I've tried twice to post this now! Here goes a third. Seems to get hung up halfway through the quoted text, so I won't include it this time....
<fanfare> I have been using an Epson Stylus Photo EX (prints up to A3) since 1998. It produces glorious prints using the Epson colour carts and 3rd party black inks. An Epson col cart (20110) costs me about £25 for a pack of three from www.7dayshop.com based in Jersey. Blacks are a 3 for a fiver or so. I just did some commissions for local families on it, and on the back of each print is a sticker that says ' For best results display print behind glass or keep in album. Avoid prolonged exposure to direct sunlight...' Regarding ink longevity, I have found that a print hanging on a wall behind glass, out of sunlight, will last for about 2 to 3 years before the greens and blues start taking over as the reds and yellows fade. An unprotected pic stuck on the fridge looks decidedly peaky after only a few weeks, and is almost white within 6 months. This is partly the reason I am looking to replace the Epson for colour printing using archival inks. Another Epson or the Canon 9000S are my choices, and based on some input here, I'm looking at the Canon. I have had a few head blockages with the Photo EX, once serious that was resolved by using something (I forget what) to soak the head. I find that if the printer is used at least once a week, with a head cleaning cycle every six or ten prints, blockages are uncommon. Quality-wise, it is still a stunner. I usually increase colour saturation by about 15 percent on each shot before printing, otherwise the colour is a bit drab. Printing mono is a bit of a letdown. I like using just black only rather than a desaturated colour shot using all inks. I might turn the Epson into a mono printer using the 6-black systems that are available. Regarding the issue about photographers having to use image editing software rather than just printing straight from a digicam and expecting gallery class award winners, well now there's a surprise! If you do your own wet-printing, you would not expect to just pop into a darkroom and do a bit of tinkering, would you? Some people spend years under the enlarger trying to perfect their trade. Similarly with an app like Photoshop. If you are serious about using the digital darkroom, you cannot get a DSLR and then skimp on the software and hardware that will support your output to print or whatever. If you can't or won't do it, then pay for someone else to do it. But when you get your work back and it's not to your liking, you only have a few choices, 2 of which are: find someone better, or learn to do it yourself! One of the reasons that I switched from film to digital is that I did not enjoy losing control of even one part of the photographic process. I also do not enjoy darkrooms. Digital means that I have full control, in the way I want it, in the timescale I want, with the quality I want. This doesn't suit everyone - but boy o boy, when the Pentax DSLR arrives on the scene, a lot of people on this list are going to discover what they've been missing :-) HTH Cotty ____________________________________ Free UK Macintosh Classified Ads at http://www.macads.co.uk/ ____________________________________ Oh, swipe me! He paints with light! http://www.macads.co.uk/snaps/ ____________________________________
