Printer recommendations
- Thread starter Carol M
- Start date
tomscott said:You will find that if you use crap cartridges that are not branded they use a lot more ink, the profiles do not work very well, the ink wont dry as well also the ink will clog up your head giving you a much less life but also means you go through a lot more ink with head cleaning. Also lifetime, the ink fades much quicker 2-3 years in sunlight might be the best you will get from a print. Although expensive the proper stuff is worth the money.
Anyway back onto topic. I have always used the high end large format Epson stuff, currently at work we use
Epson 4880 beast
http://www.epson.co.uk/Printers-and-All-In-Ones/Large-Format/Epson-Stylus-Pro-4880
and
Epson R2880 there is a newer version R3000
http://www.epson.co.uk/Printers-and-All-In-Ones/Inkjet/Epson-Stylus-Photo-R2880
which is a smaller scale version for lower runs.
For home use I have one of these not the best but it is a great printer also allows A3 prints
Epson 1440
http://www.epson.co.uk/Printers-and-All-In-Ones/Inkjet/Epson-Stylus-Photo-1400
6 inks for the 1440, about £15 each but they will run 30-40 full colour 1440dpi A3 prints, also does CDs and obviously all sizes smaller than A3. Great all round, the hole point of photography is the prints and having a nice printer is something everyone interested in photography should have
If you calibrate everything or have it done they are epic near perfect colour. Everything we use from the ink to the paper and the screen is all calibrated by a Gretag Mcbeth which is a beast but very expensive but our prints need to be spot on.
Someone knows what they are talking about
I work for a large format reseller HP Epson and canon and we get complaints from people who use 3rd party and buggers up the print head..HP not so bad relatively cheap to replace but Epson is a costly engineer visit.
my Mrs is a teacher we have a Officejet pro 8500 for printing docs etc and costs bugger all to run she does loads of prints. Also have a Epson px830fwd for photos etc...all on original ink...
Tomscott is spot one, with one caveat (in my experience). Inkjets work really well if you are using them every day (or every few days). If you are like me and can go a month or two without printing then forget it, branded cartridges or not the printer will stop printing properly and you'll spend your life running head cleans and wasting ink. If you will use the printer more than weekly then go for it, else find a good place online to order good quality prints from.
Just to add, a lot of the time printers are great for convenience only, but the time you add good quality paper, branded ink and factored the printer in you'd be better off ordering a print online. I ended up binning my inkjet and bought a color laser.. Fast and doesnt matter if I only print every 6 months, when I print it is perfect (for a laser). That way colour graphics and everyday prints are reliable and if I want something to hang on the wall I just need to wait a few days for it to be delivered.
Kodak preaches all about being cheapest and high yield cartridges. Read up on web and which etc, seems not all rosy. Bought a cheap Epson all in one and run compatibles from day one. It's been fine touch wood, full set around £8 off eBay. Think ours is a BX525 or something.
Tapatalking on my iPhone.......
Tapatalking on my iPhone.......
Well I suppose that it depends. If the printer is cheap and your not too bothered if it brakes its not too much of a biggy using cheap ink.
Because we have large format printers at work, once you print large you don't want to print smaller. So my little A3 at home doesn't get used to much but even after 2 months an economy head clean will produce perfect images without wasting too much ink, the new ones are much better than the old ones but spe3ctre is correct the more you use them the more economical they are.
Online prints will be better and cheaper for most people wanting snaps, but obviously you have to wait for them. Half the fun for me is the print tho. But im a bit of a looser like that haha.
Because we have large format printers at work, once you print large you don't want to print smaller. So my little A3 at home doesn't get used to much but even after 2 months an economy head clean will produce perfect images without wasting too much ink, the new ones are much better than the old ones but spe3ctre is correct the more you use them the more economical they are.
Online prints will be better and cheaper for most people wanting snaps, but obviously you have to wait for them. Half the fun for me is the print tho. But im a bit of a looser like that haha.
Brother - had a problem with a multi-function ink jet printer after a year (13 months to be exact, just outside any warranty) when the nozzles rusted. Spoke to Brother on it, they were not interested and did not see it as a design fault (their quote to fix, including labour, was over £100)
HP I found very expensive on inks compared to Kodak. I have a Kodak multifunction at the moment - for general print work its fine, but for photos the inks aren't rich enough (even using high quality photo inks and paper). I have a Canon dye-sub printer for photos and find the quality is excellent, but for the outlay its cheaper to get prints done on-line/locally .
HP I found very expensive on inks compared to Kodak. I have a Kodak multifunction at the moment - for general print work its fine, but for photos the inks aren't rich enough (even using high quality photo inks and paper). I have a Canon dye-sub printer for photos and find the quality is excellent, but for the outlay its cheaper to get prints done on-line/locally .
Best option I think would be to get a good relationship with a local printer... that way you can email the file, they will print it and you just drive round and pick it up... you'll probably pay a little bit more but you get the result quickly, good quality, and you support the local economy 
I'd agree with Tom (again) that you want to look after a large format printer, but if you are printing A4 then I would tend to go for a mid range, not too expensive option with a view to binning it after a couple of years and replacing with a new model. I wouldn't be bothered about prints fading after a couple of years, I have all my images backed up so I'd just get them printed again.
I'd agree with Tom (again) that you want to look after a large format printer, but if you are printing A4 then I would tend to go for a mid range, not too expensive option with a view to binning it after a couple of years and replacing with a new model. I wouldn't be bothered about prints fading after a couple of years, I have all my images backed up so I'd just get them printed again.
Carol, what size prints do you want to do? If only small and only photos, the Canon Selphy range gets good reviews. If you want a general purpose printer than as others have said, a good mid range Epson or Canon will do a great job. I have a Canon Pixma 8500 and it gets used rarely but has never clogged up from low use and never let me down. The magazine reviews were 50:50 in favour of this or the equivalent Epson. Neither will let you down. For light use, stick to the manufacturers inks, for heavy use, you could look at a quality continuous ink system but that might be over the top for what you want.