choosing a photo printer

Peter Sommer

12 years ago

I am thinking about buying at A3+ (13") photoprinter. A little research showed that the main battle is between Epson and Canon. Some more research revealed that there is to types of ink technologies, Dye-ink and Pigment ink. According to the research I have done so far the Dye-ink should produce the best quality (both colors and /BW), but have that problem that the colors a not very stable over time!

So, my question is, how much time are we talking about here? Anybody how have experience with this?

I am currently looking at Cannon PIXMA pro-100 vs Epson Stylus Photo R3000. The pro-100 is a dye-ink printer and the R3000 is a pigment ink printer. The pro-100 was the only dye-ink printer that I could find!

Looking at my gallery I think it pretty much represents the kind of pictures I will be printing: Dark B/W's, B/W's, reflective surfaces, close ups with strong colors, pictures with a lot of white color (who will this be printed?), ect. Do you have any experience with printing that can help me make the right choice???

Deleted User

12 years ago

Peter, I think you might have your research backwards. Dye based printer inks are an older approach and generally considered inferior to pigment. That's probably why you can only find one printer to buy that uses it.

YOu should definitely go with pigment inks.

I use an HP B8850 and have had great success reproducing both color and b&w. That model is not sold anymore by HP. Both Canon and Epson make excellent printers using pigment inks. Don't stress too much over brand.

Clyde

Christoph Hessel PRO

12 years ago

Peter, I too use an old HP A photosmart 8750

It always worked excellent especial in b/w, and i never found a need to buy something more modern. I use my own customized color profiles for display and printer and get wonderful results with it.

Christoph

Deleted User

12 years ago

Peter, I too use an old HP A photosmart 8750

It always worked excellent especial in b/w, and i never found a need to buy something more modern. I use my own customized color profiles for display and printer and get wonderful results with it.

Christoph

Well look at that! We do have some common ground to build from! And I mean that in a nice way. Fences need to be rebuilt I think.

Have you had any problems with ink build up in the little tray under where the print head park? I have and it leaves little bits of ink on the edges of the heads and that marks the edges of the paper sometimes if the edge isn't perfectly flat. That's the only problem I've ever had with mine.

Christoph Hessel PRO

12 years ago

I am always open in that way Clyde, thanks.

No I had not. My problem was the unit that transports the paper. With smaller sheets of Hanemühle it sometimes takes the paper not straight. This never happens when I feed from the front, so I do that.

Some times I have not used that printer often and I have been surprised, that it works proper. No probs with dried ink.

What I love is the b/w quality on Hahnemühle. I have it calibrated on that paper and love the results

Deleted User

12 years ago

I am always open in that way Clyde, thanks.

No I had not. My problem was the unit that transports the paper. With smaller sheets of Hanemühle it sometimes takes the paper not straight. This never happens when I feed from the front, so I do that.

Some times I have not used that printer often and I have been surprised, that it works proper. No probs with dried ink.

What I love is the b/w quality on Hahnemühle. I have it calibrated on that paper and love the results

send me contact info to [..edit..] I would love to actually speak to you, phone? (only doing this here, as other means are not available at the moment) Feel free to edit this out if you would prefer after you note my email.

Which Hahnemühle paper do you use? I have done almost exclusively Photo Rag but recently got a box of Baryta and it look real nice for b&w too. The 308 Photo Rag is my fav but it is too thick to roll up for shipping.

Christoph Hessel PRO

12 years ago

I will contact you in email Clyde. And edited your mail out for the general reasons why we do not post them in internet :-)

Peter Sommer

12 years ago

Peter, I think you might have your research backwards. Dye based printer inks are an older approach and generally considered inferior to pigment. That's probably why you can only find one printer to buy that uses it.

YOu should definitely go with pigment inks.

I use an HP B8850 and have had great success reproducing both color and b&w. That model is not sold anymore by HP. Both Canon and Epson make excellent printers using pigment inks. Don't stress too much over brand.

