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A reader sent me an email asking why I chose the HP Z3200 printer as opposed to the Epson 7900. This was a difficult decision for me to make and I debated with myself for a long time over which printer I should get. Ultimately, both printers can produce superb quality prints and my decision was made based on other factors:
HP Z3200 Pros
- Spectrophotometer. The Z3200 has a built in spectrophotometer allowing me to create my own ICC profiles easily with the press of a few buttons. There is a spectrophotometer available for the Epson but it is expensive (an additional $1500).
- Price. The HP Z3200 usually sells for less than the 7900 and at the time I purchased my printer HP offered a $500 rebate. Both Epson and HP offer rebates (and the details change frequently) so you should check to see what the price difference would be for you.
- Clogging. The HP Z3200 has very little problems with clogging whereas this appears to be an issue for the 7900. In the past, other Epson printers I’ve owned had clogging issues whenever I left them unused for an extended period. I imagine if you have a high print volume and print regularly, this would not be an issue but it is a significant concern for me.
- Replaceable Print Heads. HP Z3200 has user replaceable print heads so if the print heads were ever to clog on the HP, they could be replaced at relatively low cost. The HP print heads come in pairs (about $50) and this adds only a small additional cost amortized over their lifespan. The print heads are rated for a liter of ink (a normal cartridge is 130 ml).
- Size. The HP Z3200 is lighter and physically smaller than Epson which makes it easier for me to move around (143 lbs versus 220 lbs for the Epson).
Epson 7900 Pros
- Consistency. One argument I’ve heard about the HP Z3200 is that it includes a spectrophotometer because it needs it. I.e., there is more variability and drift in the printing process and the Z3200 needs to be fine-tuned more frequently. My experience with having to recalibrate the printer supports this. (The HP driver lets you know when the calibration profile is old and I’ve needed to update the profile multiple times in the past six months )
- Paper Loading. Paper loading on the Epson is superior to the HP Z3200. On the Z3200 you have to reach around the back of the printer to load it. On the Epson you can load paper from the front.
- Build quality. The HP Z3200 is made mostly out of plastic and feels very flimsy. The Epson is a solid piece of machinery. It’s like the difference between today’s $10 plastic keyboards and the old IBM clickety keyboards.
Factors that didn’t make a difference
- Image quality. Both printers can make superb color and black and white images. I couldn’t really tell much of a difference looking at prints and many other reviewers have stated that each printer has some strengths/weaknesses.
- Bronzing. The Epson 7900 may have slight bronzing in its prints. HP deals with this using a gloss enhancer but in my opinion the bronzing on Epson 7900 prints is not an issue in practice.
- Print Permanence. Wilhelm research rates the longevity of the Epson K3 inks for 45 years unframed and 83 years framed under regular glass for the luster paper. The Z3200 achieves 102 years unframed and over 250 years under glass for the satin paper. While the Z3200 has better numbers, the permanence ratings for the 7900 are more than adequate.
- Ink Usage. I’ve heard a variety of claims that the Z3200 is more frugal on ink and has lower operating costs. However, this is difficult to substantiate and even if one printer were more expensive to run than another, the total cost of ink and paper is negligable compared to the sale price of fine art prints.
Although I chose the HP printer, I would probably also be very happy with the Epson 7900 as long as I didn’t run into the clogging problem.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello
Do you use a RIP ?
I am not using a RIP. In the past, some printers have benefited from a RIP to help print more neutral black and white images (to eliminate some inks that have a color cast). This is not an issue on the HP Z3200 as it only uses the black inks when the values for R=B=G. As a result, you can print BW and color images side by side. On the Epson, I believe many people use the ABW driver (instead of the RGB one) which may produce deeper blacks and limit the use of yellow.
There is also a PS version of the HP printer if you need the RIP for handling postscript.
Thank you.
Hi.
Can you tell me what is the difference between the z3200 and the z3200ps?
Hp website says for z3200: ‘Print languages, standard HP PCL 3 GUI’, for z3200ps: ‘Adobe PostScript 3, Adobe PDF 1.6, TIFF, JPEG, HP PCL 3 GUI’.
What is the difference between these languages? Does is mean that z3200 cannot print tiff or jpeg files?
Thanks for your reply.
The PS means that the printer supports the postscript language. For photographers, who are primarily working with images in photoshop, lightroom, etc. PS support is not very useful. I personally have the regular version (non-postscript) and print tiff and jpeg files all the time.
The Z3200PS also comes with HP’s Advanced Profiling Solution which “is an integrated solution for calibrating and profiling monitors, profiling HP Designjet Z Photo Printer series and for validating and optimizing ICC profiles”. This doesn’t sound very useful to me since I already have a monitor profiler (i1-display2) and the regular Z3200 also generates ICC profiles for any paper you can print on.
What are your running cost averaging out at?
With print labs now offering wide format printing at anything from $4.00 to $10.00 per sqft is it worth purchasing you own printer?
I don’t see using LF printers as a way of saving money, so if this is your goal I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have really high volume (I don’t).
I think the real benefit of the prints is that they provide total control over the printing process. You don’t have to wait for a few days to see how your prints turn out (especially important if you are trying something new). Also, sometimes clients want a rush printing job and having your own makes it much easier to fufill.
The HP tracks information like how much ink/paper has been used. I haven’t done the math and figured out my cost per print but I imagine it’s at least a few dollars per square foot.
It costs about $950 to buy all 12 cart for the HP. Do you have any idea as in how many prints you can get from one set? I understand that you might run through certain colors more but there must be someway of coming up with a reasonable cost estimate for printing photos.
I just took a look at my printer logs and I’m using about 1.65 ml of ink per square foot. A 130 ml cartridge of ink costs $65 which works out to about $0.83 per sq. ft.
If you use more ink, HP sells two packs for $99 or about $50 / cartridge. That would reduce the price to $0.63 / square foot.
I read on the HP Z3200 Data sheet, that you can calibrate your computer’s monitor with the (i1 display calibration device included) how does it work?
My HP printer didn’t come with a monitor calibrator, but I purchased one separately from x-Rite (i1 display 2). Basically, this is a puck that sits on your monitors and reads color values as the software display different color patches on your monitor. I consider this an essential workflow tool to ensure that your monitor is displaying standard colors and for matching print to monitor.
Thank you for this information, i find it very helpfully in my research. I am proposing a purchase of the z3200 for a college-retail print shop. I want to know about the functionality of the job submission, quing and nesting:
-how long will qued jobs stay in queue when paused before clearing
-can you successfully pick and choose between files to release for printing regardless of order
-is there a limit by quantity ar amount of memory in the job que
My goal is to network this printer with up to 60 computers for printing. Each job to be held in queue until released at print shop after payment.
Thank you for any insight you may be able to give.
~john
John — I’ve only been working with the printer in single user mode so I can’t really comment on how well it would handle multiple print requests in the queue. I suspect you would need to get third party software as when I print I just see the regular mac OS print queue.
May I add my 20 cents worth to this discussion?. I have owned a Z3200 24 inch since Jan 2011. Its usage is relatively low…but increasing, mainly for my own prints but am doing some client work as well more recently.
I concur with everything that Stephen says and reports on as being consistent with my own experiences with the Z3200.
John: as far as queueing printing goes, I use QIMAGE as my printing program and whilst I have never put it to the sort of quantity test you are talking about, the program (qimage) was reccommended to me by people that did. It is fantastic, I would not be without it.