Good Printer...

[andreas_holmstr_m]

I need advice on a good photo printer.

 

A3 size would be great, but not a must have feature.

 

Been looking at Epson and HP.

 

Obsolete and Current models. I'm going to print Color and B&W photos.

 

Thanks!

[chris_vincent2]

I use the Epson R2400 and can't praise it enough.

[jukka1]

Same comment. I have had it for 1 year, no problems at all. Prints are everything I could wish for. Forget about those cost/print comparisons. You will forget that when you see those prints in walls.

Sincerely, Jukka

[William Kahn]

I agree. I use a 2200 which I love, but will upgrade to the 2400 as soon as I get that winning lottery ticket....

[conraderb]

andreas - I have the epson R1800 and have been very impressed by the output (up to 13x19) on color glossy paper. it isn't as good for matte paper and it cannot do a neutral B/W print, but color glossies are gorgeous to look at. you cannot tell that it is on an inkjet printer - there is positively no banding and the colors are right on.

 

for $500, I would recommend it.

 

I would also look at the canon pro 9000 and the HP 9180 as well. both seem to be good printers.

[andreas_holmstr_m]

Thanks for all the aswers sofar!

 

What about the EPSON 1270? Any good or too old? They are dirt cheap!

[Ed_Ingold]

The 1270 does a good job, and the prints are as long-lived as photographic color prints, under glass and on archival paper. Still, the projected life is under 20 years, compared to 100+ years for a pigment printer like the R2400. Dye printers have a somewhat greater gamut, and tend to make smoother B&W prints than pigment printers. This is certainly true compared to my 2200, but the R2400 is supposed to be much better in this regard.

 

The 1270 is prone to clogged ink jets. I would have to clean it once or twice if it would sit idle for a week or two. If it doesn't clean up in two cycles, the only recourse is to replace the cartridge. There are two cartridges, one for black (one color) and the other for CMY. This is an expensive printer to maintain, and takes a lot of cuddling.

 

I just fired up my 2200 after a 2 month hiatus (I use a dye-sub for client prints). The black was clogged for the first time since I've had the printer. One cleaning cycle and all is good again.

 

With the old 1270 and the newer 2200, I get the best B&W prints in RGB mode, instead of black-only. It takes careful profiling to get reasonably neutral tones on the 2200, but the 1270 is more forgiving. In RGB, a well-adjusted print is slightly warm in tone, like Kodak Polycontrast, which I find appealing. Black-only prints (factory ink set) are harsh in appearance, and too cold for my taste.

 

HP has finally awakened to the needs of photographers, but have a long way to go to catch up with Epson. At very least, you have a lot more third-party support for Epson printers (paper, profiles and such). I would not hesitate to buy an R2400 if I were shopping for a printer. IMO, the R1800 is a one-trick (i.e., glossy paper) pony. The R1800 uses a red and blue cartridge for impact, instead of the light cyan and light magenta of the R2400. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm comfortable with CMYK.

[link]

<i>Andreas Holmström , nov 23, 2006; 09:30 a.m.

Thanks for all the aswers sofar!

 

What about the EPSON 1270? Any good or too old? They are dirt cheap!</i><p>

 

I have a 1280 and would not recomend it or the 1270 (they are about the same).<p>

 

The reason is that though capable of very bright colors, the 1270/80 can not print dark greens and fleshtones at all. They print as cyan mud. This is especially ugly in fleshtones and portraiture in gerneral. <p>

 

Don't get me wrong, I've printed some fabulous prints with this printer, but there are many images for which important colors are way out of the gamut of this printer. And it won't print good b&w in general unless you print using black ink only which looks a bit grainy.<p>

 

Don't think this printer is that cheap, you'll go through $1000 worth of Epson ink in no time. I'd stick with the newest models.

[andreas_holmstr_m]

I could get a 1270 for 25euros!

 

Both cartidges are about 65euro together. How many A3 size pictures can I print with a set of cartridges?

 

Most of my portraits are B&W. Most landscape shots are color.

[link]

From my experience, I get between 20 to 25 8.5x11 inch prints per set of cartridges. So that's about 2.88 Euros per print. Or about 5.75 euros for an A3 print, just for the ink.

 

The above is for a color print. A B&W print using color inks will use just as much ink, a black only print a little less I'm guessing.

 

I'm running my 1280 with a bulk ink system and cheap inks and spend about 2 Euros per set of carts. For important prints, I send them out to a lab...The print quality of the cheap inks is the same as the Epson inks, but require custom printer profiles. The bulk ink system is expensive though

[philfx]

I have a 1280 that I rarely use. Blacks are not accurate, but color aside, I think you waste so much ink before a good print. I really hate this printer right now. Maybe if I had a Bulk ink system and can trust it wouldnt clog the heads...What ink do you recommend for the CIS BG?

 

bad green, bad black, bad red...basically needs to be profiled.

 

But it looks like you want to go cheap...buy it, and waste you money on inks for so so prints....Its always a matter of what you expect and your level of quality needs.

[sheryl_bury_michals]

I just got the Epson R2400 2 weeks ago. Not one to buy things the moment they come out, I waited a while and read others' reviews for the hands-on experience. I agree with the comments on this posted prior.

 

I've been playing with it and like what I've printed so far, the black and white pics looking as good as when I rpinted them up in the darkroom - a real surprise; this was part of the reason I didn't buy a photo printer sooner, as I wasn't sure my B&W pics would come out as well.

 

It was worth the money - and the wait for me to get one.

 

sheryl

[link]

<i>I have a 1280 that I rarely use. Blacks are not accurate, but color aside, I think you waste so much ink before a good print. I really hate this printer right now. Maybe if I had a Bulk ink system and can trust it wouldnt clog the heads...What ink do you recommend for the CIS BG?

 

bad green, bad black, bad red...basically needs to be profiled. </i><p>

 

Phil,<p> I use the ink republic CIS and Media Street plug n play dye inks. I use it because I print movie flipbooks for self promotion and they use a lot of ink!<p>

 

This CIS is pretty good about clogs, but not trouble free. Because there are no sponges, it can be re-primed. It's the last CIS for me, I think.<p>

 

FWIW, printer profiles will not bring back the missing color gamut from this printer and ink set. They just make for more accurate prints within the ability of the printer. Genuine Epson inks have about the same gamut as the cheaper plug n play inks, but the color balance comes out a little bit different, hence the custom profiles.<p>

 

Also, I've had print head problems ever since I purchased this printer and finally got Epson to pay to replace the print heads a couple months ago. So far, with the new heads it works well, but I sometimes have misaligned colors, I think due to the tugging of the ink lines on the print head carriage. I used to have a 1200 photo and CIS and it worked (physically) better than the 1280 and I managed to wear the thing out. Same gamut problems though. I belive the 2400 with the extra grey inks and the newer pigments has a much more acceptable color gamut for most images, and it can print very nice B&W. I may consider the new 3800 Epson when it comes out or the big Canon 5000 printer. Or I'll just stick with photographic prints from the lab when I want something other than a temporay print.<p>

 

When I first started with the Epson printers (Stylus photo EX), the web business was new and companies were selling ink cheaply at a loss to start up their businesses (about $10 per cart). At the present day prices for ink, home printing is certainly not inexpensive! But it can be fun.