D
denisejhoward
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Back in 2013, I shopped around for a printing service that could affordably make gicleé prints of my original drawings. I had no luck. Either their setup fee was over $150 before they even made the first print, or the service was far enough away that I’d need to ship my original to them so they could accurately color-match it and they’d have to ship me proofs, all of which takes time and more money. So, being a techie person with some new Photoshop skills, I decided to do some research and learn to print my own gicleés.
I got a great deal on a new Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer, about half its retail price. It’s a pro-level inkjet with picoliter (one trillionth of a liter) jets, and uses 8 cartridges of archival Ultrachrome ink, specifically T096x. It accepts paper up to 13″ wide.
When making art prints with an inkjet printer, it’s important to use paper made for inkjet printing because it has a coating on one side that ensures the ink and paper play well together. I settled on Epson Velvet Fine Art Paper because it looks and feels a lot like the Stonehenge paper I favor for drawing. Epson even provides a downloadable profile for that specific paper; you select it in your computer’s printing app to tell the printer “by the way, I’m using this particular paper so apply the ink accordingly.”
I still remember the very first print I made with my R2880, on Velvet Fine Art Paper. I was so impressed at how perfectly the colors matched the original artwork, I ran to show my husband! It quickly paid for itself–my matted and mounted gicleé prints sell well during open studio events and festivals.
The very first gicleé print emerging from my Epson R2880.
It can be a PITA when I’m trying to feed it an individual sheet of paper, sometimes taking as long as 10 minutes to make it happy. In that respect it’s a prima donna: aggravating to work with, but the results are so amazing I accept it.
A short time later Epson discontinued the R2880, replacing it with the R3000, then the R3880, then the Epson SureColor P800, then the P900. I think that’s still the current iteration as I write this. The discontinuation wasn’t a big deal since the T096x cartridges were still available and Epson continued to update the driver for new OS versions.
Then one day in late 2024 it was time to order more T096x ink cartridges, and Epson’s website said they were discontinued. Panic ensued! I spent the next several days checking every local and online source, even eBay. I managed to get a few cartridges from eBay sellers who had them left over from moving on to a different printer. At least three online retailers let me order some, only to then tell me they were “backordered”–but they’re not “backordered” when Epson isn’t making them anymore! So I had to cancel the orders. The one color I can’t get, anywhere, is Vivid Light Magenta. Apparently it gets used a lot.
So once I run out of the last of my Vivid Light Magenta, I can no longer use my perfectly good R2880. I’ll have no choice but to junk it and pay a lot of money for a whole new printer and a whole different set of ink cartridges. And my other spare T096x cartridges, which cost several hundred dollars, will be useless and worthless. This makes me mad! This is the very definition of “planned obsolescence.”
As a consumer, there’s not a darned thing I can do about it. Tech and electronics companies are always moving on to the next model, the next improvement, and typically about three years is the “sunset window” for support of software versions and hardware models alike. Landfills are full of discarded electronics–printers, scanners, GPS devices, etc.–many of which would still “work” but can’t be used anymore because they can’t talk to newer computers that have moved on to incompatible systems.
It’s a little ironic because I’m an artist that prefers to create with traditional art materials that are timeless, tactile, and consistent, but part of my art business depends on technology that keeps changing out from under me and costing me more money.
You might say “Just get some third-party ink and refill your cartridges”. These T096x cartridges–the only ones that fit the R2880–are not refillable. And even if they were, I’d be concerned about the ink’s compatibility–the difference in formula may clog those picoliter jets and that’s that; this is a pro-grade art and photography printer, not an office all-in-one. On the other hand, at that point I’ll have nothing to lose…. I did find a company that purports to make refillable cartridges and ink for the R2880. I’ve bought a set even though it should be awhile before I’m that desperate. They make no claims about whether the ink is archival.
What “planned obsolescence” have you run into? Did you find a workaround to extend the life of your item, or did you have to junk it and buy a new one?
I got a great deal on a new Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer, about half its retail price. It’s a pro-level inkjet with picoliter (one trillionth of a liter) jets, and uses 8 cartridges of archival Ultrachrome ink, specifically T096x. It accepts paper up to 13″ wide.
When making art prints with an inkjet printer, it’s important to use paper made for inkjet printing because it has a coating on one side that ensures the ink and paper play well together. I settled on Epson Velvet Fine Art Paper because it looks and feels a lot like the Stonehenge paper I favor for drawing. Epson even provides a downloadable profile for that specific paper; you select it in your computer’s printing app to tell the printer “by the way, I’m using this particular paper so apply the ink accordingly.”
I still remember the very first print I made with my R2880, on Velvet Fine Art Paper. I was so impressed at how perfectly the colors matched the original artwork, I ran to show my husband! It quickly paid for itself–my matted and mounted gicleé prints sell well during open studio events and festivals.
The very first gicleé print emerging from my Epson R2880.
It can be a PITA when I’m trying to feed it an individual sheet of paper, sometimes taking as long as 10 minutes to make it happy. In that respect it’s a prima donna: aggravating to work with, but the results are so amazing I accept it.
A short time later Epson discontinued the R2880, replacing it with the R3000, then the R3880, then the Epson SureColor P800, then the P900. I think that’s still the current iteration as I write this. The discontinuation wasn’t a big deal since the T096x cartridges were still available and Epson continued to update the driver for new OS versions.
Then one day in late 2024 it was time to order more T096x ink cartridges, and Epson’s website said they were discontinued. Panic ensued! I spent the next several days checking every local and online source, even eBay. I managed to get a few cartridges from eBay sellers who had them left over from moving on to a different printer. At least three online retailers let me order some, only to then tell me they were “backordered”–but they’re not “backordered” when Epson isn’t making them anymore! So I had to cancel the orders. The one color I can’t get, anywhere, is Vivid Light Magenta. Apparently it gets used a lot.
So once I run out of the last of my Vivid Light Magenta, I can no longer use my perfectly good R2880. I’ll have no choice but to junk it and pay a lot of money for a whole new printer and a whole different set of ink cartridges. And my other spare T096x cartridges, which cost several hundred dollars, will be useless and worthless. This makes me mad! This is the very definition of “planned obsolescence.”
As a consumer, there’s not a darned thing I can do about it. Tech and electronics companies are always moving on to the next model, the next improvement, and typically about three years is the “sunset window” for support of software versions and hardware models alike. Landfills are full of discarded electronics–printers, scanners, GPS devices, etc.–many of which would still “work” but can’t be used anymore because they can’t talk to newer computers that have moved on to incompatible systems.
It’s a little ironic because I’m an artist that prefers to create with traditional art materials that are timeless, tactile, and consistent, but part of my art business depends on technology that keeps changing out from under me and costing me more money.
You might say “Just get some third-party ink and refill your cartridges”. These T096x cartridges–the only ones that fit the R2880–are not refillable. And even if they were, I’d be concerned about the ink’s compatibility–the difference in formula may clog those picoliter jets and that’s that; this is a pro-grade art and photography printer, not an office all-in-one. On the other hand, at that point I’ll have nothing to lose…. I did find a company that purports to make refillable cartridges and ink for the R2880. I’ve bought a set even though it should be awhile before I’m that desperate. They make no claims about whether the ink is archival.
What “planned obsolescence” have you run into? Did you find a workaround to extend the life of your item, or did you have to junk it and buy a new one?