Clyde

Well - I was warned that your guys would say that, by the main article I build my research on. The dye-ink printer in question is a pretty new model from Canon. Although I value your advise high (you have experience on this - I only have the theory and reviews to build on) I will try to do some more research on this.

The question about the brand is not so important for me - But my search show that Canon and Epson is what is easiest available on the market in Denmark. From conventional office printers I have the best experience with HP - they just keep on working for decades and millions of prints , but for a photo printer durability is not a issue I think - I will never print that many photos on it.

/Peter

Deleted User

12 years ago

Well, I always loved the way the dye based prints I got from my first HP looked. But I sold it because those inks would only bond correctly with HP paper that had a special coating. I did a few prints on Photo Rag and sprayed them with a clear coat which was supposed to make them last on off brand paper. It didn't, after a couple of years exposed to air the colors started to shift badly. The ones under glass or in a box were fine. It was only the ones exposed to air, i.e. mounted on foarmcore but not framed.

The HP Pigment inks can be used on virtually any kind of paper. I think HP has pretty much left the high end inkjet market, at least at the smaller size. I would definitely go with Epson or Canon if I was buying today.

Clyde

Phyllis Clarke CREW

12 years ago — Moderator

I have a question regarding clogged printer heads.

Mine clogged up way long ago. I must have used $200.00 worth of ink attempting to unclog them with the system the printer uses.

It is an Epson 2200 I think or 2400.

The printer itself is like new apart from this problem. I hardly used it.

Is there another method that can be used to unclog the heads? Now I just get long lines over a hardly seen photo. :))

I should mention that the printer itself became useless when I switched from a PC to a Mac. Epson did not make the usual drivers to go with Leopard. They forgot about those of us who had this printer, and get us something called Easyprint...

This is a joke, you cannot set profiles and it does just very fast quick printing. Still I could use it for cards and simple things for myself that did not require something beautiful. I had bought so much extra ink for this printer!!

So..warning..if you buy an Epson printer make sure you buy one of their latest models if you want it to work with a newer OS..and maybe they just don't like Mac's - I don't know. What I do recall is that my printer broke down..I wanted a new one..I called and was told that they had no idea when the newer printers in this price range would be coming out. So I bought what was available..I think it is the 2200. Well about three months later - NEW model arrives. I think the cost was about $600 plus...and it was a total waste of money.

My new method is to have things printed at MPIX which is very inexpensive and does a good job..cheaper than printing yourself..

So..if anyone knows how to get at those printer heads and what to use??

Would be great.

Phyl

Deleted User

12 years ago

Phyl, I'm really sorry for your troubles. I have no experience with Epson printers but one important thing with most of these printers is the ink cycle. My HP cycles the ink once a day to keep the print heads from clogging. It happens automatically. BUT it can only happen if you leave constant power to the printer. If you use a master switch or power bar to turn on and off your whole system, the printer should not be on it. They need power to do this cycling of the ink in the print heads.

This will probably only do you good for future reference. I would say you need to replace the print heads if that model has separate print heads. My HP does. Or just buy a new printer, sadly.

Clyde

Frédéric Verhelst (Papafrezzo)

12 years ago

Just to add my experience. I have an Epson Stylus Pro 3880. It is using pigment ink. I am using it rather sporadically (printing for competitions mainly) for 3 years now, and never had any problems. Love the results.

Phyllis Clarke CREW

12 years ago — Moderator

I would say you need to replace the print heads if that model has separate print heads. My HP does. Or just buy a new printer, sadly.

Clyde

[/quote]

Yes, right now it is taking up space.:)) It was an expensive loss. :) The printer I had before this one i did a lot of printing on Canvas...This one has chrome inks I believe...I bought so much paper which is now out of date, so much ink also out of date..in prep to print print print..

And yes not using it - is exactly what caused the problem. I don't think this model (much cheaper than yours ) had such a feature to run the heads.

