Plenty of Printing

I am often busy with printing on my Epson ET-8550 printer. I have bought countless photographic papers for printing, likely bought more paper for a value greater than the printer itself *LOL* But it is just sooooo fun. I can't explain my joy.

There are of course also quirks.

The "roller" marks of the Epson EcoTank ET-8550

The Epson ET-8550 perhaps most annoying issue, is that on some papers, it leaves marks. Not ink marks and no "pizza-wheel marks". Not those. Instead they are physical streaks on paper. Like something has being pushed too hard against the photo paper. That of course, doesn't look nice !

I also noticed that I get more and more... how shall I say... "spoiled". It is my keen eye from decades in the darkroom, dealing with countless different qualities with photo papers, both black & white and color papers (C-41 to RA-4). How gray tones are represented, the character of a BW papers, how it separates shadow details and highlights ( long vs short toe). All these things a normal user doesn't think so much about, when looking at photographic prints. Then of course also the color tones on color paper, and everything that is connected to RA-4 printing (the chemical, traditional way). It sensitized my eyes - and that knowledge also comes out again now when i look at my digital dye based prints, and the various papers i am printing on.

Yet - I do have a larger tolerance. Why ? Because I am not selling art work. If the latter would be the case, only the best of the best would come into question to be sold. I mean when people pay money for art work, they must get the finest. No cheating !

Not in the realm of professionalism

I am not in that realm, so my tolerance is relatively high, even when i see the little flaws and niggles. But it is really OK, as long it is just for me / home-use / or personal presents like memories on print. The ET-8550 printer also has its limits. Which are not bad in any way. A dye-based printer often gives better results on glossy paper, compared to an pigmented ink based printer on glossy paper ! [To give you an example where a dye-based printer has a slight advantage in terms of quality]. A pigmented ink printer can leave strange reflections on glossy papers.

Anyway.

There is work around to get away those marks the ET-8550 can leave physically on the paper: You print from behind. Removing the backside of the printer, and load the paper from there. It is quite slow, slightly iffy and you can't print borderless (I never do anyway, because I like my printer clean).

But printing by inserting the paper from behind, does seem to do the trick - and the print comes out without any indentations from a wheel / physical streaks from two wheels. However, I still have not tested thicker paper above 260 gsm. Those who print on finer papers, or even Art papers which are often around 310-350 gsm I do not know if they will have streaks when printing from behind.

PLENTY of ink left

I made officially 650 prints - and the colors are still at 85-90%, the Gray is 50%, and the Pigment Black is 95%, the Photo black is 90%. However, most of the prints made, were text prints, around 460 perhaps. I may have made around 100 prints, everything from A4, to A3, to A3+ size. Nothing smaller then those.

The printer is extremely economical, I must say. It is like a dream come true and i never get stressed about the ink levels. It also allows me to remake a photo, which i felt was either slightly to light, or perhaps had a slightly too cool tone.

In general, almost all of my photos come out simply excellent. For most of them - in my workflow, of computer, image and monitor - i have to add a notch of yellow, and a touch of green, in order to come out perfectly. I Almost never have to throw a photo away. I only do it, when i know it can be done better - so i am not stingy.

What costs - are the papers

The prices of more general papers like Ilford Studio, Ilford Galerie, or Epson photo papers, are in line with what we used to pay for real photo paper 30 years ago. But there are of course art papers for digital printing, which costs A LOT more, i can tell you that.

I do not think that those papers are so good for my ET-8550 printer, though. So, i align myself at good known brands with very good papers for photo printing, but nothing fancy. As i said, ILFORD and EPSON are a good bet.

Sometimes however, a photo paper can be a bit... too cold. Too white. Like the Ilford Studio matte - which likely has optical enhancers embedded, isn't acid free either, and gives a for my taste too cold white tone (when i print Black& white) for example.

Scandinavianphoto.se here in Sweden, have their own set of papers - actually since at least 25 years - which are affordable, acid free and thick (300 gsm), except the matte version which is thinner.

I only had the old ones from Scandinavianphoto at home, which I had bought in Dec 2002. Those are warm white and a touch darker (but that looks actually nicer compared to the the bright cold white with Ilford Studio matte 235gsm).

If the Scandinavianphoto paper was "warmer/yellowish" caused because of age (albeit i had them sealed), or they maybe are like that by design - i can't tell. if they are acid free, then their should be without optical whiteners, and therefore not as super bright, either.

I have not bought from them in 2024 - but test their papers anew along the road of printing.

Pigment ink printers

Here the economy is very different, because the inks are much more expensive. For example with the Epson P-900 17" printer and the 13" Epson P-700, both more professional aligned printer - uses many more ink cartridges, á 50 ml each, or 25 ml in the smaller P-700 printer.

That's 10 in total.

I don't know what a whole set costs, but i can image somewhere north of 600 € (i assume). So, that is quite a difference. Yet, the P-900 is more economical due to the larger 50 ml cartridges with pigmented ULTRAChrome Inks - compared to the smaller Epson P-700 printer which contains only 25 ml each.

In the US, at BHphoto i see that a 25 ml costs a whopping 38$ for the Epson P-700 printer. For the Epson P-900 with 50 ml, it costs 44$

So, the Epson P-900, while being the more expensive printer (1300$), but has definitely better economy compared to the 13" Epson P-700, where you pay almost twice the price in ink costs !

For my Epson ET-8550, the Epson Claria 70 ml dye based ink set (6 inks) goes for 110 € here in Sweden. And if you use nameless ink, you can get away with 30 € for a set of 6 inks. Among those "nameless" brands you find good and bad ones. So, that's at your own risk.

Caution about Third party inks

Better study the comments thoroughly behind each brand - in order to get an idea if the ink set is any good or not. Those I have studied, say the transition was flawless. But I suspect that the longevity might be affected. However you never get information about that part, because people write comments on the base of "now" - and not of their experience or even tests years later. The general rule is that third party inks hold a lower standard in terms of longevity. But there might be very specialized (long-lasting type of inks) made in the US instead of cheap China ink sets.

Printing

In the main photo, the two images of Per-Olof as a "clown" which I made with color negative film, later scanned - and now printed on Ilford Galerie Satin paper, really came out beautifully in every aspect ! It is also fascinating how good a traditional color negative can be "transfered" onto a digital, ink printed photo.

I mean, just wow. They really look that good in real life !

The ease I have with the ET-8550 printer - makes me smile. That this is now possible I mean, going that well. Uhm, for the time being this far, I mean. Given how complicated the many wheels inside such printer creature is - especially when you study the repair manual - it almost makes your jaw drop, how complicated that all looks...

Let's hope the printer lasts a long time.

I would like that - very much.