Rangefinder Magazine
September 2005

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Until just a few years ago, generating oversized photo-realistic prints was a specialized, and relatively expensive, process. Because of the high cost of the equipment and technical expertise required, in most cases it just wasn’t practical for professional photographers to bring wide-format printing in-house.

It’s getting a lot easier and a lot less expensive for a successful professional photographer to handle his or her own photo-realistic wide-format printing. There are now various wide-format printer models available that can do an excellent job of generating high-quality wide-format output, without having to break the budget or add a dedicated tech support person to the staff.

Generally, any unit capable of generating 36-inch or wider output is considered a wide-format printer. Some manufacturers call their 24-inch-wide models “wide-format,” but 36-inch output seems to be the true dividing line. On the top end, wider than 60 inches is sometimes referred to as ultra-wide format.

Wide-format inkjets actually evolved out of the plotter market. In the early 1980s, as computer-aided design became more prevalent, companies like Hewlett-Packard and CalComp were producing wide-format roll-fed printers to generate architectural and engineering drawings, schematics, elevations and renderings.

While some of these early printers were capable of printing in color, they only supported spot color, so they could not be used to produce photo-realistic images. By the late 1980s, as resolutions increased and software drivers became more sophisticated, some of the early plotter models evolved into graphic printers. Eventually, as the number of colors, the number of printhead nozzles and resolutions increased, they worked well enough to be applicable for printing photographs.

Developments in digital photography accelerated the move towards wider photo-realistic printing. It’s now possible to get printers that can generate 24-inch output for $2000 to $3000. Some printers that can generate 36-inch-wide output start for under $5000. Most of the wide-format inkjet printers take roll media, which is available for some models in rolls as long as 300 feet, but usually come in 50–100 foot rolls. Some models also take cut sheets. Since they are inkjet printers, they can take a wide variety of media, including substrates such as glossy stock, different canvas finishes and transparencies.

The newer inks and media are much more light fast than they were just a few years ago. Some rate life expectancy at 100 years and more when output is stored in archival conditions. Displayed prints generally have considerably less shelf life, sometimes only 10 percent of the life expectancy of stored prints. At this point, inkjet output probably has about the same light fastness and life expectancy as commercial, machine-made photographic prints.

When making a wide-format printer purchasing decision, carefully consider your workflow requirements. These printers generally require considerably more room than what their dimensions might suggest, so make sure there’s enough room to work on and reload a unit. Is there the need for a drying station or other prep area? If you’re using different types of finishes, how much storage space will be required?

Connectivity is also important. Is the printer going to be driven from a dedicated computer, that may or may not be networked, or part of a network that makes it available to any computer on the network? Because networked units tend to be used more frequently by a number of different users, they generally need to be faster. Some models are available with built-in memory and hard drives, which can increase throughput considerably.

Most of the manufacturers serving the wide-format printer market have units in multiple widths that have similar capabilities, features and speeds. There are units available from under $5000 to well over $15,000. For the most part, if budgets and space requirements are there, go with a model that’s one or two widths wider than current requirements. There’s a tendency to underestimate width requirements, and if the opportunity comes up, with the wider units markets might open up that couldn’t be served otherwise.

Because wide format is being used for so many different applications, including indoor and outdoor requirements, it’s important to consider a unit that was designed to produce the desired type of output. For indoor display applications, units that print with dye-based inks provide high speed and fast drying times. For outdoor applications, printing with units that take pigment-based inks is best, since they offer more ultraviolet protection.

ENCAD, a division of Eastman Kodak, was a pioneer in the wide-format photo-realistic printer market. Unlike some of the other companies in that market, which also market consumer printers, ENCAD only produces wide-format models. Because of that, it has become a favorite with photo labs, service bureaus and oth- er wide-format image producers.

ENCAD has the NovaJet 1000i line, which includes models in 42- and 60-inch widths, for both dye-based and pigment inks. They’re capable of printing up to 150 square feet per hour in the Productivity mode and 220 square feet per hour in the High Speed mode. They can generate high-quality output at up to 1200x600dpi. Proprietary Intelligent Mask Technology (IMT) ensures optimum output quality. It applies a unique screen to image files for each color and print mode.

The units’ Quantum dyes and pigment inks, which were developed with Kodak’s Color Science technology, provide maximum color gamut and extended print life.

The ENCAD units have a number of proprietary features designed for maximum productivity. For unattended printing there’s an intermediate ink reservoir that maintains a constant supply of ink to the printhead. That makes it possible to change inkbottles on the fly. A staggered carriage assembly provides easy cartridge replacement, and an active service station automatically fills, primes and cleans ink cartridges.