Then switching to Mac made it into a fast and easy printer..but useless for nice prints. And so I shall probably get rid of it. Probably someone who is handy and lives locally coud do something with it.

I have gotten some interesting looking images out of it...sort of strange colors, very light with texture and then lines...lol here and there..so it is like an experimental printer now!! :) MPIX does such a great job that I think it is actually cheaper...especially if you buy in bulk because the shipping is not then cost prohibitive.

Frederic..glad to hear your experience is a good one.

Phyllis

Ben Goossens ✝ PRO

12 years ago

Hi Phyllis,

6 years ago, I bought a second hand Epson 2100 A3+ Photo printer for 110$ and it works fine with Mac and Snow Leopard.

I'm very satisfied with it:-)

About your problem.

(So..if anyone knows how to get at those printer heads and what to use??

Would be great.)

Make sure you got the latest driver for this printer on the Epson site.

Go to you program folder

> use the Epson Printer Utility 3.09

> chose your printer

> Control the printer heads

> Clean the cassette heads

> Line out the printer heads... do everything what''s mentioned there.

As you don't make a lot of prints cleaning is needed.

When you print, make also sure you indicate a good quality and I'm sure the lines will be gone.

I print a lot, but sometimes I have use the Printer Utility to avoid those problems.

Sorry for my English!

Best, Ben

Vic. Parsons.

12 years ago

Peter, a few things to consider before investing in an Epson printer. They generaly produce very good prints but at a cost....... sometimes quite a high cost and i would suspect that specialist printing firms are likely to be quite competatively priced by comparison once you take into account the cost of the printer, the paper, the ink and your time.

I have been using an Epson R1800 for a good few years and can attest to the fact that Epson pigment inks are damned expensive and disappear very fast.

With Epson printers I would recommend that you build up a good size print run before switching on and doing any printing, indeed, i would try to have enough printing available to use all of of inks in one hit if possible. The trouble with Epson printers is the head charging and cleaning when the printer is switched on after a period of inactivity. It uses copious amounts of ink which is effectively wasted. If you do a couple of prints as a run and then come back a few days later to do some more, it'll waste more ink charging the head before you start printing.

Also, some cartridges get used quicker than others (depending on what you're printing) so when one cartridge needs replacing, the head needs to be charged again and you'll lose ink from ALL the cartridges. If you have one cartridge empty and a couple more that are getting very low, it's probably more economical to change all three at the same time rather than wait for the other two to get used up and have to charge the head each time.

As an example of how much ink never makes it onto paper, I was printing exclusively on archival matt paper for quite a while and yet i still had to change the gloss optimiser cartridge (which was a full cartridge), none of which was actualy used for printing because it's not needed on matt paper, so where did it all dsappear to? Head charging, head cleaning and nozzle checks.

Where all that ink goes to i have no idea, i've looked under the printer to see if there's a puddle forming but no, it just seems to vanish so that you're buying more ink way before you think you'll need to. :-))

Much as it's nice to see a photograph emerge from the printer, I have reached the conclusion that my Epson printer was designed to get you out the door and down to the shop buying more ink as quickly as possible.

To sum up, consider the costs very, very carefully before committing to buying a printer and check out the prices of high street printing firms.

Deleted User

12 years ago

Vic.'s comments made me think about a couple of things. 1. he is right I'm sure. Even with my HP there is a certain degree of each of this comments that are valid to my experience.

But 2. it also made me remember the darkroom days. Vic. did you ever print in a darkroom?? One of the reasons that the use of paper and ink has not seemed too onus to me is my history in a darkroom. The trial and error and experimentation that goes on in most darkrooms will dwarf the loss of paper and ink I have suffered with my 2 HP printers. I remember more than once using up nearly a whole box of paper just trying to get one print that I thought was perfect.

Now I know that the actual money spent is probably much more with my HP's but relative to inflation and my personal ability to afford it, not so much. A box of paper and bottles of chemicals used to cost me WAY more that paper and ink does now. But I did it because I loved the hand crafting of something I was proud of. Much the same today when I get a print out of the tray and carry it gingerly into the dining room to dry on the big table.

