Is Cartridge Refilling Dying?

[MP640]

Mr. Gillette of razor fame figured out this business model a hundred years ago with his new safety razor

How about Polaroid giving away their cameras almost for free and cashing on the filmpacks (apart from their folding slr, the Alpha SX-70, the best camera ever produced).

Although I don't print that much I will keep refilling, simply because I don't want to pay any company that much money on ink.
Canon is very good at making refilling more and more difficult. Coming from an IP4300 and an MP640, my MG6150 will be the last Canon for everyday use. I decided I don't need 6 cartridges for everyday printing.
I now have two Brother multifunctionals with only 4 cartridges and these are perfect for everyday use. Easy to refill and 4 carts fill a lot faster than 6. And no sponges that block inkflow!

Now looking for a dedicated A3 photoprinter (no mfc).

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

...most of these gurus have moved on and found the Pro printers which are far more versatile than any wet room could ever have been.

Except that I could make a print any size I wanted, as long as I could find a bathtub big enough.

 

[palombian]

Agree,

People will continue to do things themselves, not being dependent.
Knitting, cloth making is coming back, building your own bicycle, you name it...
The tide is turning.

 

[wilko]

How about Polaroid giving away their cameras almost for free and cashing on the filmpacks (apart from their folding slr, the Alpha SX-70, the best camera ever produced).

Although I don't print that much I will keep refilling, simply because I don't want to pay any company that much money on ink.
Canon is very good at making refilling more and more difficult. Coming from an IP4300 and an MP640, my MG6150 will be the last Canon for everyday use. I decided I don't need 6 cartridges for everyday printing.
I now have two Brother multifunctionals with only 4 cartridges and these are perfect for everyday use. Easy to refill and 4 carts fill a lot faster than 6. And no sponges that block inkflow!

Now looking for a dedicated A3 photoprinter (no mfc).

Interested in your experience of Brother printers as they seem the only company not ripping us of with shrinking cartridges and refilling barriers.

What are they like for auto-duplex printing? I love my old Canons for this.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

Interested in your experience of Brother printers as they seem the only company not ripping us of with shrinking cartridges and refilling barriers.

What are they like for auto-duplex printing? I love my old Canons for this.

I got a "new" pro camcorder, ca. 2000. I downloaded the manual from Sony, set it up to print two pages to each side of a sheet of paper, print from the back, voila! Took it to Staples for a $3 binding, I'm happy. Thank you Canon!

 

[Smile]

Professional photographers and photo dig and advertising companies will continue to need quality printers but the best value printers like the ip4500 will become a thing of the past.

Everyone will need good printers who want to print good quality photos. I consider work "Pro" no longer serving it's purpose.

You either works seriously on something or doing something. There is not such thing as a "Pro". For all I know "Pro" photogpraphers print on photolab equipement and get way smaller gamut than your mentioned printers can print, but hey neither care nor understand.

Same goes for:

Nowadays youngsters do everything they want on a smartphone or tablet, occasionally printing out on their printer. Chart songs are played through Spotify.

If somebody pays $$$$ for DSLR, or wedding photographer with L class lenses, then views the photos on tablet, TV etc. They should seriously think about why they din't just use a smartphone instead. These type of users never needed quality photos to begin with, now that they have a way to make cheap "snaphots" with a phone and view them, it's all they need imho.

 

[MP640]

Interested in your experience of Brother printers as they seem the only company not ripping us of with shrinking cartridges and refilling barriers.

What are they like for auto-duplex printing? I love my old Canons for this.

Auto duplex, print backwards all work well. Some of the models print the pages sideways (landscape) so the printer takes less space. Some models have an auto sheetfeeder for copying/scanning which is very handy.

 

[Smile]

I second that, Brother Professional MFC printers are built better than EPSON, Canon. And at the same time A3 brother printer costs very close to Canon, EPSON A4 size printer.

Just avoid the cheapest DCP series. They print single 4x6 photo for 15minutes !!!

For example I can buy 4 Brother MFC A3 size printers for the price of single EPSON L1800 printer. Same droplet size. Both use Dye ink. L800 uses 6inks, Brother 4inks. For a typical semi pro photography user Brother with custom ICC profile will yield better results price wise and since droplet size is same 1.5pl not much difference in photo quality either.

Brother printer uses it's own design piezo head, and unlike EPSON there is no banding I regularly see on test charts users send me.

 

[MP640]

I have one of such cheap DCp serie printers. It takes indeed forever to print a 4x6. But for normal document printing and copying it suffices.

I agree with your earlier post. In case you invest several 1000 in a DSLR, you want to print your photo's. In that case, I would buy a dedicated photo printer (not mulitfunctional) and would even consider buying genuine carts for printing to avoid fading.
But I would never invest in genuine carts for everyday printing.

 

[Smile]

But I would never invest in genuine carts for everyday printing.

Agreed, usually third party ink works OK for users printing photos to be stored in an album. That means in the dark cool place, without much air contact or ozone .