Advanced dual-component drying systems designed into the units combine a heated nose and ambient air plenum to enhance drying capabilities with a wide range of media. Novajet 1000i models range in price from $11,995 to $16,995.

For high-volume production requirements, there a number of Hewlett-Packard models available. The company has the Designjet 5500 printer series, which includes models that are 42 and 60 inches wide and cost from $8995 to $17,995.

These are high-production models. They can print up to 100 sq. ft. per hour on glossy stock, 189 sq. ft. on coated stock and 569 sq. ft. per hour at maximum output speed. Files to be printed can be transferred to the printer at 4.5 megabytes per second, using an HP Jetdirect 620n print server card.

The HPs are six-ink printers that utilize thermal inkjet technology. They generate output at up to 1200x2400dpi, depending upon the media. Color layering technology provides a wide color gamut, very fine continuous tones and exceptional color. With the Pantone color matching system, it’s possible to easily print spot or process colors. Closed-loop color calibration guarantees color consistency for an entire production run, from the first print to the last.

The HP models provide for easy connectivity in a multi-platform environment, with driverless printing with most popular operating systems. A 40-gigabyte hard disk drive makes it possible to store very large files, even with the unit’s power turned off. Remote management streamlines operations.

There are eight different models in the Designjet 5500 line, including the 42-inch 5500PS, a model that uses dye-based inks for exceptional photo-realistic output. It ships with 256MB of internal memory and supports Adobe PDF 1.3 and PostScript 3, for $11,995.

At $4995, Epson’s new Stylus Pro 9800 is a very cost effective wide-format printer well suited for smaller operations. It features a higher precision print engine that can print in sizes up to 44 inches at 2880x1440dpi. It uses an 8-color UltraChrome K3 ink set with pigment-based inks for superior color printing.

Epson’s PreciseColor Technology includes colorimetric calibration, to ensure consistent printing between multiple Stylus Pro printers. Among other features, it has automatic printhead alignment technology, where a built-in sensor reads printed data for highly precise alignments of all color channels.

It also has automatic printhead cleaning. Variable-sized droplets and Advanced Active Meniscus Control (AMC) technology precisely control the curvature of each ink droplet within each nozzle before it’s released, for extremely sharp and accurate ink placement. That results in very high-quality photo-realistic images in either single or bi-directional printing. It can take both roll- and sheet-fed media and, with sheet-fed media, supports printing on both sides, without damaging the previously printed image.

The unit’s three-level black system is interesting. It has black, light black, and light, light black, which, when used with certain types of Epson media, results in deeper, richer blacks, smoother grays and monochrome gradients for very high-quality black-and-white prints. There are no colorcasts, as there can be when printing monochrome images on a color printer.

The trade-off for the lower price is speed. It takes the 9800 about 80 minutes to produce a maximum resolution, 44x60-inch print. That works out to be about 14 sq. ft. per hour. Still, that’s considerably faster than the previous model in Epson’s line.

It’s compatible with most new versions of Mac and Windows through a FireWire interface. A slot is available for a 10/100 BaseT Ethernet expansion card. The Epson is expected to start shipping in the fall of 2005.

Canon’s entry in the wide-format market is its imagePROGRAF W8400, which can print photo-realistic output in sizes up to 44 inches wide. It has a Bubble Jet on Demand/FINE 6-color printhead that utilizes pigment-based inks and can print at a maximum resolution of 2400x1200dpi.

The printer supports ICC profiles, which makes it possible to use custom media profiles for precise color matching. It also has exceptional color gamut. The enhanced yellow ink makes for more vivid reds and yellows. It’s possible to replace the black with a matte black, for richer blacks on specialty media.

The W8400 can produce up to 118 square feet per hour on heavyweight, coated paper and 91 square feet per hour with glossy photo paper, both in the standard printing mode. It has a special nozzle recovery system with non-firing nozzle detection and compensation.

The unit utilizes Canon’s proprietary GARO printer language via a software RIP. It also supports PostScript 3. It comes bundled with a nice selection of software applications, including PosterArtist, which provides users with an intuitive template-based poster creation package, as well as PhotoPRINT, an Adobe Postscript 3 raster image processor that includes a Pantone color library.

It’s compatible with both Macs and PCs, with both USB 2.0 and 10/100 BaseT/TX connectivity. An optional FireWire card is available. It has a street price of about $5700.

Ron Eggers is a regular contributor to Rangefinder and a senior editor with Newswatch Feature Service.