Digital BW, The Print

Greetings to all from the land of Ouzo

At this point I've owned 2 each of the above printers: an R200, 
R220, and an R300 & R340. I had initially assumed when I went from 
the R300 to the R200 that since the mechanics were the same, the 
print quality would also be as good. I was dissapointed: the R300 
was flawless, the R200 banded right out of the box, and no amount of 
cleaning/alignment fixed it. I eventually ran it into the ground 
doing color proofs, and replaced it with a new R220. It was even 
worse, exhibiting a cyan registration problem so severe that it is 
useless even for color proofing. It will go back to Epson, with a 
hail of curses. Needing a color proofer in a hurry, I bought an R340 
on July 4th sale for $130, not too painfull. It printed beautifully, 
almost perfect on all channels, excellent BO, and good enough to 
separate out 4-5 channels for making banding free internegatives.

So: is this luck of the draw, or am I seeing a pattern? The R300 
series printers seem to be made in Phillipines (at least mine were) 
but the R200 printers were made in China. My suspicion is the QC 
and/or manufacturing standards of the Chinese printers is not equal 
to the Phillipine ones.  

Does anyone have any experiences to relate here? Any opinions?

Steven Karafyllakis

On dial-up from Greece-I miss my DSL!

Hello Steven,

After getting a D70s I was about ready to buy an r220.  Now, after
seeeng your message I am unsure about it.  Would you then recommend to
skip the 220 and get the 300?  I think I can get the r300 for a good
price here in germany, in fact for about the same price of the 220. 
As I planned to follow Paul Roarks/Inksupply.com instructions for B&W
printing with the 220, do they still work with the r300 or will I need
to set up things differently?

I would appreciat very much anny comments.

Sebastian

PS: first post here and new to B&W printing...


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steven
Karafyllakis" <stevekphoto@...> wrote:

>
> Greetings to all from the land of Ouzo
> 
> At this point I've owned 2 each of the above printers: an R200, 
> R220, and an R300 & R340. I had initially assumed when I went from 
> the R300 to the R200 that since the mechanics were the same, the 
> print quality would also be as good. I was dissapointed: the R300 
> was flawless, the R200 banded right out of the box, and no amount of 
> cleaning/alignment fixed it. I eventually ran it into the ground 
> doing color proofs, and replaced it with a new R220. It was even 
> worse, exhibiting a cyan registration problem so severe that it is 
> useless even for color proofing. It will go back to Epson, with a 
> hail of curses. Needing a color proofer in a hurry, I bought an R340 
> on July 4th sale for $130, not too painfull. It printed beautifully, 
> almost perfect on all channels, excellent BO, and good enough to 
> separate out 4-5 channels for making banding free internegatives.
> 
> So: is this luck of the draw, or am I seeing a pattern? The R300 
> series printers seem to be made in Phillipines (at least mine were) 
> but the R200 printers were made in China. My suspicion is the QC 
> and/or manufacturing standards of the Chinese printers is not equal 
> to the Phillipine ones.  
> 
> Does anyone have any experiences to relate here? Any opinions?
> 
> Steven Karafyllakis
> 
> On dial-up from Greece-I miss my DSL!
>

I will say I am happy with the results of my R220 for printing, both with
using 3rd-party inks for everday printing (I'm on  a budget) and Epson inks
with my printer for photo printing.  And the people I'd printed photos for
have been very happy with my prints & the paper I used.

 

Megan

 

  _____  

From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
bastian7201
Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 1:58 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Epson R200 series vs. R300 series print quality

 

Hello Steven,

After getting a D70s I was about ready to buy an r220. Now, after
seeeng your message I am unsure about it. Would you then recommend to
skip the 220 and get the 300? I think I can get the r300 for a good
price here in germany, in fact for about the same price of the 220. 
As I planned to follow Paul Roarks/Inksupply.com instructions for B&W
printing with the 220, do they still work with the r300 or will I need
to set up things differently?

I would appreciat very much anny comments.

