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The Collective
mountain bike free ride movie

Earthed
mountain bike free ride movie

The Vish Files
mountain bike free ride

Schwinn Rocket 88 Mountain bike

Ricoh XR7 35mm SLR Camera

Happy Days with the Naked  Chef

Morning Rise:
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Dole Mango Lime Fiesta

Dangerous Lives of Altar boys 

Velvet Goldmine

Titus

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Owning Mahonwy

AxisPad (cheap Wal-Mart Joystick)

Epson PHOTO 820
a comprehensive look

I've owned an Epson 820 photo printer for about three years, but I really haven't used it much. For the past few years I've been more focused on displaying my images on the web as opposed to print. One reason was that my photo printer generally just ticked me off anytime I tried to use it. This printer has a bad reputation for head clogging, and its a reputation well deserved. I would wager that half of these printers have been smashed into little parts by their owners.

A few weeks ago I upgraded cameras to a Canon 10D, the pictures it takes are so much better then what I have been using, (DCS 520) that I was oblidged to print a few out. I had no color ink but one spare black so I made a quick ebay purchase, three color carts. When I installed the new color my black that was in the printer was almost completely full. After several cleaning cycles I was still getting terrible nozzle check patterns and getting frustrated. By the time I had a clear pattern I had used half of my first color cart and 2/3s of my black. I wasn't happy.

My first prints came out horrible. Colors and saturation were way off. I attempted to get some control over my color management, but without a monitor calibration device it is almost useless. Nonetheless with some trial and error I have now got prints that match my monitor's color. They key was getting some updated ICC profiles from Epson and using the right one, as well as lowering the saturation about 15 steps befoer I print.

The good news is that my prints are now comming out magnificent. The bad news is they probably won't last long. The 820 prints with dye ink instead of pigment, it is no where near as durable as the newer inks. I have some prints hanging on my wall that were made about a year and half ago and they have hopeless faded into obscurity. I can't remember if those prints were made with the original ink or the cheapo replacements I bought.

Last night I made an intersting discovery. I found in the basement where I had made several prints when I first got this printer. The colors on these prints were as vibrant as the day I printed them out. I know these were made using the original inks. If that is the case then these prints made with the original ink will stand the test of time. There is another possibility. If light is the primary fader of inkjet prints then being in the basement would explain why they still look so good. Its also important to note that none of my prints were under any kind of protection at all. No frames, no lamination, nothing. I did experiment with spraying 2 prints with clear acrylic enamal. One faded and one didn't. The one that did fade was mostly black.

Since I started using the Epson 820 again I have had a much more pleasant time. here is a compilation of various things I read on the internet that have improved my time with this printer.

Epson 820 Tips

#1 Turn the printer off when you are not using it. I think this helps quite a bit, turning it on and off seems to do a quick head cleaning.

#2 Push the print head as far right as it will go when you turn it off. You shouldn't be pusing against any opposing force here, I beleive that poor manufacturing tolerances prevent the print head from going as far right as it should when parked.

#3 If the bands of white ink don't match up on your nozzel checks each time you probably don't have a clogged head, you probably have air traped in the ink lines or cartridge. If several head cleanings keep producing random lines it may be best to stop head cleaning and give the air time to work out.

#4 DO NOT USE 3rd PARTY INKS its hard I know, but unless you don't care how your prints turn out or don't need them to last for more then a few weeks don't do it.

#5 Try to print every few days. This was probably my biggest problem with this printer. I would print up a fury then not use it for a couple of months. If you could print every now and again it would go a long way to avoiding clogs. It may help to just turn it off and on every few days.

#6 When printing borderless 8.5x11 use the output tray extender

#7 Get the newest ICC profiles from epson and understand how to use them. Make sure your image editing software is defining the appropriate color space and that you use ICC with no color corrections on the printer driver.

I believe that the Epson 820 is one of the best deals ever in photo printing. It can be had on ebay for less then what the shipping will cost. I bought mine for 150 bucks brand new. The prints it produces look just as good as photo lab prints. Considering that most of Epson's printers now use up to 8 carts at 12 dollars each and you can easily get both genuine carts for the 820 on ebay for for about 30 bucks, printing with the 820 is probably cheaper. Having said that I plan on saving up for an R1800 or 2200 so I can print wider format, but I have all ready purchased some new genuine epson inks for my 820 to keep me satisfied until then.