Which Printer Ink refill/system do you use?

[TME]

i know of someone from inkstation who left the company and setup a new one.. reasone behing he has had enough with the previous company.

we've been patronising Inkstation for years now, had the CIS for years now, on different printers. even me, though im not using CIS , im using the refillable ink cartridge.

if you do wanna compare original ink and 3rd party ink.. if you have the money.. go ahead with original. you cant go wrong with it trust me.

after all this years using 3rd party, you can see the difference in quality. direct printing will have diffewrent colours. using original ink will make the pics look closest to the pic while using 3rd party will make it slightly darker, which you gotta adjust the brightness and contrast. for me, i just up the Curve in PS.

If the 3rd party ink is of good quality and you profile your inks, you should get pretty close to the original picture in terms of colour and brightness.

The difference between original and 3rd party inks would be the colour gamut... the 3rd party ink would likely cover a smaller gamut so some colours at the extreme ends of the colour space you choose to use would be out of gamut meaning that the 3rd party inks cannot reproduce them. This usually is not very important for most people unless you're very very particular or you're a professional and need the last bit of colour accuracy...

Another point is that some inks are particularly difficult to profile. It's probably got to do with their consistency in producing colours required. So that's one other point to note. Also the Dmax might be different and most cheaper colour profiling systems don't do Dmax profiling... so I guess that's one other issue to take note of...

For Epson, the original pigment inks are brilliant. My printer doesn't clog even if I leave it alone for a few months without printing... whereas the 3rd party inks will clog even if I leave it a few days... but because the 3rd party inks are so cheap (and in this case seems pretty good), I'm willing to endure the necessary evil of unclogging plus profiling... cos once you get it right, then it works like a charm...

 

[evo-lution]

Eh jus to share something with everyone here. Original ink also got fake ones. Some of these original inks out there are packaged with original packaging but they are fakes or parallel imports. Worst of all, they are often priced exactly the same as originals.

But often these cartridges goes unnoticed by both consumers and retailers cos, they simply look the same and is priced the same as originals. It is only until when the printer dun recognise the cartridges due to the lousy quality chips on the catridge itself then people realised that they are fakes when they bring the cartridge back to the respective manfacturers.

I know this becoz i used to work for one of the major brands in the printing industry. Best way to ensure the cartridges are really original is to go buy at IT shows. Furthermore, they usually give better deals at IT shows too. Don't worry about stocking up too much ink cartridges at one shot. As long as u don't open them, they can last quite a few years. And considering each year got 4 IT shows, dun worry abt running out of supplies.... BTW, for canon, usually they dun have very good ink cartridges offers at Sitex, but the other IT shows are generally fine.

 

[lemontree]

I just found Inke Ink Refills..

Called up Woodlands Mart and the price is pretty good. I'm using HP Photosmart C5280. Colour is going for $19.30 and the black and white refill is $13.40. I think the prices are fixed according to those on this website http://www.inkerefills.com/refillprices/.

Shall be bringing my colour cartridge for refill today or day after. Yippee!

 

[Zoomboid]

I just found Inke Ink Refills..

Called up Woodlands Mart and the price is pretty good. I'm using HP Photosmart C5280. Colour is going for $19.30 and the black and white refill is $13.40. I think the prices are fixed according to those on this website http://www.inkerefills.com/refillprices/.

Shall be bringing my colour cartridge for refill today or day after. Yippee!

how is your refill?

 

[ngzhimao]

what i feel is that.. my epson printer ink is so cheap until i dun need to buy third party.. i use it to print documents.. and all i need are mostly black ink.. and it onli cause 10dollar.. hahaha

 

[imwint3r]

what i feel is that.. my epson printer ink is so cheap until i dun need to buy third party.. i use it to print documents.. and all i need are mostly black ink.. and it onli cause 10dollar.. hahaha

well you're looking at the cost of an ink tank. what if the amount of ink in the ink tank is significantly lower such that the cost/ml ends up higher? epson has been known to have done that

what's stopping them from selling you $1 ink cartridges even if it needs to be replaced every 20 pages? it's only $1!

 

[somebody123]

hey all!

i bought inks from inkstation for my epson cx3900. but its not a cis. just bottled ink, and catridges that allow me to refill.

anyone encountered problem using their inks and "refillable" catridges?

