Description of New Firmware, Print Job Backlog

While I was away last week I received an email from Josef Lamber with this description of the changes in the new 7900 firmware:

Versions: 
Printer: HN129C5 Network: 2.11 SpectroProofer: AC3085 
Improvements: 
Add new Paper Feed Adjust feature, Add new Standard color calibration feature, Improve the productivity of photo roll paper printing, Improvement of the amount of suction fan for plain paper, Improvement of printing from multiple client at the same time.

I couldn't read most of his comments (in German); I assume this came from a German (or European) Epson support page. Thanks very much, Josef!

Photo being printed © Judith Bromley

Since I've returned from my trip to very smoky (thanks to three large wildfires more or less surrounding the parks) Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks I've been quite busy getting out client print jobs that have stacked up. I'm making my way toward the end of the backlog. Since my printer is working well (as is the Mac driver, apparently), I won't install the updates until I wrap up these print jobs.

One of the jobs I printed today included a panoramic image 42 inches (107 cm) long, but only 5 inches (13 cm) high. I expected this to be an odd-looking photograph, but in fact it's very cool, capturing lots of detail across a very wide sweep of the landscape above western Montana's Flathead Lake, where both the photographer and I live.

The narrowest roll paper I have is 17 inches. Printing that pano would have wasted a great deal of paper, but fortunately the same photographer wanted a couple of additional photos printed. As it turned out I could "nest" those together in a new Photoshop file and print them as a single item to be cut apart after a suitable drying period. Very little paper (GGFS) was wasted.

It's a little hard to see in the small photo here. The pano is along the left side of the paper, and is not yet completely printed. The two larger images are "abstractions" of a pair of horses.

  --Jay

Firmware and Driver Updates

A couple of days ago I noticed updates to both the 7900's firmware, and to the Mac drivers, had been posted to Epson's U.S. support site. I've been busy with other work, and will be leaving tomorrow to spend a few days camping and photographing in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. It'll likely be a little while before I get either of these updates installed.

Epson provides a very brief comment about the 9.04 Mac driver update:

Printer Driver v9.04 

09/06/12 66.8 MB

Description: This file contains the Epson Stylus Pro 7900 and 9900 Printer Driver v9.04.

This file corrects a possible issue when printing borderless retain size. 

However, there's no comment at all about the HN129C5 firmware update. I've no idea what it changes or fixes. Sometimes Epson's support sites for other countries offers more information. When I have time I'll give those a look, and see what pops up on various forums.

  --Jay

Large Prints, Soft Paper

I recently received an order from a Michigan client who shoots only wide panoramic pictures. Seems he has an opportunity to display some pieces in a swanky local restaurant, and they wanted the images printed large.

I'd seen and printed two of the ten pictures before. The client wanted several in this new batch printed 48 inches (122 cm) wide. In the past I'd printed his work on the Canon HW Satin. I printed this new order on Epson's Luster. The surface is very similar to the Canon in texture and tone. The paper is slightly lighter in weight, and very "soft", that is, a very flexible paper that lays almost perfectly flat when it comes off the roll.

Photo being printed © Steve Ross

The printing was completely routine. I encountered no problems with the printer or the paper. In between two of the prints I received a "replace ink" message on the printer's LCD, which showed the VM cartridge as empty. This was one of the 90ml "starter" cartridges; it's been showing 1% for a long time. No surprise it had to be changed. I have several others in that same 1% state. I expect the 7900 to require changing them every time I print. Apparently one gets very good mileage from that last 1%.

One thing I learned while doing this job: large prints are a challenge to handle. After the printer cuts a 24 inch wide by 53 inch long sheet from the roll, one must be very careful to pick up the print and move it to a table without kinking or dimpling the paper. I suspect this is especially true of very soft papers like the luster. I've printed this large on Moab Entrada Natural 300gsm, an extraordinarily stiff paper. The stuff is like aluminum flashing; it fights hard to maintain its curl. I had no trouble handling those prints. The luster's a very different animal.

I've cautioned the client to minimize handling, and to be very careful with the prints. He's not known for doing anything carefully; I won't be surprised to hear one or more is damaged as he gets his first look at them, or transports them to his framer.

  --Jay

How Not to Ship Stuff

I live in a rural area, about half-way between Kalispell and Missoula, Montana. Although I go to one or the other of those "big cities" a couple of times each  month, neither offers much in the way of retail photographic stores, and nothing at all that caters to large-format printing needs. I've no choice but to order paper, ink, and other supplies via the Web. Doing that, of course, means the products are shipped to my door. That brings the risk of receiving damaged goods, and that is becoming a too-frequent occurrence.

