Does the HP Z2100 have a color problem?

[DavidJan]

I am a photographer; I use various printing service providers to make big canvas prints. (I print up to A3 on my own printers.) I have been happy with the results from most of them, but I just had some A1 canvas prints made at a new provider, who boast having an HP Z2100. All the prints were washed out and shadows were bright yellow and purple instead of gray and black. I Googled "canvas prints inaccurate colors" and the 1st two hits were for the HP Z2100. It turns out that this is the printer used by this provider.

My question is, does this printer have a problem with color? Or maybe color consistency over time? Or does the provider not know how to use it properly (they are new, but close to my studio.) Does the printer need a firmware upgrade? Does it need to be calibrated for the software they use? Is there something about my jpeg files (made in Photoshop on a PC running Windows 7) that doesn't work on an Apple (which is what they use, and which I have no experience with.)

I would greatly appreciate hearing the experiences of HP Z2100 users.

Regards,

DJ

 

[William Allen]

We had a Z2100 for a couple of months until we could persuade HP to take it back. Ours suffered from Metamerism and it didn't matter what software handled the file. We tried the Ilford RIP and directly from Photoshop. The HP man printed the Onyx test directly from his laptop. We probably had a rogue machine because not all Z2100 printers could have been like this.

The printer was replaced by a Z3200, which uses 12 inks and gives us superb quality. Both the Z2100 and Z3200 have a built-in spectrophotometer and we do a calibration whenever we fit a new roll of paper. This calibration can be done from the printer or from Photoshop. There's no excuse for bad color rendering.

We always print from 16 bit tiffs because it gives much better quality and we accept the larger file size. Storage is so much cheaper than it used to be!

 

[DavidJan]

William,

Thanks for sharing your experience. I will pass it on to them - hopefully HP can sort them out.

I will also start asking about support for 16 bit tiff files. Jpgs have been "good enough", but as you point out, size really isn't an issue anymore.

 

[ronaldkoch]

I have heard that this printer has some problem like color consistency but i have never heard about other problems as such. You should also ask for the support for 16 bit tiff files.

_____________________
hp printer problems

 

[William Allen]

We chose the Z2100 because several colleagues are delighted with the printer and its results.

The gloss enhancer does improve the perceived quality of the prints and this alone probably makes the Z3200 worthwhile.

When we used 8 bit tiffs, we were plagued with tide-marks on white backgrounds if the levels of a hi-key portrait hadn't been adjusted quite right.

16 bit TIFFS allowed us to get away with the 6MP of our Kodak DCS760 for a bit longer because the extra bit depth improved the tonal quality.

 

[Photomouse1]

We use an epson 7880. The colours are fantastic. We've never had an issue with it in the four years since we bought it. If I were you'd I'd stick to Epson. We only ever hear bad things about HP's.

 

[William Allen]

We had an Epson 7800 for 6 years before the HP Z3200 and it did indeed give good results but the HP does better.

One snag with the Epson is that it uses and wastes a lot of ink. The end-of-life review showed that more ink went into the maintenance tank than onto the paper and that doesn't allow for evaporation loss.

Epson customer care is excellent whereas dealing with HP has proved a nightmare at times.

 

[IT Supplies]

Epson printers are better in my opinion with quality, though the Z3200/6200 are high quality as well to match Epson's 7890/9890. As far as the best quality, Epson's 7900 and 9900 are supposed to be the top of the line. The ink usage as everyone keeps talking about has gotten better in the newer models. However, if you're looking for one that does better- even with switching from the 2 blacks, would be Canon's series (6400 & 8400 as well as 9400). Plus, the print heads are user replaceable in both Canon and HP.

Epson is our top selling printer as well as Canon's excellent deals going on for the past few months.

If you have questions between the versions, feel free to contact us.
IT Supplies
800-238-6050
info@itsupplies.com

 

[William Allen]

With our Z3200, only the light gray and gloss enhancer are used in any quantity. After nine months and about 10 rolls of 25metres x 61cm paper, 6 of the fun-size cartridges that came with the machine are still around half-full. They were only 69ml to start with.

Both Z2100 and Z3200 have a built-in spectrophotometer which saves a lot of time and trouble when dealing with new papers. It's an expensive optional extra for Epson printers.