subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 25 January 2020 35
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Liquid gold
It’s often said that printer ink is more expensive per
millilitre than the finest champagne or perfume, or even
the cost of human blood for hospital use. It’s therefore
tempting to substitute genuine ink cartridges from the
likes of Epson and Canon, in favour of cheap
alternatives. However, cheap inks may contain
impurities that can block print head nozzles and
generally result in poor colour accuracy.6
Set for success
There’s not much point in using the printer
manufacturer’s photo paper if you don’t tell the printer
what you’re feeding into it. For example, Canon makes
Photo Paper Plus Glossy II, Pro Platinum glossy, lustre,
matte and fine art papers, all of which require different
amounts of ink for the best and most accurate results.8
Straight and narrow
The chances are that your new
printer has been bounced around
quite a lot in transit, between
leaving the factory and arriving at
your home. A print head
alignment procedure normally
forms part of the initial set-up
routine, and it’s best not to
skip this step if you want
the sharpest-looking
output. It can also be worth
repeating the process every few months,
to maintain optimum results.4
On the shelf
Communication is
mostly digital these days
and some of us only use
a printer quite rarely.
Even so, avoid leaving it
on the shelf for too long,
as the ink can dry in the
print head nozzles and
become very difficult to
shift. Most inkjet printers
run a mini-cleaning cycle
at or shortly after
switch-on, so it’s worth
at least turning on your
printer for a few minutes
each week.7
To dye for
There’s no beating dye-based inks for smooth output on glossy paper but some
A3+ and larger printers run on pigment-based inks instead. These are generally
better for printing on matte and fine art media, delivering better-looking and more
robust, fade-resistant results. Additional grey inks are often featured, for enhanced
fidelity in black & white photo printing.Avoid cheap knock-off ink cartridges if you want
quality photo prints. Keep it real!5
Supersize
your prints
A4 prints tend to look
a little lost and
insignificant when hung
on the wall. Trade up to
an A3+ or ‘Super A3’
printer and you can
create photo prints up
t o 19 x13 i n
(483x329mm). Top
choices include
Canon’s PIXMA
P R O -10 0 S a n d
PRO-10S, which run
on dye and pigment
based inks respectively.
The PRO-10S has a
‘chroma optimizer’
cartridge in its line-up,
which enables
unusually smooth
output on glossy
paper for a pigment-
based printer.Printers like this Epson XP-8600 usually
have menu options for maintenance routinesUse the printer properties dialog box to select the
paper you’re using before creating photo prints