter the interior of the camera. Oh, and I did find out that that photo was taken at f/4. Nothing close to f/11 or f/16. I was using FastStone, a very handy utility.

Thanks, to both of you. What you are saying makes sense. I know I'm not the original owner, and I bet that dust speck was left behind in his cleaning - which I think he had done. I'm not saying he was dishonest, I'm sure it's the kind of think that could happen to any of us. Can we rule out the scratch on the lens surface? I think so...that was smack dab in the center of the lens. What follows is after a little PS Elements doctoring. Just took a moment. (If you're curious, the photo was taken at dusk, up near the Billings airport. The native people thought it would bring some peace to the times we live in. And I think it does... many people, behind me, were taking photos. There was air of reverence to it.)

Please note blotch in sky (how could you miss it!) Before I thought of my G9's sensor, I cleaned my lens, carefully, and I did notice a small scratch in center of lens. But I've seen so many posts where the owner was told the surface of a lens is unlikely to show in the print. So I began to consider other possibilities, ie a speck of dust on the sensor. I've seen those before but never on a camera with a fixed lens - after all, how could dust settle on the sensor of a camera where the fixed lens pretty much prevents that. (note: image size is approx 800x400 pixels) Any thoughts would be appreciated... thanks all! Paul W.

I've used the Epson driver on occasion, it's a good one... simpler to use than QTR. However it's lacking some of the QTR features such as being able to choose a mixed ratio of carbon ink (warm) and a toner (cooling) to one's liking. I may have to give the Epson driver a try however. Thank you!

I appreciate the response... Not sure what you mean by "that product"... I'm using QTR, which is a printer utility intended for b/w. I'm not familiar with Auto Expand. Can you tell me what software you're using? Thanks! BTW I should add why I'm using 1/2" margins. If I start with a sheet of paper 8 1/.2" x 11" and center my image with 1/2" borders I have an image 7 1/2" x 10" . I then have a photo with a 3:4 aspect ration... which is what my camera's sensor has. Rather handy, as I like the looks of that ratio.

oops... make that "... set the border ...." not order

Looks like this thread will be in Digital Darkroom.... was that the moderator who moved it? If so, thank you! And of course, 1/.2" should be 1/2".

More precisely, I'm using QTR on an Epson 1430, and the border isn't always what it is set to be. I know that some people find it necessary to set the order to be 1" or more to avoid banding. I usually have no trouble with 1/.2" border and banding but sometimes my border is 3/4", 1", or even 1 1/2" when I set it at 1/.2". Thank you for suggestions!

Very useful thread, many good posts. Thanks all!

Looks like I chose the right forum! Thanks, everybody. After I posted this topic, I remembered my Nikkor SS developing tanks. Must be very high quality stainless, never a mark was left by the reels. Very useful responses!

I just had a new sink installed in my darkroom and the stainless-steel basket strainer has rust beginnings. So far, to the best of my knowledge, I've only used plain water. But just to rule out all possibilities, suppose some dated D-76, Dektol, fixer, Photo-Flo was poured out. I don't use a stop bath. The sink itself is stainless steel and shows no corrosion. Could these very standard chemicals cause rust?

Sorry for my thread drift folks. Paul

the attachment below should give you a larger print.

Thanks, Paddler4, Actually I'm set up for b/w, so color accuracy doesn't figure for me. As long as I print with matte black, not Photo Black (gloss), I have clogging under control. And as far as fading, see this from Aardenburg Imaging: I submitted this contribution, the one on the left, a few years ago. See the URL below for a larger print. Regards, Paul

Terry, Actually I don't have any clogging - not an issue right now, fingers crossed. p

Well, Sandy, I think we're in the same remote area, aka Montana! We've exchanged msgs on a previous thread, year or so ago. I've visited Precision Colors website, very clean and easy to navigate. I'll try them again... in my first visit I didn't find matte black, what I saw was PK, ie Photo Black, ie glossy - and I need matte. Thanks, Paul

Thanks for your contribution to the thread, Robin! So, let's say I've filled the cartridge which generated the message stating "empty". Now I have five cartridges, each one at a different level, but they haven't been used to the point where the "empty" message pops up for the next lowest cart. So if I hear you right, I can't fill those. If I do fill them, the computer doesn't know that, and will generate the "empty" when the next lowest cartridge is in fact still containing ink. But suppose I don't fill them - then we close the printer carriage lid and put the computer back in use. Then after a few jobs, the next lowest cartridge generates the "empty" cartridge and the process repeats itself and so on and so on... This sounds rather impractical and most folks I've talked to want to avoid this routine. What alternatives do we have? Maybe a manual chip resetter? But most ARC carts don't respond to a chip resetter. Maybe I have some basic flaw in my thinking... there must be a way out of this predicament. Remember, I'm brand new to ARC. However, some ARC chips have been set up, I've heard, that do allow manual resetting of any cart, at any time. The bar graph will show them as full. How do I know I'm going to end up with that solution when I go shopping for a set of carts?

Thank you, Sandy. By back and forth, do you mean OEM carts on the one hand, and 3rd party on the other? I don't have any OEM carts... I've had good luck with my 3rd party carts. So, can you tell me I should somehow reset my five carts with one of those paths to take? And will my bar graph chart so all my carts would then indicate being full? Good to hear your consensus on Precision Colors, I came close to posting my question there. I still could, I guess. Regards, Paul

Bought a used Epson 1430, in excellent condition, came with a set of ARC chips. I understand that when a cartridge generates a message saying it is empty than I must pull it, fill it, and reinsert it. Then I can proceed with my printing. But what do I do with the remaining five? Can I top them off? If so, how? Thanks all! PS: BTW, is this the correct forum for this question?

Actually, Harry did my Rolleicord V's CLA 6 or 7 years ago, before I owned it. When I got it, the seller enclosed the repair papers. It's probably well beyond the warranty repair period.

I'm in the US, Montana to be exact. No repair stations here! As I look back on this thread's title I should've said "Synchro-Compur shutter cocking lever very stiff. You understood, no problem there! Just checked my shutter data, most speeds are spot on or within 1/3 stop. The 1/500 speed is about 1/320, or 2/3 stop.

Thank you! First, let me say I did look at those links you provided, Way past my pay grade! Wonderful photographs I might add. I should've mentioned 1/500... right, the cocking lever is noticeably stiffer than the other speeds, I'm used to that. I've heard there's an extra spring or something at that speed. I checked my records and my V's shutter was CLA'd 6 or 7 years ago. Could mine dry up in that time period? Apparently so. My IV had a CLA over 20 years ago and it's fine. Sounds like the V's CLA wasn't done as well. Can we say it was not the added self timer to the V's Synchro-Compur that causes the stiffness, but it was more than likely dried up lubrication? Would you be willing to recommend someone? Thanks again!