Photographers who print their photos on anything less than A3, require as much detail as they can get, and as much dynamic range as possible. With four inks, detail simply is too coarse. With six inks, the results tend to be much better, but dynamic (tonal) range can still be improved by adding intermediate tints. Eight inks seem to be photographers’ nirvana.

Actually, what photographers want is not only the ability to print colour prints, but also the capability to print black and white prints which are identical to those chemical prints that are the typical results from a visit to the dark room. Unfortunately, not many photo printer vendors offer the Black and White capability as a standard feature. To my knowledge, only HP offers it as an option, and only just recently.

The three photo printer manufacturers that matter are Canon, Epson, and HP. Of those three, only Epson and HP make printers that seem to be based on a common colour concept. Both Epson and HP offer grey inks as extra means for obtaining neutral greys and therefore more realistic photos.

Canon delivers an 8 ink system with red and green as the seventh and eighth colour. This provides for more vividness, but not for more realism. Epson provides for seven inks in some of its photo printer models, with light black as seventh colour. The addition of light black makes the transitions between colours seem smoother, and tonal range more neutral.

HP provides for 8 inks in its top model the Photosmart 8450. The seventh and eight ink colour is here light grey and medium-grey. The black used in the 8000 range of Photosmart printers is a special photo black which is more dense than the usually used black ink. HP has made it possible with these new printers to switch off the colour cartridges so that photographers can print black and white prints just like any dark room printer.

The best results are achieved when using HP Premium paper, according to HP. Results are not guaranteed on different paper types and brands. The two types of paper that are best used with these new inks are Premium Plus Photo Paper, available in high-gloss and satin-matt finish. The paper weighs in at 280 g/square meter.

In an interview with HP’s European head of the photo printer department, Pierre Meleuc, we discussed the reasons why HP doesn’t offer A3 printers with these high-quality capabilities, the advantages of dye-based inks in comparison to pigment-ink, and the longevity of a print.

According to Meleuc, an A3 printer that prints at 4800 dpi with eight inks is somewhat useless because as prints get bigger, like A3-size big, the spectator steps back to see the whole picture. “With distances of more than arm’s length, you tend to lose sight of the details and tonal smoothness which you can see from up close,” said Meleuc. “This explains why photographers at Magnum are so happy with the results they get from the 6-ink DesignJet 130 system. Despite the 6-ink transitions between light and dark, the photos still look great because they’re printed at A2, which forces viewers to step back to see the whole picture,” according to Meleuc.

However, Meleuc admits that HP gets requests all the time to make an A3 printer with the characteristics of the Photosmart 8450. Whether it will listen to its customers remains to be seen. Meleuc couldn’t comment on future decisions taken by HP’s Photosmart business unit. “An A3 Photosmart would have to sit in-between the 8450 and DesignJet 30,” said Meleuc. The DesignJet 30 is considered a production printer, while the 8450 is a prosumer model which isn’t focused on continuous printing with self-calibration, but on providing the most realistic photo output.

The fact that the DesignJet 30 is a production printer can be seen from its ink reservoirs. All of them taken together hold 332 ml of ink. The 8450’s tanks hold a mere 94 ml.

May 2006: read about the new Photosmart Pro B9180, a professional photography inkjet printer.