A good print service might actually be the most economical answer for most today, but not necessarily the best answer...

Clyde

Phyllis Clarke CREW

12 years ago — Moderator

Hi Phyllis,

6 years ago, I bought a second hand Epson 2100 A3+ Photo printer for 110$ and it works fine with Mac and Snow Leopard.

I'm very satisfied with it:-)

Dear Ben,

Thanks for this information. What I have is an Espson Sylus Photo Printer 2200. It prints up to 13 x 19 inch paper. I just checked to see if there are any newer drivers available for it either from Epson or Apple.

The last drivers Epson as are for OS 2. So it is before Leopard. Now it is quite possible then when I installed Snow Leopard and Lion over Leopard that they automatically updated the drivers, which they did do for my Samsung Laser printer. The instructions at the Epson page say to get it from Apple via updates. My updates are up to date. So I am guessing that long install included a driver..but for what I do no know..

The bottom line is that If I cannot unclog the head it does not matter if I have the driver.

This is the page I got the info from

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=14402&prodoid=20306147&infoType=Downloads&detected=yes&platform=OSF_M_X7

THE ICC profiles listed are in this link are in code which needs to be decoded using Binhex decoder which is seems to have links that go back to 2007 and are for Photoshop 7.

Now most of this makes sense to me since I was not able to get a 'real' driver when I went to the Mac. I think your 2100 might be the same machine but with a European number.

On top of it all...LOL now. I lost the Library folder. And since you have a Mac you know how important that folder. Well, maybe they moved it so people could not make changes...when I upgraded Leopard. I finally found it using help but it has NO path at the botton..so I have no idea where it exists on he computer.

I do not see any drivers for either printer...anywhere..:)) Though I am positive tha the Samsung has one since when I upgraded Leopard I downloaded it and installed it myself. Does anyone know where to look for this?

AS for using the utility to clean the machine...My problem is m own self doing in that I did not use the printer for some time.

As I explained above although my printer was like new they brought out the 2400. Now that printer they did have profiles for and drivers...and all good things, Basically I and many others believed that they did this deliberately so people would upgrade.

The only driveR they had available was called Easy print Driver...Before the machine got clogged...my heart sunk when I saw what kind of a print it made.

The print came out in about 12 seconds...if that. No way to control any part of the settings.

When I started looking through again now I did notice that for the 2100 in Europe they had Easy print drivers also...

I have done the unclogging method as you suggested enough times to use up at least 20 ink cart. at about $13 to $14 for one. I had them in the house as I had bought a large supply. I would try maybe 30 times..and get no results and stop. Then look at the printer a month later and think..try again Phyllis.. Over and over..no changes. Now I still have some left..but not magenta..and so I would have to buy more ink...and I just cannot see any reason to continue.

I was hoping there was another method to clean printer heads..And yes I did the alignment over and over again too.

Your English is excellent.....it is my printer that has the problem..:))

BTW I always used the Printer Utility to do this cleaning because there does not seem to be any other way?

As for Printer Utility mine says 4.0 and the version is 9.0.

I cannot see any driver listed. I believe I did choose good print quality..no other settings available....12 seconds..With the regular drivers and specific settings it wold take about five to ten min to make a good print....

I think Epson makes great products..but I did not get lucky.

Thanks you so much for trying. I really do appreciate the time you took.

Phyl

Phyllis Clarke CREW

12 years ago — Moderator

But 2. it also made me remember the darkroom days. Vic. did you ever print in a darkroom?? One of the reasons that the use of paper and ink has not seemed too onus to me is my history in a darkroom. The trial and error and experimentation that goes on in most darkrooms will dwarf the loss of paper and ink I have suffered with my 2 HP printers. I remember more than once using up nearly a whole box of paper just trying to get one print that I thought was perfect.

