wcandrews@sccoast.net
Getting Fingers Dirty
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2010
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Here are two screen shots of my updated Excel Spread Sheet that shows the total (almost) cost of printing photographs. As in the past the ink usage for the Canon Pro9000 II comes from the research done and published by Red River they do good work.
This update includes HobbiColors and Mis ink and assumes that ink consumption is comparable between both papers and all ink.
The spread sheet isnt of the best layout because it just grew as I got around to it, and I am too lazy to start again to make it pertty.
This first screen shot shows the final results. The second screen shot shows how the results were calculated.
There are two very striking results to me about this analysis
1. When using these third party ink at current prices (including shipping and/or sales tax in SC), paper is the greatest factor in the printing cost. Note the difference in using Red River paper and Kirkland paper. Red River is a very economical paper and other name brand papers are likely greater cost than Red River.
2. The actual printing cost from the three inks used here demonstrate that even up to 13" x 19" print there is little difference in the total cost using any of the three inks. You dont need to base your ink selection on price between these three inks, even though one is almost twice as expensive as OCP, the least expensive.
The lesson here is that you can select ink from any of these three sources on the quality of the result, and keep your printing cost almost constant. Now how you determine that is another story.
Note on the Cost estimates
1. These results include shipping cost and/or sales tax when they could be found.
2. These results dont take into account any amortization of equipment, or other factors that can increase the cost of printing.
This update includes HobbiColors and Mis ink and assumes that ink consumption is comparable between both papers and all ink.
The spread sheet isnt of the best layout because it just grew as I got around to it, and I am too lazy to start again to make it pertty.
This first screen shot shows the final results. The second screen shot shows how the results were calculated.
There are two very striking results to me about this analysis
1. When using these third party ink at current prices (including shipping and/or sales tax in SC), paper is the greatest factor in the printing cost. Note the difference in using Red River paper and Kirkland paper. Red River is a very economical paper and other name brand papers are likely greater cost than Red River.
2. The actual printing cost from the three inks used here demonstrate that even up to 13" x 19" print there is little difference in the total cost using any of the three inks. You dont need to base your ink selection on price between these three inks, even though one is almost twice as expensive as OCP, the least expensive.
The lesson here is that you can select ink from any of these three sources on the quality of the result, and keep your printing cost almost constant. Now how you determine that is another story.
Note on the Cost estimates
1. These results include shipping cost and/or sales tax when they could be found.
2. These results dont take into account any amortization of equipment, or other factors that can increase the cost of printing.

