My head is starting to ache.... I've been hunting around for a CIS for my Epson R2880 and didn't realise what a minefield I had walked into!
I have narrowed it down to three options and was wondering if anyone had any experience of these systems.
I will be using it for printing photographs on fine art paper, and will be using pigment inks for longevity.

The first is a Lyson system which is around £180 with 60ml each colour
The second a Fotospeed, again with 60ml of each and again around £180
The third is from continuous ink systems .co .uk and uses ink from a company called Lanxess. This system will work out cheaper at about £130 and has 250ml of each ink.

I can't seem to find much info on Lanxess inks, but Lyson and Fotospeed claim a life of 75 years + without fading.
I am obviously attracted to the third option as it works out much cheaper and will last longer before I have to buy more ink.
Does anyone have any experience of these systems they could share?

Thanks
Martin

Hi Martin,
I don't have any direct experience with either of these systems for the 2880, but I have friends that have Lyson and Fotospeed systems on their 2400s. Both systems perform well on that machine. I also know that Marrutt give very good support for the Lyson systems.

A couple of things to bear in mind; firstly, you say that you will be printing on fine art paper, by which I assume you mean matt fine art paper. That being the case you need to have the MK ink in your system, not the PK (photo black). The photo black seems to be the default black ink in most cases but would give poor results on matt paper. Conversely, the matt black is not ideal for glossy paper - it generally rubs off rather easily!

Secondly, if you are after the best quality, don't expect the inks to be a perfect match to the Epson inks. In my experience (of generating hundreds of printer profiles) third-party inks rarely give the same collur gamut or colour rendering as OEM inks. The best ones, and I include Lyson and Fotospeed in this category, come close, but even then, for the best colour accuracy, a custom profile is always worthwhile.

Best of luck

Roger

Thanks Roger.
I've been using Innova 300gsm Fibaprint Archival Matte paper.
The company have ICC profiles available for download which I have been using with great results.
There are profiles for both PK and MK inks,( I've been using the Photo Black with)

I have a friend who can supply me with custom profiles for free He has a wide format Canon setup, but only uses OEM ink, so doesn't
know too much about the third party stuff.

I 'm just struggling to decide wether to go for the Lyson setup from Marrutt or the cheaper Lanxess from CISS Solutions. I'm wondering if there
will be any real difference between the two when I've had the custom profiles done?

Custom profiles will certainly make the differences in colour rendering much smaller, and for the average image even indistinguishable from the OEM inks. They will also help maximise the colour gamut, but some ink sets will provide wider gamut than others. Difficult to know what the differencecs are unless you can compare profiles for the inks on the same papers.

As far as MK and PK goes, the Innova paper is probably a bit different for most others in that it will accept either. "True" matt fine art papers like Hahn Photo Rag will give poor blacks with PK inks so if you intend to use them you will need the facility to use MK. The Lyson 9 ink system does give you that option, but naturally at higher cost.

As always, you pays your money and takes your choice.

Roger