Advise Please!

[Craig]

OK, going to demo an Epson 7900ctp to replace our aging poly platemaker. I understand it will also print 24" wide format as well. We never had a wide format printer, so this is uncharted waters for us. Does anyone have any advise on what to look for, what options I should be looking at. Also do the inks this printer use work for outdoor stuff, or will they run if they get wet?

[michaelejahn]

OK, going to demo an Epson 7900ctp to replace our aging poly platemaker. I understand it will also print 24" wide format as well. We never had a wide format printer, so this is uncharted waters for us. Does anyone have any advise on what to look for, what options I should be looking at. Also do the inks this printer use work for outdoor stuff, or will they run if they get wet?

The Epson 7900 output can be laminated to make it waterproof - I have not done any tests to voice an opinion on how well it holds up to 3 months of direct sunlight - like heat set offset, I would expect the magenta to fade, but as I said, I have zero experience with that.

We are not a direct reseller, but do sell Star Proof and Star Plate software to our Epson customers.

We partner with Spectraflow - they are an Epson dealer.

Send you contact details to sales@composeusa.com - we would be happy to help you.

[lbeas]

CTP and wide format are two completely different animals. I believe someone along the line has confused 2 different Epson machines. You'll find out which when you go to your demo.
That being said, the 7900 runs HDR Ultrachrome inks. I haven't been able to find a definitive answer as to whether these are aqueous or solvent based (too many hits and not enough time to wade through them). If it's aqueous then outdoor is not an application I'd recommend. If these are solvent or eco-solvent inks then they can last anywhere from 2 to 5 years without fading depending on the substrate and an appropriate laminate.
Hope this helps.

[lbeas]

Okay, found something concerning the 7900. If this is the HDR Ultrachrome Ink system, then you can print for outdoor use. Here's a link:
http://www.wilhelm-research.com/epso...2010_04_25.pdf

[Craig]

Thanks Guys... I appreciate the feedback!

[michaelejahn]

CTP and wide format are two completely different animals. I believe someone along the line has confused 2 different Epson machines.

With the EPSON 7900 - a user can image on film / plate / and make posters that are lightfast...I just had not tested as to how long or what happens if it is rained on...

( smile )

We have both the EPSON 7900 and the EPSON WT7900

We now achieve an average of 4.35 DMAX on the Compose ICTF Film using the Epson 7900 (we image from most any garden variety of 1 bit TIFF files - are currently testing at the upper limits - 2400 ppi and 175 lpi.

I have attached a photo of two samples - both shot of the yellow plate.

I did not want to compress it in a lossy way, and this silly Print Planet system will not allow us to upload TIFF files ( what is UP WITH THAT ? ) - but, I did upload it as a Photoshop file...

on the top - we have RIPed the yellow angle at 22.5 (Euclidean dot) - this results in a nice smooth and even pattern free halftone.

on the bottom, you can see what happens when we use a more commonly used angle of 0 - the Epson marking engine seems to not be able to create a pattern free halftone at that angle ( at 175 line screen anyway )

Of course, simply using some image viewing tool (or Photoshop) to "see" this pattern is not very good, as the pattern is modified but you monitors pixel grid, but if you were to view the film, the yellow - at 0 degrees is very very noticeable.

- now - having said all that - I had "heard" that the The EPSON 7900 CTP may have been (or was under consideration of being) 'discontinued' though - you still can find it at the EPSON web site - here is the link;

Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Computer To Plate System - Epson Professional Imaging - Epson America, Inc

Our customer use either Star Proof (for color proofing) or Star Plate (for screened separation film) and use our Compose iCTF substrate.

Hope this helpful

[lbeas]

Thanks Michael,

That's the crazy thing about large format (and traditional prepress) there's always more to learn.

[bobrule]

- now - having said all that - I had "heard" that the The EPSON 7900 CTP may have been (or was under consideration of being) 'discontinued' though - you still can find it at the EPSON web site - here is the link;

Epson Stylus Pro 7900 Computer To Plate System - Epson Professional Imaging - Epson America, Inc

Michael,
I spoke to epson directly today (the product manager actually) and he told me that Epson is NOT discontinuing the CTP system at all... I am considering that as well and was worried when you said that, but they told me that wasnt the case.

Bob

[michaelejahn]

Michael,
I spoke to epson directly today (the product manager actually) and he told me that Epson is NOT discontinuing the CTP system at all... I am considering that as well and was worried when you said that, but they told me that wasnt the case.

Bob

Great to hear. There was that rumor about Mark Twain...

Why and when did Mark Twain say "The Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated." ? - Yahoo! Answers

but it eventually did turn out to be true.

( wink )

[Craig]

Same thing here, came right from the horses mouth, as a matter of fact it sounded quite the opposite.