What Size Printer, A3 or A2?

I have decided to start selling my own prints, and need to buy a decent

printer. The prints sold, will be from drum scanned 6x7 and 5x4 scanned

transparencies, so I could print fairly large, and still retain quality.

My question is: how often do clients ask for a print larger than A3 in size?.

I will only be selling my prints locally, and don't foresee that changing in

the near future. Budget is a bit of an issue, and I don't see the point in

spending out for an A2 printer if I don't really need to. If an A3 is the way

to go, has anyone had any experience with the HP B9180?

What size pictures do you sell? Sometimes large pictures, especially from large format film, work better - people are simply stunned by the results compared to their own P&S cameras. You know your market best.

 

A3 inkjet printers are common and reasonably affordable (Epson R2400 = $800). A2 printers are much larger and heavier, and cost about twice as much (e.g., Epson 4800 = $1600). For not much more, you can get a 24" wide printer (Epson 7800). Otherwise, you can get a good quality 16x20 inch inkjet print commercially for about $30. Of course, you have a lot more control over quality and paper if you print yourself. You also eat your own mistakes.

Thanks Edward, but as I said, "I have decided to start selling my own prints", so I don't know what size. I really need to know if it's rare for photographers to sell prints larger than A3 size, and if it is, i'll probably settle for the Epson 2400 or HP B9180 for the time being.

The new Epson 3800 will be out before too long, and it looks to be incredible value. I think the "impress" factor rises rapidly as you go above A3 size. $1300 , 17x22

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/WideFormat/WideFormatDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=-14081

I think the price paid for prints rises quicker than the cost of consumables rises. This assumes the images can take the increase in size !

 

A3 prints are big when handheld but not that big whan wall mounted.

 

Ian

 

http://images.colourperfect.co.uk