Well your absolutely right about the cost of the paper, though I do not remember the chemicals being expensive..though I only did b/w. However, for me the worst trial and error was printing myself. The way around that was to find a paper that i liked (which I did) and then find the right profile..and do the same thing over and over..it worked most of the time.

What were you doing in that darkroom?? :) i would make contact sheets and look for the best pictures...Pick one....negative and usually it worked....On the first try I could see all of what I would have to correct...On the second try I held my breath with hope...that i had burned and dodged in the right places...but usually it was the 3rd try that did it....Then after that...if you wanted more copies...you had to hope you were doing it just right again...and yes there was waste... alot of it.. but with my HP printer & Epson printers until I stuck with one paper.....it was worse.

I tell you MPIX is just wonderful. Have you tried them? They have MPIX pro now..too..

I recommend them..easily. :)

Phyl

Vic. Parsons.

12 years ago

I have a question regarding clogged printer heads.

Mine clogged up way long ago. I must have used $200.00 worth of ink attempting to unclog them with the system the printer uses.

It is an Epson 2200 I think or 2400.

The printer itself is like new apart from this problem. I hardly used it.

Is there another method that can be used to unclog the heads? Now I just get long lines over a hardly seen photo. :))

Hi Phyllis,

I can't help you with the driver problem but perhaps this might help you with the clogged head:

http://youtu.be/yrAqXjX10xs

Majic bullet service fluid / print head unblockker can be found on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Specialistink-MB-Bullet-Printhead-unblocker/dp/B002YUEEXI If it works then it will be a lot cheaper than using up more expensive ink cartridges :-))

While looking at this video i also found another useful tip to clean a single head to avoid using up loads of ink from all cartridges with head cleaning:

http://youtu.be/NCtUyQsYobw

It might be worth getting hold of a wndows pc to try this out on so you can use the original drivers and have full control of the print quality. I know that for most Mac users, the very thought of going back to using a windows system is not a savoury one, however, it may be worth it so you can at least get to use your printer.

Vic. Parsons.

12 years ago

Phyllis,

Also watch this video, it's more informative than the previous one i gave a link for:

http://youtu.be/i78Tu3RVO3s

Vic. Parsons.

12 years ago

Vic, that ink don't disapear.. On the large format printers it goes into a "maintenance tank" that you can change. On the "cheapies" you probably have to change the printer..

And, at least on the large format printer you can disable that constant cleaning, don't remember what it is called, in the menu. You better just run a cleaning before you do a print run. I have the 9900, I don't sytart that ugly machine to do some small prints. Just wait until I have some printing going.

Yes, I agree, if you print small scale, like most, don't buy a printer. I'll do that for you.. :-)

Thanks for the reply Lars, i didn't know there was a "maitainace tank" but i'm sure mine must be nearly full :-))

I've found some useful info on Youtube so i think i might be able to reduce my printing costs from now on :-))

Vic. Parsons.

12 years ago

Vic. did you ever print in a darkroom??

Clyde

Hi Clyde,

Nope, never did have a go, i sent my negs and transparencies to a good lab because the set up for a darkroom starting from scratch was just too expensive for me at the time.

Ben Goossens ✝ PRO

12 years ago

Hi Phyllis, here the Epson 2000 printer driver for Snow Leopard

( available for all Mac Os systems.)

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?oid=14402&infoType=Downloads&platform=OSF_M_X6

If it doesn't work for you... I can always send the downloaded drive via wetransfer.com to your email address.

Best, ben

Ben Goossens ✝ PRO

12 years ago

Sorry link for the Epson 2200.

Phyllis Clarke CREW

12 years ago — Moderator

Hi Ben,

Hi Phyllis, here the Epson 2000 printer driver for Snow Leopard

( available for all Mac Os systems.)

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?oid=14402&infoType=Downloads&platform=OSF_M_X6

I fit doesn't work for you... I can always send the downloaded drive via wetransfer.com to your email address.

