04-18-2011, 03:19 AM
I use the Epson 1400, Love it ! Excellent prints...
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PRINTERS
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07-31-2011, 08:44 PM
This is great topic for photography because even if you have the best photograph if it can't be printed clearly then what do you really have. Not everybody wants to or could afford to have their pictures developed professionally all the time. So it would be great to hear what the consensus best printer and ink to use in photography is. Considering price of equipment, ink, and quality of picture printing.
08-01-2011, 06:38 AM
08-08-2011, 05:38 PM
Some good info in this thread. 
I print all my stuff on my Canon i9900. I do some piecemeal printing for this and that. I'm not really a pro in the real sense of the word but, I DO do some graphic design as a side job and it's sent off for priniting after I do my part.
I print all my stuff on my Canon i9900. I do some piecemeal printing for this and that. I'm not really a pro in the real sense of the word but, I DO do some graphic design as a side job and it's sent off for priniting after I do my part.
A veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to and including my life".
09-15-2011, 08:33 PM
I am currently using Canon PIXMA IP 4850. It gives me 9600 x 2400 dpi Print resolution and its very fast. I was able to print 8 prints in a minute.
10-13-2011, 04:41 AM
I'm a new poster here, just signed up after purchasing the Standard version of Portrait Pro 10. Used the demo version last year and put it on my definite buy list!
I do several types of studio portraits including a session of professional athletes for a calendar shoot. The market for these calendars is very small (<250) and it is expensive to purchase less than 250-500 commercially. After investigating and trying several printing methods I found the best way to do the small runs was to print them myself.
Starting with an HP K8600 inkjet I found I could print the calendars for about $5-6 each. The problems with the HP were:
1. Reliability, as in replaced the printer twice (three printers in all!)
2. Ink cost, as in using HP cartridges were $15 to $35 each for four colors. That works out to about $5000 to $8000 per gallon (note that I don't actually use the ink by the gallon, it's just illustrate the point that ink can be very expensive when purchased by the cartridge).
3. Regular misfeeds of the paper resulted in about 10% waste. And I would need to constantly babysit the printer because a misprint could effect many following pages.
4. The printer itself was worn out when I had printed about 100 calendars (that's 13 pieces of paper printed both side for a total of 2600 pages).
Last year I bought an Epson 1400 printer from Cobra Inkjet and have been very happy with the result. It uses a continuous ink supply system and the ink costs are in the $200 per gallon range (for comparison). The quality is not quite as good as the best that HP, Canon or
Epson ink offers. However, it is more than adequate for my purposes and produces a very good image.
The Epson is still working after the 4000 plus pages it has printed (most of those are full bleed letter size) and the only problem I've had with it is the print heads drying out if it sits for more than a week or two (some windex in the printhead rest pan will fix that).
So far I've had fewer than a dozen misfeeds and most all of the print problems centered around the heads drying out. The cost per calendar is now about $3.80 each (that figure will be lower if I use the same Epson printer for this season).
I haven't tried the Canon's myself but I have seen the output, and it is very good. The HP had good output but was too expensive to operate.
I do several types of studio portraits including a session of professional athletes for a calendar shoot. The market for these calendars is very small (<250) and it is expensive to purchase less than 250-500 commercially. After investigating and trying several printing methods I found the best way to do the small runs was to print them myself.
Starting with an HP K8600 inkjet I found I could print the calendars for about $5-6 each. The problems with the HP were:
1. Reliability, as in replaced the printer twice (three printers in all!)
2. Ink cost, as in using HP cartridges were $15 to $35 each for four colors. That works out to about $5000 to $8000 per gallon (note that I don't actually use the ink by the gallon, it's just illustrate the point that ink can be very expensive when purchased by the cartridge).
3. Regular misfeeds of the paper resulted in about 10% waste. And I would need to constantly babysit the printer because a misprint could effect many following pages.
4. The printer itself was worn out when I had printed about 100 calendars (that's 13 pieces of paper printed both side for a total of 2600 pages).
Last year I bought an Epson 1400 printer from Cobra Inkjet and have been very happy with the result. It uses a continuous ink supply system and the ink costs are in the $200 per gallon range (for comparison). The quality is not quite as good as the best that HP, Canon or
Epson ink offers. However, it is more than adequate for my purposes and produces a very good image.
The Epson is still working after the 4000 plus pages it has printed (most of those are full bleed letter size) and the only problem I've had with it is the print heads drying out if it sits for more than a week or two (some windex in the printhead rest pan will fix that).
So far I've had fewer than a dozen misfeeds and most all of the print problems centered around the heads drying out. The cost per calendar is now about $3.80 each (that figure will be lower if I use the same Epson printer for this season).
I haven't tried the Canon's myself but I have seen the output, and it is very good. The HP had good output but was too expensive to operate.
10-13-2011, 05:35 AM
Have you tried any of the generic replacement cartridges or any do-it-yourself refill kits ?