 

[somebody123]

hey all,

my epson cs3900 has run out of yellow ink. but i only need it to print black and white documents but i can't seem to get the printer going without needing to change the yellow ink.

is there any way i can go around it? don't wanna waste my money on yellow ink when i only print b&w anyways.

 

[noobieslr]

I just found Inke Ink Refills..

Called up Woodlands Mart and the price is pretty good. I'm using HP Photosmart C5280. Colour is going for $19.30 and the black and white refill is $13.40. I think the prices are fixed according to those on this website http://www.inkerefills.com/refillprices/.

Shall be bringing my colour cartridge for refill today or day after. Yippee!

Hi, i am new to this forum. I just got a Nikon D90 for the recent and an A3 printer from the recent Comex 2010. After a week of figuring out the camera and printer, i have run out of ink. Can you let me know how the Inke refills were? Any good? My printer salesman recommended Inke too but I am worried about losing my warranty but the printer salesman explained that these days print heads don't come with warranty. True or Not?

Also where do i get good photo paper. Everyone recommends Fullmark for inkjet printing but has anyone actually tried them?

Advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

 

[TME]

Hi, i am new to this forum. I just got a Nikon D90 for the recent and an A3 printer from the recent Comex 2010. After a week of figuring out the camera and printer, i have run out of ink. Can you let me know how the Inke refills were? Any good? My printer salesman recommended Inke too but I am worried about losing my warranty but the printer salesman explained that these days print heads don't come with warranty. True or Not?

Also where do i get good photo paper. Everyone recommends Fullmark for inkjet printing but has anyone actually tried them?

Advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated

You first need to find out if the printheads are located on the printer or the cartridges. If it's located on the printer carriage, and if the printheads are burnt out or damaged, you'll have to change the whole printer as the cost of the printheads would be as much as a new printer. If the printheads are on the cartridges, then you don't have to worry. Once they degrade, throw them away and buy a new cartridge.

Refills should not damage your printheads. However as they are cheaper, they usually do not contain the sophisticated lubricants that help keep the printheads clean, and extend the life of the printheads. If you do not print much (say less than 100 A4 sheets in a year), then you're pretty safe. Your printheads won't be affected by refill inks. And it doesn't matter where your printheads are located. Inke refills sound good as it's easy and fuss free but I don't know about the quality of the print and the durability.

One thing to note about refill inks, they are different in composition from the originals. So the print quality will definitely look different. The colour of the print will be different. Basically the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow & black) ink colours are different shades as the formulation of the inks are different. You will need to calibrate your colour tone when you print. A more straightfoward way is to test print and adjust the colour on your screen until whatever is printed out satisfies you. This can be expensive as you will probably need to print a lot of samples to get it right. And each sample will need different amounts of tweaking.

A better method would be colour manage your printing. This is a rather extensive topic and best read slowly with some experimentation. If you're happy with the default output, then there's no need to read further... but if you want better control of how your print looks like, then take a look at the following:

Read the links in the order posted.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/features.html#Colour_Management

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/features.html#Printing


Happy reading... and spending money...

My suggestion for good quality paper is to buy Ilford papers. You can get them from Challenger at a good price. Challenger at Funan Centre at a large range of relatively affordable papers. Try Ilford Super Premium Photo Pearl paper if you are using pigment inks. It's really good and relatively affordable at $9.90 per 20 sheets ($8.90 if you're a member). Pearl paper is a semi-gloss paper. If you like full glossy prints, try the cheapest HP glossy paper or for dye inks try Ilford's Super Premium Super Glossy paper ($9.50 for 20 sheets - $1 off if you're a member at Challenger). I can give you a pack of Ilford's glossy paper if you are using dye inks cos I can't use them. If you like Matte paper, try Epson Matte Paper - Heavy-weight ($21.90 for 50 sheets) - this is really nice matte paper at a good price, just not so thick paper stock. These papers come with standard profiles which can be downloaded from the Ilford website. Otherwise, stick to HP papers since you are using a HP printer. The HP papers are optimised for HP inks and should match well. Other good and relatively affordable papers are from Canon and Epson. But these are a lot more expensive compared to the Ilford.

Please note, do check that the paper is compatible with your printer inks. By this I mean that if your printer uses pigment inks, make sure the paper you buy can hold pigment inks. Otherwise it will smudge. The other type of ink is dye inks. This type of ink is cheaper and there are more types of cheaper paper available for dye inks.