Best, ben

Okay..sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I lost the topic, which I now realize is under gear talk.

Maybe I was not so clear.

I have Lion, not Snow Leopard

I have the lastest drive - 4.0 which came when I downloaded Lion. It was part of the Apple download of Lion.

What is missing?

It is a terrible drive...it is called Easy print.

Can you see profiles with yours? Do you have choices ...lots of them..for paper, sizes, colors, ICC profiles. I do not.

It is just Easy Print. Very easy...but not to make a decent print..for sure.

However this issue in the end does not matter since I cannot unclog the printer heads. I think that was my fault for not running the printer at least once a month. In any event, I cannot do the usual method anymore.....and if you do something 100 times I would think something more is needed...

Someone mentioned new printer heads....but that probably is not cost effective in the end. I live in a small place also which does not help. You have to start shipping/mailing etc,

If you know of a different driver for LION, that might have more capabilities please let me know. As I said I already have 4.0 which does not seem to do anything more than what I had for Leopard.

I am glad you got yours to work...and thank you for trying to help me with mine.

Phyllis

Shirley S

12 years ago

Hi Peter

II have been away from 1x for a few weeks and just saw this topic.

Lots of good advice.

I have an Epson 3880 and i pint a huge amount. Pigment is the way to go as Clyde explained.

In choosing a printer, my additional piece of advice is to look at the size of the cartridges and com are prices. I say this as the 3880 is a dearer printer but it comes with larger cartridges and they are full. So when you compare the cost of the ink that is supplied with the new printer, i actually makes the 3880 less expensive than a model that sells for several hundred dollars cheaper.

Now I am in Australia and we are notorious for being over charged and ripped off by major companies so the price difference may not be so great in other countries. But do look at the actual ink that comes supplied.

I get fabulous prints from my printer and wonderful B&W. I've had it for over 3 years now. Never a problem.

I switched form Epson inks to Jon Cone's inks over 2 years ago and I have to say they are amazing. And very inexpensive. I did a lot of research before switching and my final decision was based on the refusal of Epson to allow me to buy online from US. So my inks cost so little it means I print more and as a result I have improved my own printing skills. I say this as I think even with a fabulous printer, there is a knowledge base and a set of skills that make the difference between a good print and a great print.

So do your research and when you are ready to buy, make sure you enjoy it!! There is something very special about a print that n o computer screen can match!!

Shirley S

12 years ago

Hi Phyliis,

I have read your posts and tried to follow the advice and response and if I have read correctly, you still have blocked print heads.

I am going to suggest you have a look at Jon Cone's site. He has some great advice re printer maintenance etc. He is also really helpful if you contact him. There are a couple of documents on his site that I may have suggested you look at but my sense is that this problem probably needs a bit more specialised help.

So here is his link to an article on maintenance and it has a good explanation about blocked print heads.

http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.362672/it.I/id.188/.f?sc=18&category=-118

the main site is here:

http://shopping.netsuite.com/inkjetmall

Good luck!

Shirley

Vic. Parsons.

12 years ago

However this issue in the end does not matter since I cannot unclog the printer heads. I think that was my fault for not running the printer at least once a month. In any event, I cannot do the usual method anymore.....and if you do something 100 times I would think something more is needed...

Someone mentioned new printer heads....but that probably is not cost effective in the end. I live in a small place also which does not help. You have to start shipping/mailing etc,

Hi Phyliss,

Have a look at the youtube links i provided (9 and 10 posts above this one), the method shown will clean your head without wasting any more ink on unsucessful head cleaning cycles.

A clean with a magic bullet kit will sort it and you'll be able to use your printer again :-))

Phyllis Clarke CREW

12 years ago — Moderator

Hi Phyliis,

I have read your posts and tried to follow the advice and response and if I have read correctly, you still have blocked print heads.

I am going to suggest you have a look at Jon Cone's site. He has some great advice re printer maintenance etc. He is also really helpful if you contact him. There are a couple of documents on his site that I may have suggested you look at but my sense is that this problem probably needs a bit more specialised help.

