Digital BW, The Print

I received my epson 2400 over the weekend and yes it is a very nice 
printer!  However now I realize what people have been speaking about 
regarding ink usage, WOW!  After a couple of small test prints, a 
change from the matte to pk black I have a bit less than 3/4 of the 
ink left.  Any suggestions outside of yelling at espson for clearly 
boosting their ink business?  Also are the MIS inks for the 2400 
significantly different in price to warrent their use?  Any 
suggestions or thoughts would be helpful.  Thanks

JOe

Then how would you know?
Mark

On Jan 23, 2006, at 10:36 AM, Douglas meeuwsen wrote:

> i have never had a clog or even done a
> nozzle check.

hmmmmm.... I am using much less Ink in my 2400 than I used in my 1280  
with MIS UT2 inks. I think it may be because of the lack of cleaning  
cycles, and the fact that i have never had a clog or even done a  
nozzle check. I have not kept accurate records, but I really believe  
that my 1280 used fully at least twice as much ink. I dont print that  
much, and that may be why. If you only print about once a week like  
me, the 2400 is very efficient. Everyone is diferent, so, as they  
say, your milage may vary. DM

On Jan 23, 2006, at 6:12 AM, Joe wrote:

> I received my epson 2400 over the weekend and yes it is a very nice
> printer!  However now I realize what people have been speaking about
> regarding ink usage, WOW!  After a couple of small test prints, a
> change from the matte to pk black I have a bit less than 3/4 of the
> ink left.  Any suggestions outside of yelling at espson for clearly
> boosting their ink business?  Also are the MIS inks for the 2400
> significantly different in price to warrent their use?  Any
> suggestions or thoughts would be helpful.  Thanks
>

The printer will use a significant amount of ink during the initial "charging" of the print 
mechanisms. This will use a larger portion of the first cartridges installed than subsequent 
cartridges. I would check out Red River for the ink cartridges (www.redrivercatalog.com) 
since they are significant cheaper than office supply stores or Epson.com.

Rich

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Joe" <drjoe2@c...> wrote:

>
> I received my epson 2400 over the weekend and yes it is a very nice 
> printer!  However now I realize what people have been speaking about 
> regarding ink usage, WOW!  After a couple of small test prints, a 
> change from the matte to pk black I have a bit less than 3/4 of the 
> ink left.  Any suggestions outside of yelling at espson for clearly 
> boosting their ink business?  Also are the MIS inks for the 2400 
> significantly different in price to warrent their use?  Any 
> suggestions or thoughts would be helpful.  Thanks
> 
> JOe
>

Hello Joe,

>I received my epson 2400 over the weekend and yes it is a very nice 
>printer!  However now I realize what people have been speaking about 
>regarding ink usage, WOW!  After a couple of small test prints, a 
>change from the matte to pk black I have a bit less than 3/4 of the 
>ink left.  Any suggestions outside of yelling at espson for clearly 
>boosting their ink business?  Also are the MIS inks for the 2400 
>significantly different in price to warrent their use?  Any 
>suggestions or thoughts would be helpful.  Thanks

I think Rich is correct about the initial charging, and it will
probably settle down.  And like Doug said, I too have never had a clog
or even done a nozzle check, so the 2400 seems reasonable in not
sending excessive ink down the drain over time.  Nevertheless, the K3
inks are expensive, so here's another approach to consider.

I use a workflow which doesn't require icc curves and profiles, and it
happens to be a very close match to the BO workflow that I use on my
R200.  So I do most of my proofing in BO on the R200, and only move to
the 2400 for final prints and end process proofs.  This has proven to
be very efficient and significantly reduces the amount of K3 ink I use
(and less wear and tear on the machine as well, I suppose - I had a
2200 wear out the paper feed mechanism after two years).

As for the MIS inks, I haven't tried them so I don't know if they
perform as well.  But certainly they would be a lot cheaper to use,
especially if purchased in bulk.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm