Selling Two HUGE printers - HP Z6100 42" and Epson 11880 64"

Ok, how I ended up with two printers about as big as VW Beetles without realizing I wasn't going to have enough space to set them up is a topic for another day. Bottom line, I have an HP Z6100 42" Postscript version and an Epson 11880 64" printer to sell. Both are boxed, brand new, fully warrantied, and in storage. These things are massive. After being allocated one of the first 11880's in the country, I jumped on the chance. Besides, my accountant said it would be a good idea... But when I considered work flow issues due to their sheer size, I decided they weren't going to fit.

I am willing to sell both of these printers at a loss to cut my monthly storage fee! Please be local in Chicago or willing to arrange shipping (I might if you ask nicely). Save thousands, save me money, buy one of these wonderful machines!

If interested, please contact me at info@elevateprinting.com or give me a call directly at 312.380.5017. If I can't hear you over the commotion, please leave me a message.

Best,
Michael

Two big galleries opening Jan 2008 you should attend

Two art galleries we're sponsoring this month:

Nigel Evan Dennis (Electric Heat) @ the Threadless gallery downtown













Chuck Anderson (No Pattern) @ the Green Label Art gallery (Mountain Dew)


Come out and support some great Chicago Artists.

-Elevate Printing

How do I know when my 9600 is dying?

I common question I've been getting recently is...
How do I know when my 4000 is not fixable?
When is my 7600 need to be replaced?

Epson printers and their permanent print heads come with both advantages and disadvantages. Advantage being they're perfectly calibrated when they leave the factory. Disadvantage being they cost more to replace then the printer is worth. Typically, after three to five years, depending on print volume, noticeable quality loss we begin to appear on your 4000/7600/9600. Replacing printheads will cost at least $1,000. Having a certified technician visit your place of business: $500 minimum.

This $1,500 is not worth it to save one of these printers, even for a 9600. Time to upgrade. Maintain your current workflow by getting a 4800/7800/9800, or consider a 12-ink from the HP Z series line.

Once quality begins to decline, expect to start doing a LOT of head cleaning. You can still get up to a year or so of use out of the printers from this point on before they really eat the dust. I recommend upgrading at the first sign of quality deterioration and saving you old printer for banners/posters/signage (anything that can get away with a little less than perfect output).

Winning the war against Double Management (part 1)

One of the dreaded terms often heard between tech's and artists alike is double management. While a good RIP software (or CS3 or a good printer plugin) will eliminate this problem, I figure I'll add my two cents before it becomes an obsolete issue. For all of us not lucky enough to afford a RIP or CS3, which has been me in the past, here we go...

There are just too many places where you can select the same options for your prints. Depending on your printer manufacture/model, I count up to four. Yes, four. (I assume Photoshop CS2 or below for the rest of the article) For starters, there is the Print Preview and associated Page Setup. When you select your printer in Page Setup, it will give you the nice "preferences" button next to it. Click on that and you'll be brought to a place to select seemingly identical info. Don't think that choosing the correct settings here will let you neglect to set the preference from the actual "PRINT" dialog box. Once you have all your settings correct up through the PAGE SETUP>>PRINT PREVIEW, we are brought to the actual PRINT dialog.

Now in Print, you will see the list of printers as well as the preferences button again. Depending on how well your computer runs/what you've done since Print Preview, some of the settings may have decided to change back to their default. This ruins prints quite quickly.

The fourth place for some of us is on the LCD display of the actual printer. Some, such as Canon's iPF series, prompt you for information such as the media type and media size. One more place to double manage/make a mistake. One advantage of CS3 is that it will merge the past 3 dialog boxes together to a single screen, making it about three times easier to print with the correct settings...

(Continued Tomorrow)

Adobe CS3 Creative License Conference -- Review

On Wednesday (5/16/07) I was lucky enough to be at the HP Booth sponsering the Adobe conference for the release of CS3. Overall the show was very impressive, CS3 looks very promising. One of the most impressive benefits I saw was Photoshop's new 3D ability. The demostrations really showcased some inovative things. I was also excited about the new combination of "Page Setup" and "Print Preview," finally making printer settings more intuitive and powerful. This should really take a lot of the guesswork and prevent the dreaded "double management" for issues from Portrait vs. Landscape to Printer vs. Photoshop color management.


Lots of great people at the shop, I would highly recommend going if one is coming near you (8 city tour, 1 or 2 day events). Also a great networking opportunity for anyone involved in creative professions.

http://www.adobecs3conference.com/

Giclee Seminar - Tomorrow in Chicagoland (Free!)

IT supplies is hosting a Giclee seminar tomorrow (May 16th, 2007) in Schaumburg, (NW suburb of Chicago). Its free, appears to be sponsered by Epson, and will feature local artists showing Giclee tips, tricks, and a basic overview of the Giclee process. Its running from 1PM - 7PM, I will try and catch the end of it if I can get back from the Adobe CS3 Conference in time (unfortunately, not Free). Should be a good time.

More info - http://www.itsupplies.com/GicleeInvitation.html