Pigment ink refills - my jet printer Epson Stylus Photo 2880 just got better!

How do you print your pictures?

When I was a kid enjoying my first Russian made camera, I annexed home bathroom for a darkroom. I spent hours practicing different exposure methods and watching black and white images appearing magically under home made safe light. Well, it was about 40 years ago or perhaps even more.
Now, shooting digital we all have an option of giving images for a commercial print, or printing it on our own printer. I usually do the second, unless I require really large images. But for most of my needs 13x19” size, or 13” wide rolls are sufficient. So, I print 90% of my photos at home (unless it is a commercial large run, of course).

I went through various printers and used Canon for a long time. Last year, a good friend convinced me to switch to Epson, and I admit I am quite happy about it. My first Epson – which I still use – was Stylus Photo 1400, a nice printer using Claria dye based inks. I like very much saturated colours it gives, but it was badly lacking when it came to black and white. Monochromes came out of it twisted, with uneven blackness, simply disaster.
Therefore I bought another Epson – this time it was Stylus Photo 2880 using K3 pigment inks. It does fantastic work printing black and white or other monochrome images, although I found that infamous problem of black pigment ink on a glossy paper rather annoying. These of you who use it know well what I mean – black colour has a different reflectiveness, doesn't blend and looks much more mat than other colours, creating a bit weird overall effect on some prints. As I also like very dense, saturated colours – I found that Epson's pigment inks lack that “umph” I liked so much in dye inks. Well, there is always a price to pay... or – is it?

At first, I started to look for alternative supplies of ink purely because of ridiculous price of original Epson inks. Cartridges are so tiny, yet so pricey. With both dye and pigment – when you print large format, you run through them faster than you like it, yes? It was very irritating to see that I pay for cartridges so much that it almost would be cheaper to buy a new printer, ha ha...

I had good luck with replacement dye inks, but finding good “no name” pigment inks proved to be a tricky task. I almost killed my printer when one cheap ink clogged all jets, and I was desperately cleaning them for couple of days. Still – I kept looking. I looked in China, Hong Kong, USA and UK.

But the answer to my hopes came from Canada, and I find it absolute good luck!

I found a company in Quebec, which does their own pigment inks – and they actually are BETTER than Epson. Yes! I mean it – better! Hard to believe it? Sure. I was skeptical too. Their price was a bit higher than other knock-offs, and I ordered just a small test package.

I couldn't believe my eyes. These guys managed to create a very stable pigment ink which works perfectly fine – and it looks like a fusion of pigment and dye. Gone is that weird look of black pigment on a glossy paper, and density of colour, saturation and overall look are simply fantastic!

I am hooked on it.

I noticed that this ink being modified and behaving a bit like a dye ink – sometimes prints slightly different colour spectrum than I would want. I noticed it most in dark blue range. Not much, just a tiny bit. Some would not notice it, but I am always obsessed with quality.

I was told by factory that it is because their pigment inks are a bit different and don't necessarily work 100% with original Epson profiles, and secondly – they are made for bigger models of printers using more cartridges. Benefit of these differently made inks is that they penetrate photo paper a bit deeper than typical pigment inks which, unlike dye inks, typically stay only on the very top surface. That difference makes them look more vibrant, and makes them also harder to scratch than other pigment inks.

Solution to this tiny colour shift? Very simple. I ordered customized profiles for a very reasonable price. Took me 30 minutes and after about a week, I received my profiles from a very helpful professional, an engineer at Adobe, who after hours offers profiling services. Here is his site: http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/

On this photo - my test sheet for profile making.
Once I installed them – I have perfect prints, perfect printer, and perfect inks! Now my mat, luster, and gloss look so good that it impresses me every time. Gone is dull, unsaturated colour of pigment ink, gone is that black problem- and black and white images look shockingly good.

I find it interesting that a small company from Quebec succeeded in improving something Epson did not think of. Good for them – and good for us – photographers who use their services. Best part is that this ink - being better - is still cheaper than original Epson cartridges, so I have no complaints.

Did I say who they are? No? Company is named Ink Owl, and is selling their ink on line http://www.inkowl.com
And – no – I don't get paid for speaking highly about them. I am simply really enthusiastic, because they helped me achieve top results. They offer products for many different brands of printers and models, and their dye inks are as good as original ones, too. Surely, they also have refillable cartridges you need.

Another good thing – it may benefit you or not, depending on your printer model – but my Stylus 2880 uses different ink cartridges for gloss and mat printing. One has to open printer and exchange cartridges each time a different paper is used. I found it completely silly, unworthy Epson’s name, but here we are – it is what it is. But – Ink Owl's black pigment ink is the same for both mat and gloss, so you can simply use one cartridge only and change paper profile when printing from Photoshop, kinda cheating the printer. Works for me!

Experimenting with different photography products and supplies, I had many painful disappointments. It is good to have a story of perfect success from time to time, so I decided to share it with you. Most of us use jet printers, so chances are this can save you money – and give you better prints!

If so, it will make me most happy. Until next time, cheers!

Derek