This is due in part to the brutal handing of packages by the good folk at UPS and FedEx. Unfortunately, the product vendors do nothing to help insure safe delivery. An example:

A few days ago I ordered, from Atlex, a 25-sheet box of EEF, 17 x 22 inches (US C). This arrived Friday while I was away.

At left is what I found this on the front porch. You can't see it in this photo, but the tape on the "top" of the carton, the side against the house, was completely broken open. The top of the carton was held closed by the adhesive-backed plastic sleeve holding the packing slip. The bottom of the carton was pushed half-way into the box's interior. Expecting the worst, I photographed the carton before opening it.

Inside I found only the box of EEF. No packing material. None. No styrofoam peanuts. No bubble-wrap or air pillows. No crumpled craft paper. The Epson box is about two inches (5 cm) narrower than the shipping carton. The Epson box is a little over one inch (2.5 cm) thick, while the shipping carton is six inches (15 cm) deep. Plenty of room for the Epson box to bash around inside the larger carton, which it apparently did with abandon. You can see here the edges of the EEF box are scuffed. These boxes are taped on two edges. One of those tape seals had broken.

When I opened the Epson box I found the inner supports, designed to cushion the pack of paper and keep it centered in the box, were smashed flat. The pack of paper had slipped over-top of the support on one side of the box. Nothing good could come from that.

This picture shows the paper pack and its cardboard cover pushed against the right-hand side of the box, and shows the crushed support on the left. The support on the right, under the paper pack, was similarly flattened.

I opened the black plastic sleeve holding the paper and removed the top sheet. I found one deep and one shallow crease in the paper. This doesn't show well in the photo. Clearly this is unusable. I didn't pull any additional sheets from the pack. I returned that to the sleeve and closed the box.

Time to call Atlex.

  --Jay

Update: I had a two-minute conversation with Matt at Atlex. Replacement paper will ship today. A return label for the damaged shipment will be sent via email. I feel like I've spun the roulette wheel—no idea if the replacement will be any better than the first shipment. Time will tell.

Ink Swap Nightmare

Yesterday I did a client print job that included 19 prints, all on EEF (a gloss paper, requiring PK ink). Four were on 17 x 22 inch sheets (US C). One was on a 13 x 19 inch sheet (Super A3/B). The remaining 14 were on (US) letter-size sheets. There were no problems with the printing; the 7900 performed flawlessly, as it nearly always does.

However, the preparation for this print job was the most frustrating experience I've had with my printer so far. Here's the story:

I'd done some print jobs last week on matte papers. Prior to starting yesterday's job I had to swap MK for PK. Not a problem. Press the button, the machine swaps the inks. I've learned this process will automatically perform a cleaning when the next print job is sent. I made that next print job a nozzle check print, which I initiated from the printer's control panel.

I immediately got the set of messages I showed and described in my previous posting. One of the ink levels was too low for cleaning. I needed to replace that ink before cleaning could continue. But which ink? The printer doesn't tell you.

Perhaps my problem is partly my own fault. There are 11 inks in this printer. Eight of those 11 in my printer are at 4% or lower. But I've made dozens of prints with ink levels at 1%, and see no reason to replace inks if the machine will continue to print with them. It may be necessary to replace an ink cartridge for cleaning, but Epson makes it quite clear that, once the cleaning is finished, the nearly empty cartridge can be re-installed and used until it's empty. That's what I do.

I've heard, and seen some evidence myself, that if an ink is at 5% or below, the 7900 will require installing a new (or at least, more full than 5%) cartridge before cleaning can continue. In any case, I had no idea which ink to change. Since I'd just done the MK-to-PK swap, I guessed I needed to replace my PK, which was at 4%. I installed a new PK. Replacing an ink cartridge requires pressing a button, choosing from a menu whether to open the left, right, or both ink compartment doors, replacing the ink cartridge, closing the door, and then waiting a minute for the system to pressurize. After all that for the PK replacement, the printer displayed the "Ink too low to clean" message again.

Which ink to change? I made a guess, replaced that ink, and again the machine displayed its "Ink too low to clean" message. To shorten the story, one at a time I replaced a total of seven ink cartridges before the machine would proceed with the cleaning. Fortunately I had a complete set of inks on hand.

When the cleaning finished, I removed all the new inks, returned the low-level cartridges to the machine, and then began printing. I was able to complete the job, and run several more prints today, without issue.

Epson: please, please give us a firmware update that identifies the ink(s) that must be replaced for cleanings! The current process is intolerable.

  --Jay