D800 needs a new printer

<p>I'm hoping that this topic can be seen as being Nikon specific and know that I'll get the best answers and advice in this forum - I print high quality A4 sized pictures/graphic designs for presentations and related material for my business, I also print A4 plain paper pictures to assist with my sculpture work. I take the photographs with a D800 and would like to think that any advice given will talk about compatibility with it.</p>

<p>My current printer a Canon iP-4200 has started producing black lines on the back of each print, general forum's consensus suggests that it's time for me to look for an appropriate replacement - any suggestions?</p>

<p>Plenty of options if you really only need to print up to A4 which was the maximum size on my last printer but I picked up a Canon Pro 10 printer last year when they were being sold off and I have to say that its image quality both at A4 and A3 is exceptional for images taken on my D800. It doesn't seem to mind sitting for weeks without being used either, never had any banding or gaps like I used to get with my Epson printer. I'm sure there will be plenty of other suggestions here but the option of printing A3 occasionally is rather handy and it can go up to A3+ size too, which I haven't tried yet as I can't seem to find ready cut card mounts that fit that size and/or off the shelf frames to fit that combination within the UK.</p>

<p>Thanks Allan, I'm in Aus but I'll check it out</p>

<p>I also have the Canon Pixma Pro10, and can sure recommend it. It's not the most economic printer to run, but I don't think any printer in this range is (they're not made for high volume work, so smallish cartridges, and lots of them to get good photo quality). If you're certain you will never use A3, the smaller regular Pixma printers also work fine, though longeivity with their inksets might be less than those in the Pro ranges.<br>

As for compatibility with the camera, that's really a no-issue - as far as a printer is concerned, a file is a file, and it only boils down to sufficient resolution. The D800 has ample; I've got perfectly fine A3+ prints from a D700, so there is really nothing to worry about there.</p>

<p>If you wait till Canon has one of it's big rebates you can buy a Canon Pixma Pro10 for $300 at eBay.. Unopened except they are missing the UPC needed for rebate..<br /> <br />Right now prices are normal, during the rebates there are a 100 for sale every day at $300..<br /> <br /> You can get the dye bases ink printer Canon Pixma Pro100 for $200 at eBay..<br /> Both are super simple to refill the ink cartridges your self... Just make sure you turn your printer on once a week..</p>

<p>Thanks all, so far I've always been content with A4 and send out for anything bigger, I could think about having the facility to go A3 but in the mean time the regular Pixma could be OK, but when I go the website there are many to choose from, nothing A4 seems to be rated pro.</p>

<p>Clive:<br>

Give the Epson Stylus Pro 3880 a serious look. It is a wonderful machine that produces gallery quality pigment prints.</p>

<p>-O</p>

<p>One of the more expensive A4 pixmas might work. Here we have inexpensive pixma MG2555, no borderless 10x15cm, no photoquality A4. With cutter it makes nice 86mm x 129mm photos. And plain paper office documents. </p>

<p>Owen said the magic word, pigment, Doesnt matter what brand, look for a printer which uses pigment ink and not dye^^</p>

<p>Ah! I thought this may turn into a classic, "how long is a piece of string" topic, things have clearly changed in the printer offerings since I bought my Pixma iP 4200. I've learned a bit too my Pixma is a dye printer, which is why quick prints used in my sculpture studio fade and even bleed quite badly making them next to useless to work from.</p>

<p>Very few dedicated A4 printers seem to exist anymore and have been replaced by all-in-ones, no use to me, I've already got a very nice scanner and don't need or want fax at all. Hmmm a bit more thinking and research is needed - I think, thanks for your contributions so far.</p>

<p>Why not just clean the rollers of your existing printer? Black lines on the back of the print are almost certtainly due to ink contamination on the paper transport mechanism. This can usually be easily cleaned away by performing a "Bottom Plate Cleaning" procedure from the printer manager program. Or a manual clean of the rollers can be done.</p>

<p>See: <a href="http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Personal-Printers/Black-line-prints-on-copies/td-p/37999">http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Personal-Printers/Black-line-prints-on-copies/td-p/37999</a></p>

<p>Having said that, some Canon printers have a surplus ink reservoir that gets filled up over time. The reservoir can be emptied and its ink-counter reset, but if the printer is old it may not be worthwhile.</p>

<p>Hi Rodeo Joe, I've done "bottom plate cleaning" but the problem comes back very quickly, so it's most likely reservoir. Descriptions of how to empty it lead me to think that is best done by trained technicians. That would be OK if the printer was still under warrantee but the cost because it isn't makes it far too costly.</p>

<p>That would be OK if the printer was still under warrantee but the cost because it isn't makes it far too costly.</p>

<p>Why not give it a shot, if your planning to buy a new printer anyway ? <br>

All that can happen is that you still will have to buy a new printer if things go pear-shaped, but if it works, you can keep using the current printer for jus a it longer and save some money.. :-) </p>