Problems with Epson Stylus Photo 810

nudi · 12th June 2003

Anyone has explanations/solutions to the following:

1. Dark/Black colours turned out to be greenish.
2. Strands of hair are blurred when printed out. Looks like lumps of hair instead.

I have tried printing the same image with another printer and the picture came out right.

Please advise.

Neo · 12th June 2003

I think the printhead kaput already... My friend had a similar problem with his Epson printer. The service centre told him that the print head is dead, and the inks are messed up, so the colours are mixed up and looks weird. Also, the details are very bad becaused the nozzles are clogged.

Try cleaning your print head to see if it helps, cuz replacing print head is very very costly. Try calling the Epson service centre to see if they have any solution.

nudi · 13th June 2003

I have already sent to service centre.
The print head is replaced.

Could it be some colour management related problems?

13th June 2003

I think this printer is very problematic. Haven't had a nice time since i bought it. Its always either color calibration problems or print head clogged. I have to keep spending money buying catridges because most of the ink are wasted trying to clean the print head or printing spoilt print. I've given up. No more of this crappy printer for me. To be frank, i think there has been no more than 10 proper prints since i bought this printer.. sigh..

glchua · 17th June 2003

I had some problems with this printer too, once a serious clog and a recent color shift problem which is due to a Photoshop setting being incorrect.

Bear in mind that this is a low end printer with a high-end specs and something has to go, and in this case, a robust print head (compared to 890 and 1280 etc).

However, for calibrated systems, the prints are nice and with sharpness surpassing lab prints. I do my prints only on Matt Paper Heavyweight. BTW, are your prints done on photographic media?

There are quite a number of sites that teach you how to print and all the settings. Two of my favourites:

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/articles.htm

Lyson's website:
http://www.lyson.com/includes/frames.html
Click on "Technical" and then "Support Documents". This is a better article, clear and concise with explanation.

Key points is that if your Photoshop is set correctly, you might want Photoshop to control color output. In the printer dialog box, the "printer color management" should be unchecked, the "color space" is the media you are using and under "advance" check "no color adjustment". This is for kmy Mac, may differ for PCs but the current Printer Driver would have the ICC profiles for different media.

17th June 2003

Hi glchua

thanks for sharing.

i wasn't having so much of a problem with the colors of the prints.
Instead, it was the printer that was giving me problems. It seems the printhead gets clogged really fast. New catridge, 2 weeks without printing, its clogged. Have you guys had that problem?

Any ideas how i can solve this problem? Can't afford to send it down to the service centre each time it happens..

glchua · 18th June 2003

My printer also clogs up, although not seriously, every fortnight of unuse.

What I try to do is to print a test page every week, this would reduce the incidence of clotting.

BTW, it is quite damaging to the print head if we clean it repeatedly without printing a test page. I've read it somewhere on the net. So after every cleaning cycle, I would print a test page, then clean again. Once, after a few weeks of unuse, I need to do this about ten times to get the printer in shape again. The price to pay for buying a cheap printer.

nudi · 19th June 2003

Thanx folks for ur comments

will try tweaking the colour settings one last time before packing the printer off to the cash convertor liao!

nudi · 21st June 2003

glchua

I have tried tweaking with the colour management before i print out. Its results are fantastic!!

Thanks for your advice, my 810 is "saved".

glchua · 23rd June 2003

nudi,

Glad to hear that!

bjory · 9th July 2003

Could be your resolution when you print your photos. Usually, normal printing (not high quality) is 72 pixel per inch which results in the hair in your photos to lump together. Even if you set the print quality to high, it will also gives the same result.

Try increasing your photo resolution to high, for eg. 180 or so and see whether the hair in the photo still lump together.

Doods · 9th July 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by nudi
Anyone has explanations/solutions to the following:

1. Dark/Black colours turned out to be greenish.
2. Strands of hair are blurred when printed out. Looks like lumps of hair instead.

I have tried printing the same image with another printer and the picture came out right.

Please advise.

I've been using this model for more than a year now and doesnt' seem to have a similar problem as yours. Maybe becoz
i always use it twice a week.

I don't even have problems even if I use those generic inks.

Understand that epson printers are easy to get clogs when not in use for a long period. Perhaps, it may get less if you use it at least
1X or 2X a week.

May I know what type of photo paper are you using eg. epson glossy/matte or any specific brand/model?

One thing I noticed was that, I have tried HP/canon glossy photo paper and it turned out to be bluish, which difficult for me to appreciate the quality.

For monitor calibration ==>visit it here.

hope this info helps.

rgds.

nudi · 9th July 2003

hi doods & bjory

thanx for ur advice!
will try them out and see if i can get even better results from this printer..

PS i think i love this printer VeRy mUchhhhHhhh...

Chee Wai · 15th July 2003

I've had this printer for about a year and it gives me pretty good printouts. The black ink head does seems to get clogged up now and then but after doing the head cleaning, it's back to normal.

I suspect those who had problems with this printer is because they didn't get the settings right. I can get about 15 A4 prints from a full colour cartridge while the black ink cartridge lasts a very long time (changed only once after changing 6 colour cartridges).

