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| | I had the good fortune to receive one of the first HP Designjet Z3100 printers early in November. Although HP considers this a test unit, I found that it performs quite well as a day-to-day production unit.
This is a robust, top-quality, pro-level printer. HP has learned well from its experiences with its new photographic-quality printers in the last couple of years, and the company has really listened to photographers in designing and building this machine. Print quality is excellent on a variety of media; I've had an opportunity to test photographic-quality glossy, satin, canvas, and fine art/rag media thus far.
Paper handling with sheet-fed and roll media is very good, the user interface (hardware and software) is clear and user-friendly, and print quality in color and black and white is excellent. Time will tell, but my initial experience indicates that the printer will improve my productivity and cost less to operate than older technology. | | A Brief Description | | | | • | Available in 24- and 44-inch-wide versions. | | • | Uses 12 pigment-based inks (includes quad blacks, gloss enhancer, dedicated red, green and blue cartridges, etc.); HP also offers an 8-ink version in the Z series, called the Z2100. | | • | Uses a built-in spectrophotometer for creating custom ICC paper profiles using a wide range of media (Eye-One technology from GretagMacbeth). | | • | Ships with preset media profiles you can use right away, or uses custom profiles created via the on-board spectrophotometer. | | • | Prints black-and-white images on matte and art papers without expensive ink purging and recharging. | | • | Accepts roll and sheet media, including a variety of photographic inkjet, fine art, canvas and others; HP indicates it will provide up to 35 different media types for this printer. | | • | Provides up to 200-year print life (see Wilhelm Research data). | | | Setting Up | | | Like most large format printers in this class, the Z3100 arrives in a large box, strapped to a shipping palette. (This is the 44-inch version.) The box does a good job of protecting the equipment during shipping.
Unpacking and setup are straightforward, and the instructions provided are clear and complete. HP indicates that the customer should use three people to complete assembly of the printer; I managed to do this with just my assistant and myself.
The time from when we opened the box through making the first calibrations and the first print was around 90 minutes. Once the box is open, assembling the printer involves the following: | • | Assembling the printer legs | | • | Attaching the printer legs to the printer | | • | Turning the printer upright and removing packaging | | • | Installing inks, print heads and software | | • | Connecting the USB or network cables | | • | Setting up via the computer | | • | Ink charging and printer calibration | Interestingly, the main body of the printer ships in the box upside down. The legs are attached to the printer while it is still in the box, and then the printer is flipped upright. | | Basic Printer Calibration | | | This function drives the printer to produce a color-standardized (linearization) target and then measure it. This process is pretty much a two- or three-mouse-click exercise: You choose the calibration run, choose your paper, click OK, and the printer does the rest of the work.
This is a very valuable function. Any printer, regardless of manufacturer, will drift slightly in color-the cause may be something as simple as installing a new roll of paper, or increased environmental humidity. This helps to return the printer to a standardized condition, sometimes called a "known state." | | Display Calibration | | | | The software also provides a display-calibration routine. You'll need a display calibration device to use it. As we all know by now, a calibrated display helps greatly in getting your screen to match your final output. | | Printing From Photoshop CS2 | | | | Printing from Photoshop is reasonably straightforward. From File > Print Preview, you'll see this screen. As you normally would if you are using ICC profiles, select Let Photoshop Manage Color, and select the profile for your media. | | The Printing Experience | | | The printer is mechanically robust and user-friendly. Paper handling is very good. In fact, HP has built in an automatic paper skew correction utility for roll paper (which is great for those like me who can't see straight!).
The Z3100 handles sheet-fed and roll media without complaint, and changing media types is easy. If you choose to use several media types on roll paper, I recommend that you order an extra paper spindle or two-they're inexpensive, and it saves time to have rolls ready to go.
I've made dozens of prints at this point, using several media types, and so far no paper jams, no scratched prints, no roller marks-in fact, no hiccups at all.
HP has made sure that its fine art media, which is quite thick, is loaded on three-inch cores. This is a nice touch, as it prevents your prints from curling up post-production.
When running, the printer is a bit too noisy for my taste. Printing speed is average, as compared to the competition.
You'll need room in front of and behind the printer to operate it. This is a somewhat inconvenient, as the footprint is a few square feet bigger than other machines.
The printer takes a few minutes to become ready from a power-off condition. This is apparently caused by the need to boot up an internal hard drive and run routine diagnostics. HP recommends that the machine be left in power-on condition, which also enables automatic maintenance routines.
Once I accidentally unplugged the cable from the printer, which caused the printer to freeze and refuse to pay any more attention to me. Powering off then on and reconnecting solved the problem.
The printer's LCD display and menus are easy to use. Visibility is great, and menu choices are clear and understandable.
The printer uses very little ink when first set up, and in my opinion, it uses much less ink during initial setup than other manufacturers' machines. Additionally, print head cleaning cycles are automated and appear to be quite thrifty with ink.
Print quality is excellent on satin, glossy and fine art media. In my opinion, the Z3100 produces the best color prints I have ever seen using Hahnemühle Smooth Fine Art Paper (same as Photo Rag).
In unofficial testing in my kitchen sink, I found that images printed on glossy and satin media using the gloss enhancer are very water-resistant.
