Just looking at some information on Epson's site. Can anyone that owns a 4900 or 7900 tell me what difference, if any, do the additional orange and green inks make in the final print. Also, does the repelling coating actually decrease the number of nozzle clogs? I currently have a 3800.
The difference is size - 17 inches wide for the 4900 and 24 inches for the 7900. The orange and green inks add a very small amount to the overall gamut the printers are capable of printing, provided you are printing one of the wider gamut media available - Exhibition Fiber would be one. The differences aren't huge, but if you have images that push the boundaries or are proofing for offset, then it can make a difference. On my 9900, the orange and green are probably the inks that it uses the least of. There are still nozzle clogs, but fewer than with older print models.
I own both - 4900 & 9900. As Peter said the extra inks add to the gamut but are not always that noticeable. When I moved from the 7800 to the 7900 my friend still had his 7800 and we did a test day with many papers on both. If the photo was heavy in reds or greens it showed on the 7900 otherwise small differences.
As for clogging - not much difference there either but I never had issues with my 7800.
If you don't print or need 24" prints the 4900 rocks. It is my workhorse for smaller prints.
Thanks for the information. I would like to print bigger, so I am pretty sure I want the 24 inch unit. I have the 3800 now and am dealing with a very stubborn magenta clog. About 6 or 7 voids in the test print. I have tried wetting the sponges under the print head when parked, ammonia soaked paper towel under the print head overnight, all to no avail. I guess the next step is to inject the cartridge port with windex, ammonia or some clog busting solvent. At this point, I cannot get any ICC profiles done because of the clogs. A decreased frequency of clogging in the newer machines would be a great selling point to me, if indeed they actually do clog less.
I totally agree with Peter and Jack. I've actually went a little further in testing OG differences. I profiled and printed to a x800, x880, x900 and x890 printer using the same roll of media. Then printed a CMYK (polo ad containing heavy orange, green, red and blue bottles) as well as the CMYK converted to 6-color. Then I had my staff pick the one they liked. Everyone picked the 6-color image because the colors seamed cleaner and actually, compared to Polo orange/green specs, had the lowest deltaE. Then I had them choose between the CMYK images only, there was no clear winner, only a loser--the x800 without Vivid Magenta was never picked, but did not look bad by any means.
I would ask you, does OG matter enough to you to pay an addition $1,000? Think about buying a 7890 if you don't think you print enough O/G images. Visually, you may never see the difference. It's not like flesh-tones would ever use O/G.
When I had both a 9800 and the 9900, I ran a few comparison test prints as well, and the differences weren't huge. Some images showed slightly more saturation levels in the colors with the extra inks and other, showed nothing. I specifically remember a green forest scene that was never showed any difference in the greens at all. The new printers are sharper, or at least have the potential to be sharper and they print twice as fast as the older models.
I make all my own custom profiles for my printers and I also compared gamuts using ColorThink. The differences in the 3D gamut plots were very slight. The difficulty in looking at those is correlating them to real world results - you don't know how much that very slight variation in the plot translates into a real world difference in gamut. I've had Epson employees at my studio who did not know the answer to that either.
What I do know is that for most images, the gamut is a non issue, and that if you insist on making images that push the gamut limits of these printers, you'll be in for a very garish visual experience. In the real world of making great prints, I more often find myself wanting less saturation than more, when I come across colors that are out of gamut for the monitor but not the printer.
Thanks for the link. I did pretty much that same procedure, only difference was that I used ammonia instead of their proprietary solution. I had a lot of ink absorb onto the paper towel. Unfortunately, I still had the same nozzle test in the magenta region, about 6 - 7 voids. I am running out of ink in about 3 - 4 colors now and am getting a little leery about buying anymore ink cartridges for the 3800 because the clog may not ever be resolved and those ink purchases, once used, would then be a bad investment.
Thanks for your hands-on experience with O & G inks. It sounds like the vivid magenta is more important than the new O & G inks. To be quite honest, at this point, I really do not know if O & G is going to benefit my photography. I just went to B&H's site and it looks like the difference in price between the 7890 and 7900 is a grand total of $611. Both have been discounted, both include free shipping and that was including the tax difference. I appreciate the suggestion for the 7890, not sure the $600 is enough to sway me though.
Thanks once again. Yes, I agree whole-heartedly that small differences in gamut size etc. may not be very significant in the real world. That is why I wanted some real world opinions on this. I am old enough to know that many " new and improved " products do not deliver on their marketing promises. I guess my main concern at this point, is that I do not want to have to prematurely buy another printer because of printhead clogs that cannot be resolved. If the nozzle plate was easily removed to soak or clean it, that would be a big improvement in my opinion.
Are you set on Epson? The reason I ask is that both the Canon and HP large format printers have user-replaceable printheads. I have had an HP Z3100 for almost four years and have NEVER had a clog, even at times when the printer sat unused for several months at a time.
I am not completely set on Epson. If Canon shows strongly in my poll, I will seriously look at it. The only reason I am looking for a new printer at this time, is because I have some stubborn clogs on my 3800 that will not go away. I would like to prevent having to prematurely sell my next printer because of clogs that will not clear. If you have not had any clogs with your HP, that is impressive. Are you doing anything special to prevent this, or is this unit just less prone to clogs?
I am not completely set on Epson. If Canon shows strongly in my poll, I will seriously look at it. The only reason I am looking for a new printer at this time, is because I have some stubborn clogs on my 3800 that will not go away. I would like to prevent having to prematurely sell my next printer because of clogs that will not clear. If you have not had any clogs with your HP, that is impressive. Are you doing anything special to prevent this, or is this unit just less prone to clogs?
Thanks,
Jim
sorry to hear that. I think the key is to print it everyday and use good quality of inks and also if your area is too dry, it would cause the ink dried quickly too and stop the ink flow.
Thanks. Yes, if I get a new printer I will print something everyday and maybe humidify the room a little more. Hopefully, that will eliminate a majority of clogs.
9900 - I printing a couple prints a week (sometimes nothing for a week).
7900CTP - I print a color print 1 a month otherwise just Cyan ink.
7900WT - I've probably printed 3 prints the last 4 months.
When I print, I do a Nozzle Check and normal clean if needed. No problems with cleaning a clogged nozzle, not even with the WT's white ink. In my experience when I go into a place/home, the worse the conditions, the worse the clogs/troubles they have with their printer--put what ever printer name you want here.
Hint: your printer should never be used as a pet's favorite place to sleep no matter how cute they look on it. :-)
Thanks. Just to be clear, I have always used Epson Inks and do not have any pets at all. Smoke free home and an HVAC system that is only 9 years-old. So, other than a possibly low humidity level, the environment is better than most.
Sounds good. In my experience humidity is the number one problem. You may find you will use a humidifier in the winter time and a de-humidifer in the spring. Too much humidity will cause the first part of the paper to curl and cause head strikes.
I have the 3800 and the 7900. Jack and Peter are right about the low orange and green consumption. I'm just now changing out my green cartridge (w/150ml) and my first orange went in a short time ago. Photo black, light black, light light black, vivid light magenta, cyan, and light cyan (all 350 mls) seem to be my big consumables on the 7900. No serious clogs that a power clean won't cure so far. My wife runs a lot of 4 x 6 & 5 x 7 prints through the 3800 keeping it alive and the low ink light flashing continously. I did end up with one new ink cartridge that the 7900 would not recognize. ITSupplies had a replacement at my door the next day!
