DAY ONE
EPSON 1280 + MediaStreet G6 ink + Blue Lable CISS
Blue Lable CISS will now be the official name of the product from Shenzhen NXY Technology Co. It's named after the misspelling on their cartridges for the Epson R200, and is very Googleable. It's pronounced Blue Lab-lay. Every no-name Product needs a name.
Printer - Epson 1280
CIS unit - Super Smart Electronics Blue Lable
Ink - G6 Generaltions UltraChrome w/ photo black
Test paper - Kirkland photo paper (made in Mexico)
Scanner - Canon mp830 Sheetfed.
Thus far I can't say it's been 100% trouble free.
[Black Banding]
There was a kink in the supply hose for the black which may have resulted in issues. It seems to have cleared it self up. It may be a different issue.
[Incomplete printing]
After a couple of cleaning cycles it may be the chips were reading as "empty". Powering down the printer seems to have resolved this.
[black glazing]
The G6 Generaltions UltraChrome has an option for two blacks, one glossy one not. I was shipped the glossy one and as such some shadows come out as sort of shinny.
[color rendering]
These inks are geared toward the Epson 2200, 7600, 9600, and as such they are not an exact match to OEM. As such an ICC profile is required to compensate. MediaStreet provides these upon request, they don't give them out to just everybody. Additionaly they will provide profiles if you send them samples. Thus far the best result has been from MIS (inksupply.com).
Source Image left
This is the OEM ink on Kirkland photopaper. The green-chartreuse of the grass has faded greatly and most everything has a cool shift. Still not an awful rendering.
The profile provided by MediaStreet was for Epson Premium Glossy paper. If I had some I'd test it, but I have to say it's yellow, really yellow.
Even though the blotch in the sky due due to over zealous x-raying of my camera bag comes across much more starkly than the others, This comes across as closer to the intended result. It's a tad cooler then I would have liked, the organic growth does not have that look of healthy mossy green that Mayan ruins should have.These are first I'm printing with non-OEM non-color matched inks on this printer.
More to come.
Canon offers a bubblejet printer, as in ink is heated until it boils which results in the ink being deposited on a page. Epsons use piezo electric printheads, as in they use crystals that expand when current is applied to them. One advantage is the ability to vary the drop size. Canon for example have 4 sets of nozzles on their printer, 30 picoliter for text, 5, 2, and 1 picoliter for colors. Something similar can be accomplished on Epson printers but with a single nozzle set. The other major advantage is you can put just about any type of liquid though them including pigment inks.
Due to Epson's deisgn they lend them selves rather well to external inktanks, or CISS (Continious Ink Supply Systems). To this end I purchaced what I term as the "Blue Lable CISS" as the first set of cartridges I purchaced said specifically "DO NOT REMOVE BLUE LABLE". They have since corrected the spelling error. I believe they are manufactured by the 