So here is his link to an article on maintenance and it has a good explanation about blocked print heads.

http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.362672/it.I/id.188/.f?sc=18&category=-118

the main site is here:

http://shopping.netsuite.com/inkjetmall

Good luck!

Shirley

THANK YOU Shirley so much. I will go and have a look/see. Sorry I did not see your post before. My browsers are acting up..and I cannot always see the whole posts..Again thanks for taking the time. Yes if I could clear the heads then I do think it would work.

Phyl

Phyllis Clarke CREW

12 years ago — Moderator

Hi Phyliss,

Have a look at the youtube links i provided (9 and 10 posts above this one), the method shown will clean your head without wasting any more ink on unsucessful head cleaning cycles.

A clean with a magic bullet kit will sort it and you'll be able to use your printer again :-))

Thank you Vic. I took all the links on u tube and amazon..put in a folder ..will watch soon. Sorry I missed your post before.

I think if that works, I would also have a look at the links Shirley sent about more inexpensive ink.

Since I can only use the EasyPrint Driver really getting quality prints is not going to happen on this printer!

I have a Windows machine old..very old..very very old..:) And yes it worked okay with that one because it was XP so the drivers were good...

If I can get the heads unclogged....then I could at least use it or smaller things..like cards and things I make for myself. It would just be nice to have.

I will have a good read at the site Shirley left because if those inexpensive inks work with an Epson it would be fine since the pinter is no longer under warranty and something is better than nothing..

So yes..I will have a good look at all the info from you and Shirley..thanks to both of you..

Phyllis

Shirley S

12 years ago

THANK YOU Shirley so much. I will go and have a look/see. Sorry I did not see your post before. My browsers are acting up..and I cannot always see the whole posts..Again thanks for taking the time. Yes if I could clear the heads then I do think it would work.

Phyl

Hi Phyllis

I haven't worked out if or how I can direct message you . I have some other comments I'd like to add. If you are interested, and it's possible, sen me a note. If not, I can be reached via my website. On profile.

Sh

Marc Petzold

12 years ago

Without reading all the current answers here to this thread,

dpreview reviewed the Canon Pixma Pro-1 printer with great success

here:

http://www.dpreview.com/printerreviews/canonpixmapro1/

you may want to read this review, it must be a great home printer.

It's A3, and also had earned the dpreview gold award.

greetings,

marc

Phyllis Clarke CREW

12 years ago — Moderator

Hi Phyllis

I haven't worked out if or how I can direct message you . I have some other comments I'd like to add. If you are interested, and it's possible, sen me a note. If not, I can be reached via my website. On profile.

Sh

[/quote]

Shirley you can put them here..I am checking in now more often. Maybe we will get notifications again soon for the forums. If you put it here..then many people might be able to benefit. Is that okay?

Phyl

John Gooday Photography

12 years ago

Hi Peter II have been away from 1x for a few weeks and just saw this topic. Lots of good advice. I have an Epson 3880 and i pint a huge amount. Pigment is the way to go as Clyde explained. In choosing a printer, my additional piece of advice is to look at the size of the cartridges and com are prices. I say this as the 3880 is a dearer printer but it comes with larger cartridges and they are full. So when you compare the cost of the ink that is supplied with the new printer, i actually makes the 3880 less expensive than a model that sells for several hundred dollars cheaper. Now I am in Australia and we are notorious for being over charged and ripped off by major companies so the price difference may not be so great in other countries. But do look at the actual ink that comes supplied. I get fabulous prints from my printer and wonderful B&W. I've had it for over 3 years now. Never a problem. I switched form Epson inks to Jon Cone's inks over 2 years ago and I have to say they are amazing. And very inexpensive. I did a lot of research before switching and my final decision was based on the refusal of Epson to allow me to buy online from US. So my inks cost so little it means I print more and as a result I have improved my own printing skills. I say this as I think even with a fabulous printer, there is a knowledge base and a set of skills that make the difference between a good print and a great print. So do your research and when you are ready to buy, make sure you enjoy it!! There is something very special about a print that n o computer screen can match!!

