Tango + Photos
UPDATE: HP is sending me a replacement printer after mine suddenly began refusing to load ANY type of paper. One minute it was working fine and then nothing. Hopefully a bad egg and not something systemic (I was assured it wasn’t and searches didn’t turn up anything). But I’ve since noticed the machine is rated for 300gsm max paper weight. I’ll be watching this from now on and switching to HP 300gsm lustre, just in case.
This is a follow-up to the previous post about my Shoebox Project. I know a few of you have gone ahead and purchased the Tango printer based on it, so this is a quick run-through of how I’m using it and what I’ve found works best so far.
The app
The Tango is described as a mobile printer and the HP Smart app (iOS or Android) is actually required during setup (1). On my iPhone the process was clear and painless: the app immediately connected to the printer and I simply followed the instructions, all the way to a test printout.
This app is where all interactions with the printer happen on mobile devices. On iOS there’s also a Print with HP Smart option available in the Share Sheet, that launches directly into printing mode (2). I’ll leave you to explore all of this, but I do need to mention one hugely important setting, specifically for photo printing: make sure you set Quality to Best. It’s set to Normal by default and the first picture I printed looked horrible. So this is essential. But it’s a one time thing: the setting sticks unless you change it. To set this within the app, hit Print and then tap or swipe up on the “handle” just above the printer name:
The BW Issue
I wrote about this in the original post but I’ll repeat it here: printing black and white images from iOS results in a serious blue or purple colour cast, even when using Grayscale mode. So far, the only way I’ve found to get neutral black and white prints is to do it from a desktop computer. Ironic given the printer’s focus on the mobile space.
I received my first ink replacement shipment last Friday, so I’ve since done more testing on this front. I initially thought (and wrote) that the ICC profile I’d downloaded from Ilford’s website was the reason I could obtain neutral black and white prints from C1. I was wrong. In fact, I’ve now entirely eliminated C1 from my print workflow (3).
Here’s all that matters when you print black and white photos from a computer:
Paper Type: Photo Glossy Paper (glossy or lustre) or Presentation Matte (4).
Quality: Best.
Black and White: checked.
These settings work every time. And since the profile isn’t needed, it also means any application will do. More on this in a sec.
Borders
The Tango prints borderless images. It’s a tentpole feature and it works perfectly from the HP Smart app. But for the life of me I couldn’t find a way to print WITH borders from this same app. Online search only revealed a bajillion posts on “how to make borderless prints”. Is no one interested in borders anymore? Oh well. Needless to say, my personal choice of printing 4x6 images on 5x7 paper lead to some frustration.
Apple’s Photos app can do this on a Mac—but not on iOS (5). So my solution was to game the system by creating a few Pixelmator templates, with my preferred layouts baked in:
4x6 on 5x7 (X-Series).
5x7 on 5x7 + border (GFX).
8.5x11 + border, for larger prints.
So I’m still printing borderless images...but those images have borders. Ha! Take that heathens ;)
I designed those templates on my iPad but saved them to iCloud, making them instantly accessible to Pixelmator Pro on my Mac. And as you may have guessed, this is the application I now use to print black and white images, using the settings listed above.
The Workflow
I could explain all of this in another few thousand words but...meh. I have a Vimeo account, so here’s a quick Projector segment instead. And if you’re wondering what that is: these are normally reserved to the 1EYE SOCIETY membership—so it’s the first time I make one for the blog.
The Motivation
For those who didn’t read the original post, I want to reiterate the motivation behind this whole endeavour: the Shoebox Project isn’t about perfect prints—it’s about prints, period. The HP Tango is not a super high end photo printer with perfect gradation, minimal gloss differential etc...it’s a consumer machine that uses two cartridges. It’s not going to rival 8-ink pigment-based behemoths. But thanks to HP’s Instant Ink program, I find myself printing with something close to wild abandon. Beyond the 5x7 images on Ilford paper, I also have a box of matte Moab 4x6 that I’m using to print mostly black and whites—because I love how the texture of that paper enhances the painterly mood of certain pictures—medium-format, especially. And I’m not framing these, but just leaving them around the house, on shelves or tables. I love this. I love the lack of solemnity that comes from no longer worrying about the cost of ink. I love printing whenever I feel like it and dropping a print somewhere, a few minutes later. Paper isn’t cheap but it’s just one element to manage—the rest is taken care of, without even having to think about it.
All of that, to me, makes any compromises worth it. My photography is suddenly alive and part of the fabric of our days.
Btw, if you’re interested in HP’s Instant Ink program, here’s a referral code that’ll give us both an extra free month.
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There’s a desktop version as well but I’m not sure if it can be used for the initial setup.
It only appears if the printer is online (lid open and connected to the network).
The UX of Capture One’s print module is horrible. I keep hoping it’ll improve but nothing has changed in years.
The Photo Glossy setting works on matte paper but it may be adding a lot more ink than needed. Presentation Matte gives me nice results with BW prints on Moab Enhanced Velvet.
Seriously Apple? How hard is it to create feature parity within your own apps at this point?
