Best Canvas Inkjet Printer available? Help me decide!

Looking for advice for the best Inkjet photo printers to print on canvas for professional, high quality, archival prints. I

have never really been happy with prints made by labs, and would like to control the printing process myself,

specifically for Canvas prints. Can anyone help?

I don't really like "best" questions, but probably the Epson Stylus Pro 11880. Some places are offering a $3000 rebate right now.

Also look at the Canon iPF series : 5100 prints 17" wide, 6100 prints 24' wide, 8100 prints 44" wide, 9100 prints 60" wide.

Canvas materials vary in coarseness. With many coarse products the max PPI/DPI it "can support" is low; its like printing on a bathtowel.:) Thus one of our "hi tech" 300 dpi class inkjets from 1994 is a total overkill for a coarse canvas product; thus BEST is abit of a wonky question. Its like asking what car is best when traveling a 2mph on a stalled freeway. Canvas can be very expensive.

I'll have to disagree a bit with Kelly. The results from printing on canvas really depend upon the canvas you choose. By far, the best canvas I've tested is the Chromata White from Breathing Color.

 

I've made large prints (65 inches long) on the material using an Epson 9800. The material holds detail very well and is easy to print with the K3 ink set. Canvas is available in 17-inch widths through 60-inches. Your maximum final print size will determine the printer to get. For 24-inch wide work, I'd suggest the Epson 7880. It will hold either a 17-inch wide or 24-inch wide roll and will automatically adjust the platen for the canvas thickness. The ICC profile from Breathing Color and the Epson "canvas" setting works perfectly.

 

You need to coat the final print with a clear coat laminate like the Glamour II from Breathing Color, Eco Print from Premier, or Clearstar ClearShield.

<p>Brands aside, keep in mind if you're stretching the canvas to standard print sizes, you'll probably need to go one printer

larger than what you expect to print.</p>

<p>A 17" wide print, for example, isn't going to comfortably make a 16x20 stretched canvas. Traditionally you want around

3 inches on each side to work with, putting you at 23" (thus a 24" roll, and a 24" printer) for a finished, stretched 16x20

print.</p>

<p>Obviously if you're framing it like a paper print, this wouldn't apply.</p>