Hope this helps rather than confuses you...

 

[hanzohattori]

Hi TME,

You sound like an experienced printer. Do you have a A4 printer model recommendation in $300 range?
I want to print in fine art quality, probably on a fibre based paper. I'm totally new in printing

 

[TME]

Hi TME,

You sound like an experienced printer. Do you have a A4 printer model recommendation in $300 range?
I want to print in fine art quality, probably on a fibre based paper. I'm totally new in printing

Hello hanzohattori,

I don't really print fine art style... I usually use plastic based paper. I'm using an Epson R1800 which uses pigment inks. And I usually use Epson Semi-gloss, Glossy, Archival Matte or Matte Heavyweight paper. Or for giving away, I use Ilford Super Premium Pearl.

If you really want to print fine art quality, a $300 printer won't cut it. It's just not possible. The precision of the ink droplet placement will not be good enough. You will need something with at least 8 inks with a few black cartridges if you are into b&w printing. The cheapest printer that would meet your need would be the Epson R1900 (or whatever latest model) or the 2880. I'm quite outdated with printer models as I'm quite pleased with my R1800 and its output. I'm not too demanding. Fine Art rag, there're plenty around - Epson & Canon produce very good paper. These are quite expensive. More affordable is Ilford - that is the cheaper range. Ilford has a Galerie range which is also quite dear. Otherwise try Hahnemuhle or Museo. These are very expensive, very high end. Cathay Photo carries Museo. I don't really know which shop carries Hahnemuhle but you could try Ruby Photo at Peninsular Shopping Centre (inside Excelsior Hotel). Rudy is a pro shop and they do sell interesting papers. There are other even higher end brands and papers around. Some of these I have read on The Luminous Landscape but I don't know if it's possible to obtain these easily in Singapore. Some of the papers cost a few dollars per cut sheet.

 

[noobieslr]

Wow, TME, you really know ur stuff. Thanks for the reply, now i understand about print heads and pigment and dye based inks. Now i know why in the past when i used generic refill inks and the CISS, the ink just wouldn't stick to the paper causing so much smudging.

Anyway out of desperation i went to the Inke Refill place and refilled my carts, saved a bundle and used the savings on Fullmark Mirror Gloss paper. Was considering the Ilford but the shop guy was telling me the Mirror Gloss paper is resin coated so it is better. So i bought to try. Half the price of the ilford but can anyone tell me what is resin coated? Why is it supposed to be better?

I have printed out about 20 A4 full prints and love the paper and don't see any difference in the ink. But since i am new to this and having an untrained eye don't quote me on this.

 

[hanzohattori]

Hi TME,

So its just about the color gamut then ? Anyway, judging from this thread. I think I'll take my chances with T60 and dye based ink
Thanks FYI :thumbsup:

 

[rachada]

Resin Coated means the paper is sandwhiched by polyethylene layers, making it waterproof and more resistant to curling when the paper is drying.

 

[TME]

Hi TME,

So its just about the color gamut then ? Anyway, judging from this thread. I think I'll take my chances with T60 and dye based ink
Thanks FYI :thumbsup:

I really don't know what you have in mind when you say fine art prints... but if you're referring to the type of prints that photo galleries sell for hundreds and thousands of dollars in those art places... then the $300 printer won't give you that quality...

For those quality of prints, it's not just the colour gamut although that plays a very important role. It's about the types of paper you can use. It's about the precision of the print you want to reproduce.

If you're just a hobbyist, like me, just want to print fine art prints with a $300 printer, sure, no problem. You probably won't see much difference... sometimes I examine my prints using a high powered magnifying glass... but that's extreme... for normal viewing distance and to untrained eyes (i.e. your general viewers), I'm sure the $300 printer will give excellent prints.

 

[kampongkid]

Is anyone using Epson T50/T60 Photo Printer, what brand and type of CISS would be best recommend ?

 

[jsohhl]

Epson Original Continuos Ink Supply System

Epson L800 6 colour ink Set

 

[janac]

is it available in singapore?

Epson Original Continuos Ink Supply System

Epson L800 6 colour ink Set

 

[bobofish]

Is anyone using Epson T50/T60 Photo Printer, what brand and type of CISS would be best recommend ?

Using the Sepoms continuous ink supply system on T50. Coat about $100plus to install n comes with additional set of ink. I'm on my 2nd T50 with the CISS now.