By design, most printers will indicate when ink levels begin running low – often when there is 20% or more of the ink remaining. So it’s wise to continue to print until the printer indicates the cartridge can no longer be used. Some printers will stop printing at this point to prevent the print head drying out (which will cause damage). Depleted cartridges should always be changed straight away.

 

By design, most printers will indicate when ink levels begin running low – often when there is 20% or more of the ink remaining. So it’s wise to continue to print until the printer indicates the cartridge can no longer be used. Some printers will stop printing at this point to prevent the print head drying out (which will cause damage). Depleted cartridges should always be changed straight away.

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A typical reminder screen showing a low ink level for two cartridges. The Light Cyan cartridge is shown as having less than 10% ink remaining. Another warning will appear when the ink level drops to 5%, at which point the cartridge is close to needing to be replaced.

The amount of remaining ink will vary for many reasons (the number of cleaning cycles the printer has been through, the types of prints made, the number of times the printer has been switched on or off, and how long it is left on and not operating). By controlling these factors you can maximise ink yields. The following tips will help you to minimise ink wastage:
1. Don’t run cleaning cycles unless your prints are showing signs of a blocked nozzle (missing dots or lines). Ink is used each time a cleaning cycle is run so the fewer times you have to clean the nozzles, the less ink you waste.
2. Think carefully about print resolution and set the appropriate resolution for the output size and application. Documents can usually be printed at lower resolution than photographs. Photo prints at A4-size and smaller should be printed at 300 dpi (dots/inch) resolution, while larger prints can be printed at lower resolutions (250 dpi or 200 dpi for A3 size or 150 dpi for larger sizes). Large prints are viewed from greater distances so the amount of detail required is less.
3. Experiment with your printer’s output quality settings to find the most economical one for each application. Don’t assume the highest quality setting is the only one to use for photo prints. You may find there is very little difference in photo prints made with the top quality setting and the next one down, yet the amount of ink used with the top setting is substantially higher.
4. Don’t leave your printer on when you’re not using it. Most printers will automatically run periodic head cleans to ensure the nozzles aren’t blocked by drying ink while they are switched on.

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Some printers provide several quality settings, usually with differing resolution. The difference between the highest and one step down may be difficult to detect with some images.
5. Always turn off the printer from the front control panel, before you switch off the wall switch. This positions the print head in a protected position that reduces the chance of the nozzles drying out.

 

This is an excerpt from Post Capture Pocket Guide.
Click here for more details on this and other titles in the Pocket Guide series.

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