Sebastian 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hello Sebastian;

I don't believe anything would change in terms of profiles/printing 
approaches, etc., though Paul might have a better handle on that. 
And honestly, I'm not sure how to advise you on the model, I'm just 
trying to get feedback and/or coroborating testimonials at this 
point. I'd say if the price is the same, get the R300, at least 
you'll get a nice built-in card reader & extra USB port with it, if 
its the same as the US model.

Steven Karafyllakis

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "bastian7201" 
<sebastian.alcano@...> wrote:
>
> Hello Steven,
> 
> After getting a D70s I was about ready to buy an r220.  Now, after
> seeeng your message I am unsure about it.  Would you then 
recommend to
> skip the 220 and get the 300?  I think I can get the r300 for a 
good
> price here in germany, in fact for about the same price of the 
220. 
> As I planned to follow Paul Roarks/Inksupply.com instructions for 
B&W
> printing with the 220, do they still work with the r300 or will I 
need
> to set up things differently?
> 
> I would appreciat very much anny comments.
> 
> Sebastian
> 
> PS: first post here and new to B&W printing...
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steven
> Karafyllakis" <stevekphoto@> wrote:
> >
> > Greetings to all from the land of Ouzo
> > 
> > At this point I've owned 2 each of the above printers: an R200, 
> > R220, and an R300 & R340. I had initially assumed when I went 
from 
> > the R300 to the R200 that since the mechanics were the same, the 
> > print quality would also be as good. I was dissapointed: the 
R300 
> > was flawless, the R200 banded right out of the box, and no 
amount of 
> > cleaning/alignment fixed it. I eventually ran it into the ground 
> > doing color proofs, and replaced it with a new R220. It was even 
> > worse, exhibiting a cyan registration problem so severe that it 
is 
> > useless even for color proofing. It will go back to Epson, with 
a 
> > hail of curses. Needing a color proofer in a hurry, I bought an 
R340 
> > on July 4th sale for $130, not too painfull. It printed 
beautifully, 
> > almost perfect on all channels, excellent BO, and good enough to 
> > separate out 4-5 channels for making banding free internegatives.
> > 
> > So: is this luck of the draw, or am I seeing a pattern? The R300 
> > series printers seem to be made in Phillipines (at least mine 
were) 
> > but the R200 printers were made in China. My suspicion is the QC 
> > and/or manufacturing standards of the Chinese printers is not 
equal 

> > to the Phillipine ones.  
> > 
> > Does anyone have any experiences to relate here? Any opinions?
> > 
> > Steven Karafyllakis
> > 
> > On dial-up from Greece-I miss my DSL!
> >
>

I suspect  most people are happy with the R200 series, but there 
could still be a quality difference that we haven't picked up on 
yet. Problem is, most list members have bought into the R200 (why 
pay for extra junk you don't need?) so there may not be enough basis 
for comparison.
Here's a question for all who still have the original box: where was 
your printer made? The info is somewhere on the top flaps. And if 
you choose to report back, include relative quality of printing in 
terms of banding/lack therof. That should be interesting.

Steven Karafyllakis

 I will say I am happy with the results of my R220 for printing, 
both with
> using 3rd-party inks for everday printing (I'm on  a budget) and 
Epson inks
> with my printer for photo printing.  And the people I'd printed 
photos for
> have been very happy with my prints & the paper I used.
> 
>  
> 
> Megan
> 
>  
> 
>   _____  
> 
> From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
> bastian7201
> Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 1:58 PM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Epson R200 series vs. R300 series print 
quality
> 
>  
> 
> Hello Steven,
> 
> After getting a D70s I was about ready to buy an r220. Now, after
> seeeng your message I am unsure about it. Would you then recommend 
to
> skip the 220 and get the 300? I think I can get the r300 for a good
> price here in germany, in fact for about the same price of the 
220. 
> As I planned to follow Paul Roarks/Inksupply.com instructions for 
B&W
> printing with the 220, do they still work with the r300 or will I 
need

> to set up things differently?
> 
> I would appreciat very much anny comments.
> 
> Sebastian 
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Steven Karafyllakis wrote:

> Here's a question for all who still have the original box: where was 
> your printer made? The info is somewhere on the top flaps. And if 
> you choose to report back, include relative quality of printing in 
> terms of banding/lack therof. That should be interesting.

Philippines. No discernable banding.