The printer of choice today for outputting film positives is an Epson small format device such as the 1430. The only drawback is the standard 18ml cartridge. Refillable cartridges are the best option to save substantial dollars on ink.

With most RIP software, you can use one ink slot with black, or all the ink slots. If you opt for one black ink slot, cleaning solution can be placed in the other refillable cartridges. You need either ink or cleaning solution in every cartridge for the printer to function properly.

Sometimes the printer does not recognize these third party refillable cartridges. Flashing lights and error codes will warn you. On larger format printers, you would use a chip resetter on the unrecognized cartridge to fool the printer into thinking a new cartridge has been inserted. Not necessary on a small format Epson printer.

If the printer gives you an ink warning code along with flashing lights, you will generally only need to turn the printer off and back on to reset all the cartridge chips. If the warnings persist (not common), follow these steps:

1) With the printer turned ON, remove all cartridges.
2) Turn the printer OFF for 5 minutes.
3) Turn the printer back ON and then reload the cartridges.
4) Your printer should then reset properly.

There are two rubber stoppers in each cartridge, one covering the ink fill hole, and the other covering the breather hole. Generally, this breather hole stopper will be larger and in assorted colors. The breather hole stopper should be removed and left out of the cartridge during printing so that the ink will flow freely to the print head.