Lentic - photography

I have owned, and heavily used my R2400 printer for the last two years now, and I have shown an more than healthy interest on the topic of printing. I would say I have gained quite good knowledge when it comes to printing digital photos. Most of that knowledge is in the form of thing you should not do. I have traveled up many a blind alley, and went back again, and as it is now I think my workflow is quite smooth.

It’s time to sum up (again).

• Cotton rag vs. Air dried silver lookalikes: Well, I started out with the matt papers, and liked it a lot, but then came along the Fine Art Pearl, and I was sold. I resisted for a long time, trying to justify the cotton rag options, but why not admit it, the glossy surface wins every time for me. I’m just a sucker for the deep black. Haven’t tried the baryta variants yet, but I sure will buy some sample packs. So I guess the matte black will see less and less use.
• Ink use: The tiny little ink cartridges are driving me crazy. When you run out on one, another is depleted in the cleaning session after you change, which may well deplete the next one. That is if you are unlucky and the almost empty ones line up. Better to change all that are almost depleted, but that wastes a lot of ink. I really need something with bigger ink tanks. The swapping between black doesn’t bother me, especially since I have given up the matte option.
• Clogging: Haven’t seen much. This haven’t been an issue for me at all. I use my printer quite frequently, but even after a 4 week pause, the printer came back after just one small cleaning cycle.
• Color management and pain related to that: Even if I am a very technically minded person, with an education that helps me understand the underlying theory, it is still painful. At least it is painful to get it to work. There are so many part that must play together. Forget one, and you’re paddling. The printing got screwed up when I upgraded to Leopard, and I decided that life was too short for this stuff. I went out and bought ImagePrint RIP. Such a happy decision.
• Print size: I really don’t need to print larger. A2 would be nice, but not essential. It will be ink cost and management that will eventually drive me to a larger printer.
• Cost: I just don’t think about it. As long as I have a good day time job, it is best to leave it alone. I always try to smile when I go to the store to buy more ink.

All in all, I’m a happy camper (printer) except for the ink cartridge. I think I’m in the marked for a new printer, I just have to think it through a bit more.

I must also figure out what to do with my inventory of matte paper. Maybe I should use it up on some hand bound book projects.