HP B9180

[john shiell]

My trusted Epson 1290 has finally given up the ghost... A friend has suggested an HP B9180. Has anybody out there any thoughts on this particular printer? Pro's or con's. Alternatively, thoughts on other A3+ printers.
Love the new layout of the website. It may take me some time to get to grips with it, but will persevere.
John

[Dave Tolcher]

Hi there, I have a 9180 - since they were first released. Although I am happy with the results and its totally reliable I think I would look very hard at the Epson 4800 if I were buying again. Why... a difficult question to answer but...

1) the s/w is not helpful in use - I have not repeatably been able to use custom paper sizes (for e.g. Cranes excellent cards), sometimes it works, sometimes not. With vista 64 I have to set things in multiple places which is easy to forget (like orientation) and its annoying to waste a sheet of paper because it goes straight to print and not back to preview. This is by far and away my biggest gripe. The whole interface is just difficult to get right IMO.
2) I love the Ilford Gold Fibre Silk paper but the print quality is variable from the 9180 (not recommended by Ilford) sometimes having lines and sometimes not depending on subject and source. I dont tend to get them with scanned film but do with digital. Its great with Hahnemuhle photorag 308 but only through the sheet feeder.
3) Ink costs have shot up recently - maybe not a differentiator but it feels like 50%+ increase this year. Although the 4800 is expensive to refill its less frequent. I originally chose the HP over the Epson because of ink tank size and previous experience with head clogging. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the latter is less of an issue with the latest Epsons. I grew to really hate epsons for clogging and that legacy still influences hugely.
4) Network connection in the package was a must for me.

So... when its good its very very good but I often struggle to produce prints repeatedly of the same quality with the same settings. Maybe I would buy another after all...

[numnutz]

Hi I have a B9180 and am very satisfied with the prints I get although I had some initial problems with profiles and colour corrections. I have found the cheapest cartridges are from Amazon (UK). The software is not very good It keeps trying to reinstall itself. But apart from that I seem to have not many problems.

To anyone who has the printer I suggest you join the B9180 Yahoo group - hp9100Series@yahoogroups.com. Very useful information from the posts there.
Also there are couple of blogs - http://blog.duncandavidson.com/2008/08/ ... blems.html
and - http://www.ronnynilsen.com/Essays/Articles/HP_B9180/ That have good information. Including some of the front button control codes.


I Hope this is useful

nn

[john shiell]

Thanks for the advise guys. Following a long and hard thought went eventually with the HP. The review at www.photo-i.co.uk swayed me. Up to now have been more than pleased with the results. Might even consider an exhibition. Sadly couldn't make it to Joanna's workshop due to an arrival of a grandson. I think that would have been the icing on the cake if I could have calibrated the monitor and the printer. Maybe there will be another crack at the whip.
Best wishes,
John

[Joanna Carter]

Sadly couldn't make it to Joanna's workshop due to an arrival of a grandson. I think that would have been the icing on the cake if I could have calibrated the monitor and the printer. Maybe there will be another crack at the whip.

I am planning on running another Photoshop for LF Photographers workshop towards the end of October, if you are interested.