This printer gives printout similar to the Epson 1290 which is THE PRINTER of most photographers until the Epson 2100 came out.

I'm using Konica glossy photo paper now as it gives really good saturated colour and contrast. The Epson photo paper tends to be of lower resolution.

17th October 2003

I am having problem with 810 also. Now there is totally no blck color at all. I want to change the black cartridge but both volor and black not finish yet. How to change it if they havent finished the ink? Anybody know?

12th June 2003	#1
nudi Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 94	Problems with Epson Stylus Photo 810 Anyone has explanations/solutions to the following: 1. Dark/Black colours turned out to be greenish. 2. Strands of hair are blurred when printed out. Looks like lumps of hair instead. I have tried printing the same image with another printer and the picture came out right. Please advise.

17th June 2003	#5
glchua Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 528	I had some problems with this printer too, once a serious clog and a recent color shift problem which is due to a Photoshop setting being incorrect. Bear in mind that this is a low end printer with a high-end specs and something has to go, and in this case, a robust print head (compared to 890 and 1280 etc). However, for calibrated systems, the prints are nice and with sharpness surpassing lab prints. I do my prints only on Matt Paper Heavyweight. BTW, are your prints done on photographic media? There are quite a number of sites that teach you how to print and all the settings. Two of my favourites: http://www.computer-darkroom.com/articles.htm Lyson's website: http://www.lyson.com/includes/frames.html Click on "Technical" and then "Support Documents". This is a better article, clear and concise with explanation. Key points is that if your Photoshop is set correctly, you might want Photoshop to control color output. In the printer dialog box, the "printer color management" should be unchecked, the "color space" is the media you are using and under "advance" check "no color adjustment". This is for kmy Mac, may differ for PCs but the current Printer Driver would have the ICC profiles for different media. Last edited by glchua; 17th June 2003 at 05:24 PM.

12th June 2003	#2
Neo Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 947	I think the printhead kaput already... My friend had a similar problem with his Epson printer. The service centre told him that the print head is dead, and the inks are messed up, so the colours are mixed up and looks weird. Also, the details are very bad becaused the nozzles are clogged. Try cleaning your print head to see if it helps, cuz replacing print head is very very costly. Try calling the Epson service centre to see if they have any solution.

13th June 2003	#3
nudi Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 94	I have already sent to service centre. The print head is replaced. Could it be some colour management related problems?

13th June 2003	#4
020 Guests Posts: n/a	I think this printer is very problematic. Haven't had a nice time since i bought it. Its always either color calibration problems or print head clogged. I have to keep spending money buying catridges because most of the ink are wasted trying to clean the print head or printing spoilt print. I've given up. No more of this crappy printer for me. To be frank, i think there has been no more than 10 proper prints since i bought this printer.. sigh..

17th June 2003	#6
020 Guests Posts: n/a	Hi glchua thanks for sharing. i wasn't having so much of a problem with the colors of the prints. Instead, it was the printer that was giving me problems. It seems the printhead gets clogged really fast. New catridge, 2 weeks without printing, its clogged. Have you guys had that problem? Any ideas how i can solve this problem? Can't afford to send it down to the service centre each time it happens..

18th June 2003	#7
glchua Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 528	My printer also clogs up, although not seriously, every fortnight of unuse. What I try to do is to print a test page every week, this would reduce the incidence of clotting. BTW, it is quite damaging to the print head if we clean it repeatedly without printing a test page. I've read it somewhere on the net. So after every cleaning cycle, I would print a test page, then clean again. Once, after a few weeks of unuse, I need to do this about ten times to get the printer in shape again. The price to pay for buying a cheap printer.

19th June 2003	#8
nudi Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 94	Thanx folks for ur comments will try tweaking the colour settings one last time before packing the printer off to the cash convertor liao!

21st June 2003	#9
nudi Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 94	glchua I have tried tweaking with the colour management before i print out. Its results are fantastic!! Thanks for your advice, my 810 is "saved".

23rd June 2003	#10
glchua Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 528	nudi, Glad to hear that!

9th July 2003	#11
bjory Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 58	Could be your resolution when you print your photos. Usually, normal printing (not high quality) is 72 pixel per inch which results in the hair in your photos to lump together. Even if you set the print quality to high, it will also gives the same result. Try increasing your photo resolution to high, for eg. 180 or so and see whether the hair in the photo still lump together.

15th July 2003	#14
Chee Wai Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 393	I've had this printer for about a year and it gives me pretty good printouts. The black ink head does seems to get clogged up now and then but after doing the head cleaning, it's back to normal. I suspect those who had problems with this printer is because they didn't get the settings right. I can get about 15 A4 prints from a full colour cartridge while the black ink cartridge lasts a very long time (changed only once after changing 6 colour cartridges). This printer gives printout similar to the Epson 1290 which is THE PRINTER of most photographers until the Epson 2100 came out. I'm using Konica glossy photo paper now as it gives really good saturated colour and contrast. The Epson photo paper tends to be of lower resolution.

17th October 2003	#15
xi0625 Guests Posts: n/a	I am having problem with 810 also. Now there is totally no blck color at all. I want to change the black cartridge but both volor and black not finish yet. How to change it if they havent finished the ink? Anybody know?