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Pigment Vs Eco Solvent
Hi all,
I’m being asked about the potential to do canvas and normal matt paper prints ongoing using my Roland SP-300v.
Its raised an interesting question as I’ve seen this sort of work being more suited towards pigment based printers like the Epsons. I only say that based on the fact that they con only print on that sort of material and not say the vinyl based stuff I can therefore being more specialised in that area (if that makes sense!).
Which is more cost effective ? Are the consumables more expensive on the Epsons compared to the Eco Sol Max inks I use? How about materials as I need special media to print using the Eco Sol Max inks? Is there anything else I should consider in terms of quality of output and longevity of prints?
Sorry if the questions are a little scatty, I guess my overall thoughts are can I be competitive against a printer armed with an Epson (or similar) and is my customer going to be getting comparable quality of prints?
Cheers
Pete
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14 Replies
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I am pretty sure eco solvent is cheaper for consumables and media but don’t quote me on this.
But I’m sure their inks and media will last longer and be of better quality. I’m pretty sure I saw accelerated tests of epson ultrachrome inks lasting upto 75 years.
Pigment printers can range from 6+ colours so naturally have a wider color gammut then your sp300.
Depends on your client really if they are happy with the output or not.
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Cheers for that Jason, 75 years, impressive! 🙂
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Epson produce some excellent inks. If you open a Roland Eco Sol Max cartridge, the ink pouch has Epson on it!!!
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Eco inks, like full solvent inks, are pigment based inks. The main difference between these and say epson’s UltraChrome ink is the pigment carrier – UltraChrome pigment ink is water based.
A good quality solvent based pigment ink and a good quality water based pigment ink, while having different abilities to adhere to and be absorbed by different media, will probably have similar basic resistance characteristics to UV. While the actual pigment colour particles are basically the same in the two different types of pigment ink, the ink carrier (solvent or water) is what determines a particular ink’s ability and characteristics in combination with different types of media.
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Cheers Bill,
Very in-depth and informative, superb! Its good to really start to ‘dig deeper’ now as I’ve alwasy believed its the only real way to something right 🙂
Thanks again.
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Heres one for those that know their inks…. I keep seeing that the Roland Eco Sol Max inks are rated for 3 years externally BUT how about indoors for things like Matt paper board mounted prints and stretched canvas work??? 🙂
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Bear in mind that 75 years is indoors ! not outside.
I know you want it for canvas but I’ve explained to customers that our solvents etc will only last a few years outdoors and not a lifetime and they come back with comments like "our inkjet at home says 75 years on the advertising". -
Thanks Martin.
Yes, I’m aware of the 75 years being an indoor figure. The problem is that the Eco Sol Max inks only include duration ‘ratings’ for outside! What I’m looking for is an idea of what they last like indoors? Is it still 3 years for instance? If not, roughly what?
Ta
Pete
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i understand that the 75 years is under archival conditions, on acid free paper and stored in a draw with environmental control.
i did see a picture i printed 10 years ago with water based pig inks on to art quality paper, it was one of my own photos that i still print today and was looking just fine.
tell customers not to mount within 6 ft of a window for max life.
posters i have printed, the paper failed before the ink.in the unit there are banners printed with the first of the sol max inks that have never been outside still look fine approx 3 years
in the wrong conditions they will all fail early
chris
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Peter, my guess is that good quality pigment ink indoor print life will probably exceed your own. The older I get the more inclined I am to offer a lifetime warranty on indoor prints 😀
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quote Bill McMurtry:The older I get the more inclined I am to offer a lifetime warranty on indoor prints 😀:lol1: :lol1: :lol1:
I’m actually thinking of getting a pigment printer to do my canvas prints so I can compete with other people as I feel that my SP300 lets me down slightly when putting the prints against others
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like bills comment 😀
quote :I feel that my SP300 lets me down slightly when putting the prints against othersin what way
chris
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quote Chris Wool:like bills comment 😀quote :I feel that my SP300 lets me down slightly when putting the prints against others
in what way
chris
Not as bright against other prints….. I’m happy with the prints until I see them next to a good pigment print
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John, your SP-300 is a pigment ink printer. The reason your prints don’t seem as bright or colourful might have to do with your profile, but perhaps has more to do with the fact that it’s a 4 colour printer.
A 4 colour print next to 6 (or more) colour print, all else being equal, will always come up looking poor by comparison. I recently upgraded my old Epson 3000 4 colour printer running pigment ink with an Epson 4000 7 colour printer running the same ink. At the same print resolution and on the same media the difference in print colour gamut between the two outputs is remarkable to say the least.
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