I've found excellent results with Canon generic replacement cartridges. The ink's made in the USA but the cartridges are put together in China. The brand name is MicroJet Imaging. Even with Canon putting chips into their genuine cartridges to try and defeat the counterfeiters, the Chinese have worked around this and the generic cartridges work fine.
Another generic brand I've tried is Uni-1 Brand Products. Naturally the use of non-genuine cartridges voids the Canon warranty but, hey, printers are so (relatively) cheap that if a cartridge makes a printer U/S then a new one isn't all that hard to afford.
I've found excellent results with Canon generic replacement cartridges. The ink's made in the USA but the cartridges are put together in China. The brand name is MicroJet Imaging. Even with Canon putting chips into their genuine cartridges to try and defeat the counterfeiters, the Chinese have worked around this and the generic cartridges work fine.
Another generic brand I've tried is Uni-1 Brand Products. Naturally the use of non-genuine cartridges voids the Canon warranty but, hey, printers are so (relatively) cheap that if a cartridge makes a printer U/S then a new one isn't all that hard to afford.
10-13-2011, 02:00 PM
The The Canon Pixma 9000 Mk II is a great printer but it's a little slow for what I used it for. The good news is you can usually pick them up for $100.00-$150.00 new on Craigslist as Canon often has offers on this printer when you buy a new camera (The box will be missing the UPC Code). The way these printers use ink, the companies should just GIVE you the printer. It's like a drug dealer on the corner, once he get's you hooked, you keep coming back for more.
KingPaul
KingPaul
(10-13-2011, 05:35 AM)Salisbury Wrote: Have you tried any of the generic replacement cartridges or any do-it-yourself refill kits ?Yes I have, both the refillable and the aftermarket cartridge. The refillable had the chip that would reset the printer and a syringe to fill the ink bag. It worked for a while and then the printer would no longer reset. Made a mess every time I refilled!
The aftermarket cartridges worked and were considerably cheaper than the HP brand. Office Depot has their store brand that works well and they will give you a $5 credit for returning any empty cartridge (all brands and types!) InkJet Superstore also had cartridges that worked for a decent price.
Neither of these solutions could come close to the economy and ease of using the Cobra system. When this Epson printer wears out I will replace it with another from them.
(10-13-2011, 02:00 PM)KingPaul Wrote: The way these printers use ink, the companies should just GIVE you the printer. It's like a drug dealer on the corner, once he get's you hooked, you keep coming back for more.Several years ago Xerox introduced a printer they would give you free. In addition all the black toner you ordered from them would also be free. To qualify you had to agree to purchase a given amount of color toner for a period of several years. After doing the cost analysis it was one of the most expensive printers you could 'buy'.
KingPaul
Now, buying ink in OEM cartridges is, by far, more expensive.
10-14-2011, 11:02 PM
(10-13-2011, 04:41 AM)KevinD103 Wrote: I'm a new poster here, just signed up after purchasing the Standard version of Portrait Pro 10. Used the demo version last year and put it on my definite buy list!
I do several types of studio portraits including a session of professional athletes for a calendar shoot. The market for these calendars is very small (<250) and it is expensive to purchase less than 250-500 commercially. After investigating and trying several printing methods I found the best way to do the small runs was to print them myself.
Starting with an HP K8600 inkjet I found I could print the calendars for about $5-6 each. The problems with the HP were:
1. Reliability, as in replaced the printer twice (three printers in all!)
2. Ink cost, as in using HP cartridges were $15 to $35 each for four colors. That works out to about $5000 to $8000 per gallon (note that I don't actually use the ink by the gallon, it's just illustrate the point that ink can be very expensive when purchased by the cartridge).
3. Regular misfeeds of the paper resulted in about 10% waste. And I would need to constantly babysit the printer because a misprint could effect many following pages.
4. The printer itself was worn out when I had printed about 100 calendars (that's 13 pieces of paper printed both side for a total of 2600 pages).
Last year I bought an Epson 1400 printer from Cobra Inkjet and have been very happy with the result. It uses a continuous ink supply system and the ink costs are in the $200 per gallon range (for comparison). The quality is not quite as good as the best that HP, Canon or
Epson ink offers. However, it is more than adequate for my purposes and produces a very good image.
The Epson is still working after the 4000 plus pages it has printed (most of those are full bleed letter size) and the only problem I've had with it is the print heads drying out if it sits for more than a week or two (some windex in the printhead rest pan will fix that).
So far I've had fewer than a dozen misfeeds and most all of the print problems centered around the heads drying out. The cost per calendar is now about $3.80 each (that figure will be lower if I use the same Epson printer for this season).
I haven't tried the Canon's myself but I have seen the output, and it is very good. The HP had good output but was too expensive to operate.
Kevin....where did you get a continuous ink feed for the 1400....I didn't even know they made one....mine uses the carts....and where do you find the ink? (Is it still the Claria Ink that comes with the Printer?)
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