I second Shirley's comment on the 3880 ... the larger cartridges mean that ink is about one third less per ml than on an R3000 (I've only used Epson ink so can't comment on Cone's inks). The printer ships with a facility that tells you exactly how much of each ink is used for printing - I feed the data into a spreadsheet which tells me the exact cost of each print - I print images for galleries, so this is quite useful for me. If you get a bigger format printer (the 3880 will print upto A2) then the cartridges are larger and ink cost per ml lower still.

On the whole, I've been pleased with the output from the 3880 - it tends to be slightly better than using a professional print service (if you examine the prints closely) and a bit cheaper. You do need to ensure that you have appropriate profiles for he papers to get the most out of it. The worst things about the model are (1) it objects to paper that is not completely flat (a number of hahnemuhl papers I've used tend to have a bit of curl out of the box. If not reverse curled by hand this can lead to head strikes (2) the rear lower feeder for card-like paper is very fiddly and it can take several tries to get paper to take up when using this.

A friend of mine left his 3880 turned off for a little over a year. When he restarted it, some nozzles were clogged but a quick run of the head clean utility fixed this. Permajet make a head cleaning fluid that is reputed to be very good - might be worth a try to unclog your heads?

Peter Sommer

12 years ago

thank you all for your inputs - I have been doing a lot of research on this matter and come to the conclusion that I will go for the dye ink type printer. Apparently there have been great improvements within this field the last couple of years, but it really hard to get any scientific documentation for the lifetime in normal in-door environment - most of what is out there is just sales talks and hot air balloons...!

I have found out the the paper is just as important as the ink when talking lifetime of dye ink.

Deleted User

12 years ago

thank you all for your inputs - I have been doing a lot of research on this matter and come to the conclusion that I will go for the dye ink type printer. Apparently there have been great improvements within this field the last couple of years, but it really hard to get any scientific documentation for the lifetime in normal in-door environment - most of what is out there is just sales talks and hot air balloons...!

I have found out the the paper is just as important as the ink when talking lifetime of dye ink.

BTW,, which printer did you buy? I'm suddenly in the market myself and curious. Thanks

Deleted User

12 years ago

OK, I'm pretty sure this is bad news:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201277969132949&set=a.1874724749539.109316.1283791115&type=1&theater

Or for the glass half full part of me...now I get that new Epson R3000...or at least that's what I'm thinking.

Any thoughts?

Deleted User

12 years ago

So, from Epson Direct, R3000 discounted to $679 for loyalty discount, then $150 mail in rebate, final price after 8 weeks to get rebate, $529. Already got $500 for the project from selling a couple of lenses that I don't use anymore.

Pretty much a no brainer?? Anybody got anything bad to say about that printer or better to say about an alternative?

Marc Brousseau

12 years ago

So, from Epson Direct, R3000 discounted to $679 for loyalty discount, then $150 mail in rebate, final price after 8 weeks to get rebate, $529. Already got $500 for the project from selling a couple of lenses that I don't use anymore.

Pretty much a no brainer?? Anybody got anything bad to say about that printer or better to say about an alternative?

at that price you're getting a sweet printer, I love my R2400 and the R3000 provides the same quality but just a bit better especially with the B&W. just get ready for the price of the ink when you first loaded it up :-)

Deleted User

12 years ago

at that price you're getting a sweet printer, I love my R2400 and the R3000 provides the same quality but just a bit better especially with the B&W. just get ready for the price of the ink when you first loaded it up :-)

Yes I am aware of the initial ink usage. The only good part of that is that some of it is still yours and useable, it's just in the tubes. And yes the main reason I choose that one is the quality of the b&w. Thanks

Pentaxian

12 years ago

I would recommend epson

Pentaxian

12 years ago

and high-quality paper