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Hey guys I have a question regarding printers. I have recently been

printing my photos off on my HP 7760 (anything 8X10 and smaller) and

my clients prefer it to lab work. I am looking into getting somthing

bigger with better color and long lasting print life. The HP once

calibrated does a great job with skin tones... this is also a must.

 

At this point I am considering the epson 2200 and the epson 1280. Let

me know what you think...

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The 1280 is pretty old at this point, it does a good job but has issues. I have/had a 1270 it just stopped communicating with windows xp, it was nothing but problems since I upgraded to xp. Anyway, the dyes it uses look great but have issues with longevity and ozone. I wouldn't recommend the 2200, the pigment inks have muddy colors and if you look at them off center you can get color shifts and 'bronzing'. Sure they last a long time, but what good is that if they don't look exceptional in the first place.

 

I would suggest you stick with HP or even Canon, Epson just has to many issues. I got a HP designjet recently and the colors are great, better than my old 1270. A lot less hassle than my old Epson as well. I would suggest that you look at the new 8750 though, it looks like the clear leader in this generation of printers. And if you are going to invest money in a printer, get the best you can get. Not necessarily what a lot of other people have and love.

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You may want to consider the HP8750 printer. The Epson 1800 and HP8750 are both new printers and are not available yet. Both will print on 13 inch wide paper. Epson uses pigmented inks and HP uses dye based inks. Print life is similar - both in the 100 year range if you use HP paper for the HP printer.

 

HP printer will print outstanding B&W prints with no color cast since it has three shades of black and prints B&W prints using only the black ink.

 

HP has three ink cartridges each with 3 colors and the print head is part of the ink cartridge. Epson has individual ink cartridges and the print head is a part of the printer. Don't know about print cost.

 

Epson 1800 will print on printable CD/DVD media and the HP will not.

 

I am considering pruchasing one of these printers, but plan to wait for inputs from evaluations. I don't make a lot of prints, so the HP with print head in the cartridge may be the best choice - If a head clogs due to low use, I just purchase a new ink cartridge. I would like to print on CD/DVD archive disk - just wish the HP did that.

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Have you though about going a bit more "up-market"?

It looks as though you are working professionally and selling prints.

I use an Epson 4000 (upgraded from 2200). The results are so good, and economical, that I have close my wet darkroom, all prints now come off the 4000.

17" wide rolls and built in cutter with 8 x 220ml ink cartridges make it quite a beast but it knocks the more amateur printers into a cocked hat.

 

Les

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The 2200 is great with matt papers, but not so with glossy where it does bronze. My experience is, if you work with matt fineart papers and the 2200, there is none better in its class. Don't know of any "issues" on matt paper, just that you have to work to get your prints perfect like you would in any medium and it takes a little time and effort to lock it in.
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You may want to review the new HP Designjet 90 printer, which prints up to 24 inch wide paper. This is a six ink printer and the print head is part of the printer, but user replacable. It uses individual ink cartridges for each color. It was announced at the same time as the HP8750 Designjet printer. Some samples for both hew HP printers are at:

 

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/

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