What Printer? "nome bike related"

What Printer? "none bike related"

Good evening folks.

Following on from my what camera thread,
It seems I'm going pretty well with the photography side of things "beginners luck?" or what ever you choose to call it.

So I'd like to see what printers you peeps are using?

It seems to be a bigger minefield looking at these than it was the camera?

Ideally, I would like one that does various sizes probably upto A3, I'm quite a dab hand with a bit of woodwork so framing isn't a problem

I have been looking at the Canon range, but my big question is this.

Loads of ink? Or thermal? What are the pros and cons, of each printer.
I saw one printer, it had 12 cartridges

Please take into consideration if when recommending anything to consider my brick wall when it comes to modern technology.

Over to you folk.

In advance. I thank you

 

Shall I go first?

Currently I'm using one of these, an Epson 3880.



It's easy to fit in the car when I'm doing demos or shows and will print up to A2. I don't use it much. Too small.

Only joking, it's a decent hobbyists tool with quite decent sized cartridges, 9 of them, I'm afraid though Gary. The bigger the carts, the quicker you'll see a return on your investment. But if its a return you're after, you'll need to sell prints, a lot of them.

For most things up A1, I tend to use this one.



An Epson 7900. I say A1 but the A sizes are stationery, not photographic sizes and it leads to confusion more often than you'd think. The 7900 is a 24" printer. So it takes a roll of media up to 24" or 610mm for you younger chaps. It, theoretically, could produce a print 610mm x 45m, the longest roll you can fit on it. It produces superb black & white prints and takes 11 cartridges, 700ml each. It will still fit in the car, but only if you split it in half.

Most of my time, though is spent feeding one of these.



An Epson 11880. 64" wide and will spit out a sheet of A4 paper with derision if I were to take one anywhere near it. This monster will puke out three A2's at a time with enough gap between each one to walk along in about 15 minutes. 9 carts about £200 quid each.

Then, of course I've also got one of these too.



But that's just showing off, I suspect.


So know the pissing contest can start in earnest, how would I answer your question?

In your position I wouldn't buy any of them. Every high street will have one of the last picture a Fuji Frontier digital mini lab, or its bigger 12" version, tucked behind a Snappy Snap or Max Spielman shop front. They will be able to give you a 12" x 18" print for less than a fiver and most of them do price breaks for larger numbers. You can find our price breaks here (not a plug, honest, just to give you an idea. Your local Spielmans will offer you something very similar. Of course it won't be printed by me but you can't have everything).

http://www.focalpointphotographic.co.uk/focalprint/digital_printing.htm

A good A3 inkjet printer will set you back about £500 and will have cartridges no bigger than 7 or 8ml, the same as an A4 one, to cover 140% more area. It's only when you go to the A2's at about a grand that you get decent size carts (80ml) and they're going to see you off at about £60 a piece. Dye Sublimation is fiddly and is dying on its arse plus is very limiting in size options.

I'm an Epson Pro Focus dealer so don't touch either Canon or HP printers but can say there's not much to choose between any of them in the quality stakes. I can say though that I've sold nearly 200 large format Epsons over the years and am still in contact with over 100 of the customers and in that time have had 2 units DOA and swapped out the next day and 2 others that developed problems that caused them to be replaced within warranty, honest. It even impresses me (tough ask) just how well built the Epson LFP's are.

 

A comprehensive and if you dont mind me saying? A mind boggling insight there Ken thank you.

You just missed one teensy weensy little bit of advice for me mate.

How much shipping will cost for you to send them back to me once I've emailed you the image.

Seriously though Ken thank you, food for thought and plenty to read up on.

 

It depends on the size mate. Anything A3ish and up can only be safely sent in a tube so you're probably looking £3 or so to send, then up to the limit of the franking machine scales for post, about £6 or £7. Anything we need to courier will set you back about £12. A lot, I know, but we've got one of these anywhere, next day, one rate deals with the courier.

It's easy really. An A3 printer is crippling cost wise to run as a hobby and how much space do you have on your walls for 12" x 16" prints. A2's are much more economical to run but twice the price to set up and you will need a bigger house too.

We worked out that a gallon of ink for an A3 would set you back nearly 4k and a gallon for the 24" one, same ink, different cartridges would set you back just under a grand. It's dearer than Interferon.

It's better to go to a mini lab, pay pence per print and get them to cover the hassle of test prints and colour management.

 

Z

Thanks Ken. Appreciated.

Dave, does it use chip wrappers for the photo paper

A quick wireless printers funny story, mate across the road has one in his bedroom "front of house"
I used to send random stuff from the iPad to it at strange times of the night. Turns it off now though. Spoil sport.

 

Jeanette wanted an all in one at home so I got her one for Christmas and rather than go to her mothers I told her I had to set it up. I mean, c'mon....With my eyes shut, 15 minutes tops, then out with the advocat and the chocolates, feet up watching Where Eagles Dare.


Four sodding hours for chrissake! Could I make it work? Could I buggery. Absolute nightmare. Apparently the USB cable has to be plugged in at both ends.

I probably shouldn't have confessed to that one.

 

Yeah alright. It was a bit like Richard Attenborough at the end of the Great Escape.

 

A monitor calibrator will ensure that your monitor displays correct colour but is only the first step. Then you need to profile it to your output device. The cheapest and dirtiest way is to hold a print from wherever you decide to print from next to the screen and adjust the monitor to get as close a match as you can. Then adjust the image to get a look you like. That adjustment should translate to the printer. That will get you 95% of the way there. The extra 5% is an exponential curve of cost and effort that only you can judge how high you want to climb.

The most important thing to remember is that anything you do to your images is completely pointless without some form of monitor calibration, even if it is by eye. Those that want to sell you the kit will tell you under no circumstances should you rely on your eyes and will show you dozens of reasons why. This is what we call, in the business, bollocks. Photo representational colour is subjective. It's not like printing logos and corporate signage, where you can be sued for getting it a Pantone out. With a photograph, if the colour looks right, it is right and if you make it otherwise that becomes your interpretation of it. But unless you know that what is going to come out of the printer is going to match what you see on screen, you're going to waste a lot of money on ink.