Printer

[geogphotos]

I realise that this is a daft question because so much is dependent and subjective.

 

But at present all I use is a cheap HP Envy all in one A4 printer/scanner/copier and it can be a real pain just to get a bog-standard small print out of it. 

 

From time to time I do think about getting a dedicated photoprinter that could produce 'pro quality' prints that I could frame - perhaps to A3 - and maybe even sell. 

 

So, recommendations for something:

 

excellent quality

simple to use

economical to run

not overly expensive to buy 

 

Personal recommendations and experiences would be very welcome. I am aware that it is a whole new world of complexities and frustrating cock-ups that would be ahead of me but it is someting I think about from time to time. 

 

Also, related - simple, economic framing options for standard pictures sizes that look great, don't cost too much, included mounts etc

 

As I said probably a daft question ( what's new!) but hopefully some of our forum members can help shine a light into the gloom for me. 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by geogphotos

[Alex Ramsay]

I use an Epson P800, now at least seven years old. Prints beautifully (A2 or roll) and has never given any trouble. Epson replaced this model a few years ago, so you might be able to pick one up relatively cheaply (when I say 'pick one up', I mean metaphorically, unless you have a much stronger back than I do . . .)

 

Alex

[geogphotos]

19 minutes ago, Alex Ramsay said:

I use an Epson P800, now at least seven years old. Prints beautifully (A2 or roll) and has never given any trouble. Epson replaced this model a few years ago, so you might be able to pick one up relatively cheaply (when I say 'pick one up', I mean metaphorically, unless you have a much stronger back than I do . . .)

 

Alex

 

 

Hi Alex, If you have a moment - what is it that you like about it most, any downsides ( apart from weight!)?

 

Thanks very much😁

 

 

[Harry Harrison]

The Epson P800 has (had?) a very good reputation, the P900 less so if you go by incidences reported on 'wide format' printer forums. Keith Cooper on Northlight images produces very thorough reviews, the P800 here, though it is rather weighed down by advertising these days. Note that getting the print to turn out as you want it to, as you see it on screen, can be a bit of a steep learning curve initially and may involve a  monitor calibrator and a fair amount of wasted ink and paper. The P800 is described as an 'A2' printer and accommodates paper 17" wide. If you don't want to print to that size, or even if you do but in practical terms it wouldn't be often I think it's better to go for an 'A3+' printer, so 13" wide and get the occasional A2 print done elsewhere. The equivalent A3+  printer from Epson would be the SC-700, which replaced the SC-600 that ran alongside the P800.

 

Inkjet printers don't particularly like sitting for long periods unused as the jets can dry out and get blocked so there are often cleaning routines that go on in the background that also uses the ink which is a very expensive commodity. It can be educational to see how much a complete ink set would cost for any printer that you are considering. You don't tend to buy them in one go of course but it's probably more than you think it will be and so of course has to be taken into consideration when working out your actual cost per print when you are thinking of selling them.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Harry Harrison

[Alex Ramsay]

47 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

Hi Alex, If you have a moment - what is it that you like about it most, any downsides ( apart from weight!)?

 

Thanks very much😁

 

 

Reliability, most of all. Also, unlike other printers I have had, it can be left unused for long periods without getting blocked nozzles etc. You do of course need to learn about monitor profiling, calibration etc, as Harry says above. Ink is expensive - nearly £50 a cartridge these days, and so is fine art paper, but if you can sell your prints you should easily cover these costs

 

Alex

[geogphotos]

Many thanks Harry and Alex.

[Harry Harrison]

5 hours ago, geogphotos said:

Many thanks Harry and Alex.

The advice was a bit Epson-centric because that happens to be what Alex and I both have, mine is a 17" A2 4880 which is really, really large and heavy and if I could choose again I would have bought a P800 as well. It was a very good price and my (mistaken) belief was that, as a professional machine, it would be better built and more reliable. In fact, although it is a great machine it is designed to be used frequently and I don't tend to do that. More to the point it cannot print anything smaller than A4, though for smaller prints I can set up '2 on' or '4 on' templates in Lightroom (Lightroom is great for printing incidentally). 

I know of at least two photographers with a large following on social media who use the Canon Pro 1000 printer, that is also a 17" A2 printer. I get the impression that they sell a lot of prints to their followers all round the globe and they also use it for exhibition prints. I imagine it must be pretty good. 

 

Although I hardly ever print A2 prints it has to be said that A3+ prints (say 16" x 12" with a small border) don't look that big on the wall,  a buyer would normally add a matte  and put it in a larger frame I suppose. You probably don't want to get into selling (posting) mounted or framed prints yourself, especially with glass (!!!).

