WELCOME. This is a website dedicated to inkjet printing with emphasis on photo-realism. For the moment, this site will primarily be focused on the use and optimisation of the Epson Photo EX/700 and HP's Photosmart scanner. If you're new here, drop by the page. This is not an official Epson or HP site, just a site by an enthusiast for enthusiasts. As with all things, draw your own conclusions. Think of this site as a starting point for finding articles, ideas and tips for the digitaldarkroom! Enjoy.

-Established 18 August 1998-

come.to/digitaldarkroom - Redirect URL
www.magix.com.sg/users/kltham - Actual URL
skyscraper.fortunecity.com/skully/129/ - Mirror site

Comparison of Color Gamut!16 May 1999

Been meaning to post this sooner, here is  Dan Culbertson's post on how he compared MIS inks and Epson inks with different papers and has a chart showing the differences/broadness in color gamut of each combination of ink/paper he tested. His take on the results:-

"My interpretation --in order of broadness of gamut:-" 1Epson Ink on Epson Glossy Paper (of course) 2MIS Archival ink on Konica QP  3Epson Ink on Epson Photo Quality Paper 4MIS ink on Concorde Rag (almost equal to Epson ink on PQP but shifted toward blue (??))  5MIS ink on Sommerset Velvet <<<Check out  the chart!>>>

.........................................................................

20-20 Consumer - on-line shopping help!16 May 1999

Check out this site which would be helpful to on-line shoppers. Here's how 20-20 Consumer describes itself- "Now you can have your very own personal shopper on the Internet to offer guidance and advice.  which acts as your own personal shopper on the Internet to offer guidance and advice. We search the net far, and we search the net near, to find the best prices on hundreds of products. We are an independent consumer comparison-shopping service. We are not a store. Prices are updated daily."

 

.........................................................................

Stock Solution's Watercolour paper printing tips!16 May 1999

Time to drop by Stock Solution's Watercolor Paper Printing Tips page. Given the nature of watercolor papers (ie the texture etc), some degree of dot gain is inevitable which casuses prints to look a little dark, muddy and flat in contrast. You can greatly minimize the affects of dot gain by following Stock Solution's tips which were customised for Somerset Velvet but should work as a starting point with other watercolor papers.

 
 

.........................................................................

Intel and Kodak To Make Filmless Insert for 35mm Cameras!15 May 1999

Check out Steve's Digicam Breaking news on this new development with tremendous impact on digital photography. It appears that Intel and Kodak are teaming up to produce a device that lets a normal stills camera take digital pictures. Read the full news article (Yahoo). Here are a few quotes:- "PHOTOGRAPHERS have been slow to adopt digital cameras, as they don't want to discard the lenses and accessories that only fit their film-based cameras. Now Kodak has an answer: it is teaming up with chip maker Intel to produce a device that lets a normal stills camera  take digital pictures.  Intel holds a world patent (WO 99/ 12345) on a set of  microchips that can be built into a combined image sensor and memory unit which slots into any 35-millimetre film camera. Images stored in the removable memory unit, which is shaped like a standard film cartridge, can be transferred to CD-ROM for permanent storage. NO, this is not the same as ImageK's 35mm insert"

.........................................................................

Chi Cheung's Refilling Method!15 May 1999

Chi Cheung who contributed his tip on using shims to reduce the pizza wheel tracks (read his tip here) has just contributed his refilling method. He removes the top of the carts before refilling.. <<<>>>

.........................................................................

Cautionary Note & Cart-Life Extension Trick!14 May 1999

This point which MIS Associates (a well-regarded consumables supplies company) have been informing its customers bears repeating:- "Most of the problems with Epson printers are caused by air in the print head.". Here's a short write up expanding on the basic idea behind the above point and a discussion about how users are advised against using the Cartridge Life Extension Trick. <<>>>

 

.........................................................................

Epson Prographics Site!13 May 1999

Thanks to Daryl Clark of Dygraphics for the tip-off..check out Epson's new website, the Epson Prographics Site which  is dedicated to  the following products:- <<<>>> Do also check out the Reading Room section which has many articles on the above printers

.........................................................................

Confused about Paper sizes?!13 May 1999

Just added an "Essentials" heading to the Paper Section..has two links to key information about paper:- size and the range of Epson media. Have a look:-   PAPER SIZES Weinks's great page detailing all the various paper sizes   EPSON MEDIA Epson Media explained

.........................................................................

Color Management - A Guide!13 May 1999

Check out Inkjetmall's Guide to Color Management. Guide To Color Management Inkjet Mall

.........................................................................

MIS Archival Inks - Initial Impressions!11May 1999

Have a look at my initial impressions of the MIS Archival inks. It's a work in progress so it will be updated as and when I find out new things about this exciting alternative to Epson oem inks. My preliminary conclusion is that this inkset is definitely  a viable alternative to Epson's own inks. Also I found that using this inkset with plain paper gave fairly water resistant printouts - a good solution to those who need to get plain paper printouts that are more stable.<<<>>>

 
 
 

..........................................................................

Visual Comparisons - Stylus 600 to 1200!11May 1999

You gotta see this! Have a look at Royce Bair's actual printed samples compared side by side (using the same image file).  He's done 3 magnifications of each, so you can really get into the details.  He's compared 3 types of Epson printer technologies:- 1. 4-color w/Constant size MicroDot: i.e. in the ESC 600, 800, 850, 1520 & 3000 2. 6-color w/Constant size MicroDot: i.e. in the ES Photo 700 & Photo EX 3. 6-color w/Variable size Ultra MicroDot: i.e. in the ES Photo 750 & ES Photo 1200 The only category of printers not tested were the Stylus 740 and 900. <<<>>>

 
 

..........................................................................

Concorde Rag - First Look!11May 1999

Have a look at my initial impressions of the Concorde Rag.. a fine art paper which is winning rave reviews from those who have tried it. <<<>>>

 
 

.........................................................................

VuePrint 7.4!11May 1999

Hamrick Software's VuePrint Version 7.4 has been released. Just some of VuePrint's features:- Easy to use - just double-click on an image and it is displayed quickly, reduced to fit the window if necessary. If you want a different sized window, just drag the edges of the window. If you want to zoom into an image, use the mouse to draw a box around the area you want to zoom into. Fast - just press the space bar or backspace key to step through the other images in the same directory.  High quality - images that are larger than the  window are shrunk to fit the window with an  algorithm that removes the jagged edges and moire patterns you get with other programs.  Useful - if you have lots of images, VuePrint makes it easy to search these images and find the  ones you're looking for.  .<<<>>>

 

..........................................................................

New Drivers for the Photo EX!8 May 1999

There appears to be  new Photo EX drivers (version 4.5b) at the Epson UK site which I visited recently.  When installed, the driver is referred to as driver version4.51. The Epson UK site lists 19/4/99 as the date the drivers were updated so they are not that new as far as this post of mine goes! The previous version I had been using all along is version 4.5ae (download name) which installs to version 4.50. You have to select Photo EX and the appropriate platform, in my case, Windows 98 and then hit "search". What does Version 4.51 introduce or fix? Well, anyone with any news/info on this topic can email me. As far as I can see, it offers the same functionalities. More later...<<<note>>> For those interested in reading my previous article on old driver version 4.50, here's my short article. Here is my other article on color and setting used in the print driver (also with reference to the old driver version 4.50).