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whomightexpecttheprintstolasta
lifetimewhenhungona wall.
It’snotallgoodnewsforpigment-based
inks.Owingtotherelativelylarge
molecules,theinktendstodryonthe
surfaceofthepaperratherthansinkinto
it.If you’retransportingprintsaroundto
exhibitorshowatgalleriesandthey’renot
mountedandframedbehindglass,
pigment-basedprintsarerelatively
susceptibletoscuffs andscrapes,withthe
inkchippingoffthepaperorother
media-likecanvas.Indeed,youmighthave
noticedthatboxedcanvasprintscreated
withpigment-basedinkscanbeproneto
inkflakingofftheedgeswhentheyare
stretchedoverwoodenframes.
A biggerproblemoccurswhenyoutry
tousepigment-basedinksonglossyor
lustrepaper.Thesepapershavea
top-layersurfacethat’ssmoothand
reflective.Whenyou’reprintingwith
dye-basedinks,thedyeis completely
absorbedbeneaththetoplayer,sothe
finishlooksglossy(orsemi-glossy)and
uniform.However,pigment-basedinks
areonlypartiallyabsorbed.Depending
onhowheavilyinkis laidondifferent
areasofa print,youcanendupwith
‘bronzing’or‘glossdifferential’.Thisis a
phenomenonwheredifferentareasor
colourswithina printreflectlight
differently,soyoudon’tgeta uniform
fi n i s h.
Tobefair,someofthelatestpigment-
basedprinters,suchastheEpsonSC-
P600andSC-P800,delivermuchbetter
smoothnessonglossypaperthanpigment
printersinthepast.Canonedgesahead
withitsPixmaPro-1,Pro-10Sand
Pro-1000models,addinga cartridgeof
‘chromaoptimizer’totheinkline-up.It is
likea coatingofclearvarnishthathas
beenlaidoverthetopoftheinkwhen
usingglossypaper,toboosttheuniformity
ofreflectivity.
Despiteadvancesinpigment-basedink
formulation,there’sstillnobeating
dye-basedinksforprintingonglossyor
lustrepaper.Yousimplygetanunmatched
qualityofevennessfromtop-enddye-
basedprintersliketheCanonPixma
Pro-100S.Anotherbonusofdye-based
printersis thattheyaretypicallyabout
twiceasfastastheirpigment-based
counterpartsinproducingprints.For
example,youcanusuallyexpecttogetan
A3+printintop-qualitysettinginaround
fiveminutes,comparedwith 10 minutesor
morewhenusinga pigmentprinter.It
mightnotsoundlikea significant
differencebut,if youneedtoproduce
severalprintsormoreina hurry,the
amountoftimesavedcanbewelcome.
Nextweek(AP 16 May2020)we’llreveal
howsuperiorrangesofinksandpapers
combinetocreategreatprints,andhowto
useprintersettingstooptimisethe
qualityofyourresults.Routine
maintenance
Evenlarge-formatA3+printersnowadays
tendtoenableveryhigh-resolutionoutput,
typicallyof 4,800x2,400dpiforCanonand
5,760x1,440dpiforEpson.Thisis made
possiblebyanextremelyfinematrixof
nozzlesin theprintheads.A fundamental
differencebetweenCanonandEpsonis that
Canonusesthermalinkjettechnology,
wheretheinkis effectivelyboiledtoforceit
outof thenozzlesunderpressure,whereas
Epsonusesa MicroPiezosystemfor
squeezinginkoutof thenozzles.
In bothcases,it’spossiblefornozzles
withinprintheadstobecomeblocked.In
ourexperience,Epsonprinterssufferfrom
thismoreoftenthanCanonprinters,but
youcanexperienceproblemswithboth
makes.Especiallybeforeprintinga
large-formatprint,it’sworthrunninga
nozzle-checkroutine.If youspotproblems
in thetestprint,applya cleaningcycle.
Repeattheprocedureif necessary.Some
printersoffera ‘deepclean’if needed.
Otherwise,youruntheriskoffaintlines
appearingacrossthesurfaceofyourphoto
print,andruiningtheresults.
Anothercheckthat’sworthcarryingout
fromtimetotimeis thatthe
printheadsareproperly
aligned.Thisinvolvesreturning
tothemaintenancesectionof
theprinterdriverandrunninga
routinethatalignstheheads
bothverticallyandhorizontally,
foroptimumaccuracy.It’s worth carrying out periodic nozzle
checks and print-head alignment procedures
to maintain optimum qualityYou can create enormous panoramic
prints with the Epson SC-P800 A2
printer, thanks to an optional roll feeder
A greater number of ink cartridges
doesn’t necessarily make a
printer more expensive to run
Hardware calibration tools
can help to maintain
consistency between the
screen image and print