Creating your own Prints - an alternative

Michael Georges · 05-04-2002, 09:52 AM

I just engaged in an alternative method of producing prints of some of my works that is working great and I wanted to share.

I purchased an Epson P2000 large format printer. It prints with archival inks with a lightfastness rating of 140 years. It will print up to 13x18 inches - which can make a pretty big print. It ran me around $780 online.

Here is what I do. I take my painting to a photo lab and have a 4x5 or 8x10 transparency shot. My lab has a scanner with a transparency adaptor and I come home with not only the transparency, but a CDROM with the image on it. Now, I can pull the image up, do any color correction in Photoshop, etc. and then print it on my P2000 at up to 13x18 on Radiant White Watercolor Paper. BTW, they also sell a canvas paper - create your own Giclees.

The end result is great. Further, if you find good sources online for purchasing inks and paper, each print should cost less than $2.00. Beats the high cost of a single photo or Giclee print - and YOU control the results.

The one thing I have noticed about this printer is that it prints better on more matte surfaces like watercolor paper.

Cynthia Daniel · 05-04-2002, 10:07 AM

Here's a thread that gives some sources on the inkjet canvas: http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...=&threadid=156

Karin Wells · 05-08-2002, 12:10 PM

Michael, what res. is your pix on the CD ROM and at what res. do you print the picture?

How do you calibrate what you see on your monitor and what comes out of the printer?

Mari DeRuntz · 05-08-2002, 12:23 PM

Michael - Beautiful work! What does your photo lab charge for transparencies?

Michael Georges · 05-08-2002, 12:50 PM

Karin:

The file I get back from the photo lab is a TIF file - it is uncompressed. The resolution is 300 dots per inch which is print quality. As for color correction and quality, I am quite surprised at how close to the original the scan of the transparency often is. As with any print process, you strive to get it as close as you can, but it never completely matches the original. That said, the variance is not really that significant and I have been very satisfied with the results.

Mari:

Thank you for your kind words about my work.

My lab charges around $35 for a 4x5 transparency and around $55 for an 8x10.

Tarique Beg · 05-09-2002, 02:53 PM

Hi Michael,

Are the inks for the Epson P2000 all individually replaceable (or at least individually re-fillable)? Does Epson 2000 use six colours for photo printing like the other photo-inkjets? and is Epson the only source for archival quality inks?

I've been thinking of the Epson P2000 as well, but can't decide yet.

Michael Georges · 05-09-2002, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Hi Michael
Are the inks for the Epson 2000P all individually changeable (or at least individually re-fillable) ? Does Epson 2000 use six colours for photo printing like the other printers ? and is Epson the only source for archival quality inks ?

I've been thinking of the Epson 2000 as well, but can't decide yet. I'm also wondering about a laminating machine that does the larger sizes.

The P2000 is a 6 color printing system. The colors are all in a single cartridge, black is in a single cartridge. There are alternative sources for archival inks for this printer, but I actually found that you can get a better price on the Epson cartridges by shopping online via the Internet.

Tarique Beg · 05-09-2002, 03:17 PM

Michael

Have you compared the colours and resolution from a very good digital camera (say 3.3 meg pixel and higher ) to what you get from 4x5 or 8x10 lab transparency/slide ?

I was told that most ink-jet printers cannot fully print all of a 3.3 mega pixel camera at its best resolution (my DSC-75 Sony gives me 2048x1500 pixel bitmaps at best). I guess the larger size of the Epson P2000 must handle the higher res digital camera outputs.

Nowadays, I find 5.5 megapix digital cameras (like one of the higher end Sonys with the Carl Zeis lenses) are coming within an affordable range. I've also heard there are digital backs that you can attach onto say a Hasselblad or maybe a 4x5, so you get very high res digital (10 mega pixel) with high the end optics of the German lenses etc. I believe these images can be blown up to life size, although it's usually the professional labs who can afford the prices at that level.

The reason I'm blabbing about digital here is because I'm wondering if you get better colour and sharpness in recording a picture in a single scan (that is directly from the real world to an image file as with a digital camera) instead of going first to a transparency, chemical processing, and finally to a scanner. I find a good digital camera gives me excellent colours that seem to be even better than I ever got from film or slide - I always used Kodakchrome 25 ASA slide film. What is your experience in this regard ?

Michael Georges · 05-09-2002, 04:04 PM

Tarique:

I have an Olympus C-3040 3.3MP camera with the Zeiss lens. I love it. It takes great pictures. In fact, all of my pics on my website were shot with that camera. Thing is, I am not the best photographer in the world, and, as my paintings are quite shiny, I trust print quality pictures to a professional photo lab. They have polarizing filters, et.al. and I believe I get better "print quality" with a transparency from them than I could do myself. "Web quality" and 8x10 "portfolio quality" pics I do myself.

That said, there is no doubt in my mind that digital technology is advanced enough to produce print quality pics. I have a photographer friend who takes only digital, prints dye-sublimation, and gets incredible results.