[M.Chapman]

11 hours ago, geogphotos said:

Also, related - simple, economic framing options for standard pictures sizes that look great, don't cost too much, included mounts etc

Ikea Ribba frames are a good budget option. They come complete with window mounts. Very light and glass free (they use a thin sheet of very good clear plastic). I set mounted an exhibition including a dozen of these frames last year. Easy to hang, easy to transport, looked much better than I expected at the price.

 

Mark

[MB Photography]

I have a Canon Pro 9000 Mk II which I bought about 10 years ago and does A3+. It gets used fairly infrequently and I have never had a blocked jet. It’s probably due to the auto cleaning on power up and it has built in covers to keep out dust. It has 8 individual inks, prints borderless and colours are a good match from Lightroom. It can print down to 6 x 4.

 

It’s quite a solid machine and sits on top of a cupboard.

 

Current equivalent model is the Canon PIXMA Pro-200, with USB, WiFi, Ethernet connectivity.

Edited August 2, 2023 by MB Photography
Typo

[Harry Harrison]

1 hour ago, MB Photography said:

Current equivalent model is the Canon PIXMA Pro-200

Buying printers is so confusing, too many variables, but I think in fact that since your printer uses pigment ink then the current equivalent would be the Canon PIXMA Pro-300, the 'Pro-200' is an 8 ink dye based printer. 

 

For Ian's benefit:

 

Pigment inks have better longevity so generally are to be preferred if selling prints.

 

Another factor to consider is how easy it is to switch from glossy to matte papers, this isn't always straightforward, on mine I think it wastes about £50 worth of ink but then mine has long tubes between the cartridges and the head. I haven't tried it.

[geogphotos]

22 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

Buying printers is so confusing, too many variables, but I think in fact that since your printer uses pigment ink then the current equivalent would be the Canon PIXMA Pro-300, the 'Pro-200' is an 8 ink dye based printer. 

 

For Ian's benefit:

 

Pigment inks have better longevity so generally are to be preferred if selling prints.

 

Another factor to consider is how easy it is to switch from glossy to matte papers, this isn't always straightforward, on mine I think it wastes about £50 worth of ink but then mine has long tubes between the cartridges and the head. I haven't tried it.

 

 

I second that! 

 

Thanks to all for the information, 

[geogphotos]

I mentioned the printer I have at the moment. It is fairly basic and now quite old.

 

Often I just want a 6x4 print to make a birthday card and it is so frustrating with paper jams, error messages saying that there is no paper when there damn well is, etc !  I've nearly come to blows with it many times 🤪 

 

It seems to have a very twisted  sense of humour.

[Allan Bell]

39 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

I mentioned the printer I have at the moment. It is fairly basic and now quite old.

 

Often I just want a 6x4 print to make a birthday card and it is so frustrating with paper jams, error messages saying that there is no paper when there damn well is, etc !  I've nearly come to blows with it many times 🤪 

 

It seems to have a very twisted  sense of humour.

 

If you want a smaller printer I use the Epson XP-335. It is a Printer, Scanner, photocopy machine. Decent prints up to A4.

 

Allan

 

[H Mark Weidman Photography]

I owned several generations of Epson photo quality printers for years. The Epson prints all had issues with clogging ink nozzles. A few years ago, based on the advice of my supplier, IT Supplies (Illinois, USA) I switched to two Canon printers, the Canon Pro-1000 and Canon Pro-2000.  I have never had an issue with the Canon printer's and nozzle clogging or ink drying out.  I have even left the printers to sit for as long as three months while I was traveling, and upon return they worked perfectly.  The image quality and speed of the Canon printers are as good as, if not better, than the Epson printers.  The only downside I can think of is that one is forced to use Canon OEM inks because no one offers after market inks.  Cone Editions in Vermont offers/ed their own set of inks for the Epson printers.  The inks are just as good as the OEM and much less expensive.  I cannot imagine ever going back to Epson printers.

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

Get Miami-Dade library card;

color prints-copies are free;

25/day limit...

 

😛  (38) 8" x 10" on me office wall

[Harry Harrison]

5 hours ago, H Mark Weidman Photography said:

I have even left the printers to sit for as long as three months while I was traveling, and upon return they worked perfectly.

Very interesting to hear that, another difference between the wider and more expensive 'Pro' printers from Canon & Epson is that the print head can be replaced by the user on the Canons whereas Epson charge about £2000 so without a service contract it's not viable. 

 

In the States you are lucky to have Cone Editions for their specialist inks and Inkjet Mall for supplies and advice.

 

Just for reference in the UK we have:

Fotospeed

Permajet

Canson

 

Permajet and Fotospeed do offer non-OEM inks for a fairly good range of printers but manufacturers are increasingly making it more difficult to do so by adding sophisticated chips to the cartridges, even adding these restrictions retrospectively via firmware updates. Ironically the global chip shortage has meant that Epson have had to roll back on this for certain high-end wide printers.

