Sorry to hear that. I have the same printer and have not had any issues. I did screw up one time and had the paper wrong side up that was a mess. Ran plain paper through 5 times to clean out the ink. No problems since. I did find the borders are better and that I get the best results using the Epson photo tools vs the photo editing applications. That said it is over $800 but over the years the cartridge systems I have used I guess I spent 3 times that easily.

As one other has said Nikons NX Studio works very well and it is free. I used it for years along with GIMP as an editor after exporting the NEF to JPG.

I abandoned Adobe in 2019 after they broke PS with 2 different releases. I use DXO PL and ON1 at times. I use Affinity photo for editing. No subscriptions required and I update DXO when I think it is worth it.So I have the latest as it has a full Metadata editor and updated noise reduction system.

Now if you use the LRC catalog you may have issues finding your images. I believe that Adobe Bridge can help with that and it is free, I think. I have my own file & naming system so catalogs are useless for me. I use Nikon's transfer app to change the image file name to match the project.

Now I keep RAW files as I have found out that should I want to rework the image, jpg just does not have all the data I might need.
With the ever changing options in editing
apps I find myself reaching back to images 10 years back but due to limited disk space back then I deleted the RAWs. I do have from 2017 forward now. I just buy more storage now. Check the option for yourself.

Most of the competition to Adobe photo tools have 15 to.30 day trials. Good luck.

This appears to be an additional edit. You missed part of the message below. I can see it at the bottom but only a small portion.

Since you are a Nikon user I would suggest downloading the Z6ii manuals. There is a user and reference manual. I moved from a D3100 to a Z6 last year. The camera was familiar and different at the same time. I went through all of the menus and available settings just to get comfortable with the camera. I am not sure which modes you are changing either.

I shoot for a dance studio and I have them designated in my will. I have a 4TB drive that holds the images, web pages and various other information I have collected since 2013. The images are sorted by years and events.

I produced a CD for my 2 children back in 2010 when I retired for their early years, through high school. They are both in their 50s now. Those photos exist as prints as well. I don't shoot the family anymore I let that go as they all have phone cameras etc. My children & grandson are all computer savy. Grandson especially. They will find what has value and I have the passwords in a lockbox with instructions. I am a single Dad and this has been in place for sometime now.

Thanks for asking.

In looking at both shots I am not referencing the subject but the floor. I shoot dancers and WB can be a challenge with available light (flash, unless overhead is not a good idea). In your first photo it looks a bit cool as the floor is almost white. The second shot looks a bit closer to what our eyes see. I do have it set for Auto with my Z6 which usually does a good job when the light is not directly over the subject.

I did mention bodies first. I was also referring to my own experience with Nikon's reconditioned stock. However, thanks for the update on.the pricing of the Z6. I paid a bit less than that.

Check on Nikon's site for reconditioned bodies. I bought my Z6 a year ago July with the FTZ adapter. Have shot over 6000 images so far.

I am running V2 on my Sony. Download the trial version and give it a try.

I decided to upgrade from D3100 to a Nikon reconditioned Z6 with the F2Z adapter to use my D&F lenses. Not sorry, I have had it over 18 months and have shot over 6000 images so far. There is a bit of learning curve as there are more options with the Z line. But you will find it familiar.

I am retired as well but shoot dancers for a dance studio during showcases, demos & comps. My partner shoots with a D5500 as well. We have a good time. We shoot RAW 95% of the time.

From my friend's garden. Photo via my Samsung A42

Since you have Affinity Photo I would search in their tutorials and on YouTube. I have helped a freind digitize old family photos and some slides. I used my Z6 with the slides. Processed with DXO and used Affiinty photo with some of the scans.

You may want to experiment with colorizing too..

Dropbox will work when you send the link. Make sure you set the permissions.

Quite different. I do like your outcome.

I enjoyed your photo manipulations and the narrative. Thanks for sharing.