A3 Printer -low running costs - great print results ????

[blackandwhite]

ok thanks guys, this a one of most helpful forums i think ive been on.

i think ive narrowed it down to 4 printers. just need to choose one of them now.

> Canon Pixma IX4000
> Canon Pixma IX5000
> Canon Pixma PRO 9000
> Epson Stylus R1800

the joy of choice. any opinions?

 

[Manuchau]

I don't know where you live, but here in Canada each genuine Epson cartridge for this model sells for $16.00-$18.00.

There are posters here who can suggest a very reasonable CIS system, whith excellent pigmented inks which would lower your cost sby 50-75%.

Plus... you'll never need to do cartridge refills....you'll just have to refill bottles...very easy.

If you are looking for a good CIS system, post another question in the refilling section, and one of the experts will surely respond. I do not have much expertise re companies making CIS (Continuous Ink) systems.

 

[mikling]

IMO the choice all boils down to this. Are you going to get paid for your work or is it a hobby? If you are going to get paid, how important is the issue of archival or long term fade resistance/ waterproof issues? Finally, how many prints do you intend to print per week/month? Once these questions are answered the choice is actually quite easy. Only the purchaser can answer these questions.

All the printers are good but some will offer certain aspects that might prove to be indispensable. They are not equal at all and it's not a tossup so please check your requirements carefully.

 

[blackandwhite]

IMO the choice all boils down to this. Are you going to get paid for your work or is it a hobby? If you are going to get paid, how important is the issue of archival or long term fade resistance/ waterproof issues? Finally, how many prints do you intend to print per week/month? Once these questions are answered the choice is actually quite easy. Only the purchaser can answer these questions.

All the printers are good but some will offer certain aspects that might prove to be indispensable. They are not equal at all and it's not a toss up so please check your requirements carefully.

thank you Mikling for your detailed post.

Are you going to get paid for your work or is it a hobby?
i will be getting paid for alot of the prints i do as i am a photographer. mite also be worth mentioning i do alot of graphics work in photoshop and Illustrator.


How important is the issue of archival or long term fade resistance/ waterproof issues?
i want the prints to last for a very long time. as people will be paying of them. so i would say long term fade resistance is important.


Finally, how many prints do you intend to print per week/month?
I would say at the moment between 50 - 70 prints per week. but maybe more in the coming months as more work comes in.


i never realised picking a printer would be as complex as picking a mobile cell phone. hahaha

ive answered the questions you have asked, but its not that obvious to me on which one is the best. which one would you guys go for if you was me?

 

[pharmacist]

Then forget the Canon printers (except if you are willing to pay 500 pounds/750 euro for the pigment ink based Canon Pixma Pro 9500, which will cost you about 75 pounds to replace all the cartridges when empty after 20-25 prints of A3+ pictures) and go for the Epson R1800 -which is within your budget range- , but the print costs are similar or even higher.

So it's up to you to decide. However you mentioned the IX4000 and the IX5000: the differences between those two models are marginal (only slightly higher print speeds for normal text for the IX5000) for a price difference of almost 60 pounds or more: for this difference you can buy 2 sets of orignal PGI-5Bk/CLI-8 M/Y/C Canon cartridges. But these printers are dye-based and not the durable pigment ink.

 

[blackandwhite]

hmmm thanks pharmacist. i appreciate your answer.

i think i mite just go for the pigment ink Epson R1800 but just in a matter of curiousity what would be the difference between say R1800 and say Canon W6400 Pigment Ink Printer ( http://www.bmisolutions.co.uk/index.asp?function=DISPLAYPRODUCT&productid=435 ) ??

they are both pigment ink printers right? so what would be the difference in the two products, apart for the size?

thanks

Mark

 

[pharmacist]

Are you going to spent about 10,000 pounds or more for that large format printer ? Besides: I think it uses 12 cartridges with pigment ink to increase gamut and have superior b/w printing (several black and grey inks included giving neutral b/w prints).

However it might be possible to fill empty virgin Canon cartridges with special pigment ink from Kyson -who is claiming to have print nozzle friendly pigment ink for Canon printers- and that's very easy to do and doing this will dramatically reduced printing cost and having pigment ink on the Canon. I'm very interested in using pigment ink in my Canon i9950 wide format printer but I'm afraid this would clog the print nozzles. Kyson is claiming their special pigment ink won't....

 

[cinnacar]

Check ebay. Your profile doesn't say, but it sounds like you are in Great Britain. There is currently a Canon i9950 available on ebay, from Great Britain (West Yokshire), current bid = GBP 186 (plus GBP 20 shipping). I think it has 1-2 days left on the auction. You may want to check it out.

i have a maximum of 350 or USD$700, but would be lovely to see change.

Any suggestions please?

 

[blackandwhite]

ive just brought the Epson R1800, i havent set it up yet but will let u all know how it is once i do.

Also a question; need some paper.. what paper should i go for? i need A4 /A3 paper for photos and plain normal prints..

im going into town tomorrow and gonna get some. any recommedations please??

thanks for your help

 

[mikling]

I'll recommend you start off with Epson media and go from there to others. Why? This way you obtain a reference as to what a proper ink/paper combination looks like with the Epson supplied profiles. After that, you can then try different papers that catches your fancy but you'll have the Epson as a reference. Other papers can give you better effects but at least you'll have a base reference point to see if you're headed the right direction.