For desktop printers it seems that increasingly you are encouraged to opt for an ink supply contract so that the printer orders the cartridges for you once it knows colour(s) are running low. I can see why they do that of course but it looks to be a bonus that is balanced in their favour.

[Harry Harrison]

I think it would be worth considering online services, I've seen photographers offer their limited edition prints that are clearly outsourced, often these might be 'C-Type' prints rather than 'Giclee' (aka inkjet) though both are available. These days you are able to add a border or logo perhaps. 'Certificates of authenticity' seem to be popular also. Fuji promote their C-Type 'Crystal Archive DP II' prints for this type of application so maybe take a look at Whitewall.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Harry Harrison

[geogphotos]

45 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

For desktop printers it seems that increasingly you are encouraged to opt for an ink supply contract so that the printer orders the cartridges for you once it knows colour(s) are running low. I can see why they do that of course but it looks to be a bonus that is balanced in their favour.

 

 

It is certainly very convenient though.

[Harry Harrison]

19 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

It is certainly very convenient though.

We recently got one of those HP Envys for my wife so had to weigh up the pros and cons of going for a contract, in the end we didn't bother but in fact I think we would have signed up for far more pages than she actually uses it for. It's useful when she needs it but that is far less often than we had imagined. It does seem a bit temperamental though as you have found and as the comments online seem to confirm.

[geogphotos]

23 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

We recently got one of those HP Envys for my wife so had to weigh up the pros and cons of going for a contract, in the end we didn't bother but in fact I think we would have signed up for far more pages than she actually uses it for. It's useful when she needs it but that is far less often than we had imagined. It does seem a bit temperamental though as you have found and as the comments online seem to confirm.

 

 

As I said it is when the error message comes up about adding paper to the tray when you already have....I have wasted hours just trying to print off a half-decent picture to stick on a card!

[Allan Bell]

8 hours ago, H Mark Weidman Photography said:

I owned several generations of Epson photo quality printers for years. The Epson prints all had issues with clogging ink nozzles. A few years ago, based on the advice of my supplier, IT Supplies (Illinois, USA) I switched to two Canon printers, the Canon Pro-1000 and Canon Pro-2000.  I have never had an issue with the Canon printer's and nozzle clogging or ink drying out.  I have even left the printers to sit for as long as three months while I was traveling, and upon return they worked perfectly.  The image quality and speed of the Canon printers are as good as, if not better, than the Epson printers.  The only downside I can think of is that one is forced to use Canon OEM inks because no one offers after market inks.  Cone Editions in Vermont offers/ed their own set of inks for the Epson printers.  The inks are just as good as the OEM and much less expensive.  I cannot imagine ever going back to Epson printers.

 

My little Epson has never had a nozzle block all the time I have been using Epson ink and it has stood with no use for months.

 

A few weeks back I bought a generic cartridge and within 2 days the nozzle for that colour was blocked. Replaced it with an Epson cartridge and after a bit of servicing it was all in order again.

 

Allan

 

[Harry Harrison]

You have to register to see prices but Loxley Colour is also worth a look, matted prints for example:

 

https://www.loxleycolour.com/prints/prints-mounting/mattedprints

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Harry Harrison

[NYCat]

6 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

I think it would be worth considering online services, I've seen photographers offer their limited edition prints that are clearly outsourced, often these might be 'C-Type' prints rather than 'Giclee' (aka inkjet) though both are available. These days you are able to add a border or logo perhaps. 'Certificates of authenticity' seem to be popular also. Fuji promote their C-Type 'Crystal Archive DP II' prints for this type of application so maybe take a look at Whitewall.

 

I thought it might be "fun" to print my own photos but now I send everything to mpix.com. I think they are better at it than I am. I don't know what is available there but probably worth looking into.

 

Paulette

[M.Chapman]

6 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

You have to register to see prices but Loxley Colour is also worth a look, matted prints for example:

 

https://www.loxleycolour.com/prints/prints-mounting/mattedprints

 

+1 for Loxley, I use them regularly. Fast, efficient quality service. I started using them after I discovered that they provided the fulfillment service for UK orders placed on Fine Art America. I've stopped using my old and somewhat tempermental Canon iX4000 A3+ printer since finding Loxley. I've never had an ink clogging problem with it, but did have a problem with one print head where the yellow and magenta inks managed to leak between each other which required a new print head. The main problem I have with it is unreliable paper pickup and feed.

 

Mark

Edited August 3, 2023 by M.Chapman

[Harry Harrison]

16 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

+1 for Loxley, I use them regularly. Fast, efficient quality service.

That's good to know, they offer a huge range of services. I think they are used by quite a few companies as their favoured print fulfilment house, I believe Zenfolio listed them and both Shootproof and Ian's own Photoshelter use them as well.