We have solved two issues in the past couple of weeks.
A. Producing large prints
Up until now we have used an old Epson 1270 for printing on up to A3+ sized paper (and the Canon PIXMA 8500 for up to A4). This was generally fine until one of our clients asked for something larger than A3+ for his office. Given that the Epson was about six years old we decided it was time to replace it. The recent Mac show at Earls Court was a good time to examine a range of machines and strike a deal. In the end we opted for the HP Designjet Z3100. This is a floor standing 12 ink printer with the ability to print up to A0 size. That is massive, the paper is 24 inches wide. The printer is big, but is a really clever piece of kit. Putting it together, setting it up, calibrating the printer and then calibrating the monitor on our big Mac took an afternoon. But once set up, printing is really easy.
Use of this printer is on open offer to all out clients who want to print out a special photograph in a much larger format, perhaps on some of the very specialised papers available - we can walk you through these but for instance canvas is an option.
B. Printing in the field
While looking at photographs at camp on the screen of our Mac is fine, we want the ability for our clients to be able to print some of their photographs, either 4x6 say, or up to A4 while with us out on an expedition. Adam had been out in Iraq on business a couple of years ago and had used a small Canon printer in fairly crude conditions. The quality was good, it was portable and relatively light so for our ShutterspeedTravel where we needed an upgrade, we opted to go for its replacement. So... we have acquired the Canon iP90v. The only obvious downside of this is the ink cartridges are quite small. We will be trialling this printer out in the field on our expedition to the Congo over the Christmas holidays; once we sort out our visas that is... we shall tell you more about this next time. Hopefully the printer will trial well, in which case our clients on our Uganda and Rwanda Gorilla and Chimps trip in February 2008 will be the first to benefit from printing and checking some of their shots each day.
Subject to weight allowances, we will be bringing this printer on our future expeditions for all our clients to have a go. It will be great also to give photos to our guides, children and anyone else who shows an interest in what these people with long lenses are doing.
Julie and Adam
Printer fun - 11 November 2007