The Z3100 handles contrasty and highly saturated images well. In addition, both highlight and shadow detail hold up very well. Prints show deep, rich blacks and detailed highlights. The printer also renders clear, almost translucent skin tones on glossy and satin papers-it really has a unique look that I think my customers will like very much.
Black-and-white printing is superb, with no discernible color cast, metamerism or bronzing (when gloss enhancer is used). On fine art paper, black-and-white prints have excellent black density and tonal range.
The user can print in quad-black mode, which uses only black inks. In other words, you can choose to use four neutral inks, black only, on fine art paper. As far as I have heard, this is the only machine available that offers this advanced functionality right out of the box.
I'm really pleased by the fact that I don't have to change printers or purge inks to switch from glossy paper to fine art media. Purging inks can cost real money on a large format printer-frequently between $100 and $200.
HP has set up an extensive technical support network for these products. So far, though, I've had no reason to call them. At this point, all I can report is that HP's live technical support has a reputation among friends and colleagues for timeliness and accuracy. The paper (yes, they provide a printed manual!) and online documentation are clear and complete.
In conclusion, my initial experience with the Z3100 has been positive. Image quality is excellent right out of the box. Creating and using custom ICC profiles is straightforward and much easier than using a handheld spectrophotometer, and it pushes print quality up even more.
I have successfully made high-quality photographic prints and art reproductions up to 30 x 40 inches in size. Although I've had the printer a couple of weeks, I can't really say how it will hold up under heavy use. Given the high build quality, however, I'm reasonably optimistic in this area.
In my opinion, the performance bar has been raised significantly. I haven't seen a printer come to the market that offered this much of an improvement in quality, productivity and overall costs in a long time. Photographers who print their own work, or those who print for others, should seriously consider the Z3100. | | | |  | | | | | | | If you do decide to purchase a printer this size and you do not have a truck loading dock at your studio, be sure and tell the trucking company to deliver the printer on a lift gate. This makes the delivery process much easier. | | | | Software | | | | The machine ships with a set of software printer drivers, a wide range of ICC paper profiles and a Printer Utility application written specifically for the Z3100. The Printer Utility application provides a simple, easy-to-understand control panel for the following functions: | • | Printer status | | • | Printer usage | | • | Display calibration | | • | Creating and installing ICC Profiles | | • | Job accounting | | • | Basic printer calibration | | • | Managing papers/media | (Note: Some of these functions also require installation of the HP Advanced Profiling Solution software. This add-on application provides advanced controls for monitor calibration, printer profile generation and more.)
Printer status provides information about ink levels, etc. Job accounting generates a detailed report, which includes the name of each job printed, the dimensions of the paper used, type of media, and ink used per square inch. This data may be exported to Excel files so you can calculate the cost of each print, which is a big help to those of us struggling with pricing in a competitive market. | | | | Create and Install ICC Profile | | | | This software function drives the Z3100 to create and install a full ICC color profile for the ink/media combination you are using. This type of profile, used correctly, will improve color accuracy and the rendering of skin tones, regardless of which printer you are using. (If you are not using profiles in your professional printing, you should be.)
The Z3100 will print a color target on the media that is loaded in the machine. This target consists of 464 color patches. The printer then allows sufficient time for the ink to cure in the air and then automatically scans the target using the built-in Eye-One spectrophotometer.
Unlike using a hand-held spectrophotometer, this is an automated function, which means it requires very little time or labor from the photographer or assistant. It's pretty cool to watch the printer pull the printed target back inside for the automated scanning cycle-look, no hands!
In a professional setting, I recommend that the photographer profile their inkjet printer and paper whenever a new ink cartridge is installed, a new box or roll of paper is loaded, or environmental conditions-such as temperature or humidity-change significantly.
I have found that custom ICC profiles made for a specific printer perform better than generic or "canned" profiles provided by manufacturers.
Generally, use of good ICC profiles will save you money, too. If you are using a calibrated display and accurate ICC profiles, you should be able to cut the number of proof prints you have to make using a non-color-controlled system in half, if not more. I'm speaking from my own experience, in this case.
Why use an on-board spectrophotometer (other than having access to high-quality ICC profiles, of course)? If we calculate that a paper-profiling cycle using a handheld device requires 30 minutes of attention from the photographer, and we assume that it is necessary to profile new paper or the printer every other day, this system saves you four to five hours of time each month. That's 60 hours per year, and at a direct labor rate of $50 per hour, that's $7200. Even if you cut this amount in half, this is a real productivity tool. Not only are you saving the time, but while the profiling runs automatically in the background, you can get something else done. | | | | |
| | David Saffir is an award-winning commercial and fine art photographer, located in Santa Clarita, California. He is the author of Mastering Digital Color: A Photographers' and Artists' Guide to Controlling Color, published by Thomson Course Technology. He has published numerous articles on digital photography, color management and inkjet printing. He is a national conference-level speaker and instructor, teaching at WPPI, the Clear Focus Studios and other venues. Visit his website at www.davidsaffir.com, or email him at davidsaffir@mac.com.
Reproduced with permission from After Capture, January 2007. | | |
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