| DESCRIPTION
& SET-UP continues ...
The
B9180 is a consumer/prosumer level desktop printer capable
of printing up to 13 inches wide. It is a well made and designed
unit with an impressive feel of quality and rugged construction.
This is no flimsy printer and when I unpacked it in my kitchen
I had a difficult time carrying it upstairs to my digital darkroom.
The distinguishing design features of the B9180
include:
- User
replaceable print heads (4 print heads – each
housing two colors)
- 27
ml capacity ink cartridges (larger than what is typical for
this class of printer)
- Self
calibration through densitomic closed loop color calibration
- Paper
cassette tray with 200 page capacity and a "Specialty
Media Tray" for manually feeding single sheets
of thicker papers and canvas
- USB
2.0 and built-in Ethernet connectivity
- Printing
plug-in for Adobe Photoshop (available for versions up to
CS2)
QUICK
START GUIDE
Once
I had the B9180 settled into its new location I reviewed
the quick start guide. HP is to be applauded for providing
clear and concise instructions that are logical and easy to
follow. The first step is to plug the printer into a wall socket.
At
this point you DO NOT connect the printer to your PC via the
USB connection. This will be done later in the set-up process
when you install the software provided on the install CD.
CALIBRATION
Turn
the printer on and the LCD screen lights up and provides
easy to follow instructions. After selecting the default
language you will be prompted to install the ink cartridges
and then the print heads. Once the print heads are installed
the printer will go through the self calibrating process
on its own. Simply load a few sheets of photo paper (provided
by HP in the printer packaging) in the main paper tray and
sit back and watch the printer do its thing.
The
calibration takes about 40 minutes to complete and consists
of the printer printing some test targets with color
patches. As these targets are printed they are automatically
fed back into the bowels of the printer where a sensor (a
densitometer more precisely) reads the color patches and
calibrates the
printer against factory standards stored in the printer.
Adjustments
are made to the delivery of ink via the print heads to achieve
factory color densities. This calibrating, or what is commonly referred to as linearization,
is not to be confused with printer profiling. Since the HP B9180
uses replaceable print heads which are installed by the user
this closed loop calibration process is necessary. The benefit
of this calibration is that the HP provided paper profiles that
are installed on your PC to produce very accurate colors. These
profiles are also available on the HP website.
Although it is only necessary to perform this calibration once
(during initial set-up) and each time the print heads are replaced,
users have the option to re-calibrate at any time. This is a
useful feature if the printer is ever moved to another location.
It should be noted that HP engineers estimate that under typical
use the heads will last the lifetime of the printer, so the replacement
of heads is not likely. It is comforting to know that the user
can replace them on their own without the need for services from
a repair center which with other printer manufacturers can be
a very expensive endeavor.
After the calibration is complete you can then install the software.
I installed this printer on a new Gateway PC running Windows
Vista Home Premium. As a precaution, and because the quick start
guide says the software on the provided CD is for Windows XP,
I first visited the HP website and downloaded the version of
the Photosmart software that is Windows Vista compatible. Installation
was simple and uneventful. The software comes with a Photoshop
print plug-in designed specifically for HP printers. If you plan
to use this Photoshop plug-in, and I highly recommend that you
do. You must first make sure Photoshop (CS2 or earlier) is installed
on your PC. Otherwise the Photosmart software will not detect
it on your system and will not install the plug-in. If you do
install Photoshop at a later time you can always reinstall the
printer software.
For
those of you who are running Adobe Photoshop CS3 please note
that
there is no compatible print plug-in. Since the release
of CS3 Adobe has retooled their print routine. The features of
this plug-in are already incorporated in their new "Print" command.
According to HP the plug-in is not necessary for CS3 users.
One last item of note I encountered during the
software install routine. The HP installer checks via the Internet
to see if there are newer drivers for the printer and downloads
them for you - another nice touch from the HP design team. |
