new printer

[carole_lehrman]

<p>I have a Nikon d90 camera and an old Canon i960 photo printer. I plan to get a new printer and would like it to print 11 X 17 as well as small sizes. Any recommendations?</p>

[darin_schaffer]

<p>Hi Carole,<br>

It would be useful to know what your budget is, how much printing you plan to do, will you be primarily printing B&W, color, or equal combination. I have a epson 3800 which was a little over $1000. It produces fantastic quality prints in both B&W and color, although I print mostly B&W or sepia tones. The 2880 and 3880 are suppose to have improved ink(intense magenta) and a slightly improved nozzle system. The 3800 and 3880 will have much larger ink cartridges so if you plan on printing a fair amount the cost of your ink in the long run will be less. Epson has the 2880 for $699 after rebates not sure what the 3880 is running but I would assume in the $1200-$1300 range. You may be able to find a bargin on a 3800 since it is has been replaced by the latest and greatest 3880. I am sure the 3880 is an improvement but the 3800 really is a great printer that I doubt you would be disappointed in, I can't recommend it highly enough. HP has some that are also suppose to be very good but I have no experience with them say I can't really say. Good luck with your purchase!</p>

[bengt_rehn]

<p>In my opinion, the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 MKII is a very good printer for amateurs who make prints for themself and friends. Color prints are just excellent and the print head doesnt clogg if the printer stay unused for some month.</p>

<p>If B&W performance is very important for you, then there are better alternatives.</p>

[jonsjons]

<p>you can get one of those pixma 9000s dirt cheap right now. canon is running a promotion that gives you $400 back (off of a $500 sticker price) when you buy one with a dslr. the result is that a lot of people are claiming the rebate and then selling the printers new for about half of their original price...i'm one of those people. i haven't done a lot of research on these, but i don't think you'll find any other printers of this size/quality for $250. check amazon or ebay.<br>

the only down side if you do this is that you might not get warranty coverage, but maybe you can work that out with your seller.</p>

[carole_lehrman]

<p>I'd like to print both color and black and white. At this time, with the printer I have, I mostly print color. I'd like to go back to b & w as I did in my darkroom days. I don't really have a budget but would prefer not to spend much more than $1,000. I don't want to get a new printer for a good few years after purchasing this one, so I'd like it to be really good and reliable. Thanks for all your input!</p>

[bengt_rehn]

<p>The only A3 printer I know of, who can make excellent color and B&W is the Epson Stylus Photo R2880. Its also the most expensive one and the ink and paper are expensive too. Other alternatives to Canon Pixma Pro 9000 but with better B&W performance are HP Photosmart Pro B9180 and Canon Pixma Pro 9500, but neither make as good color prints as the Pro 9000.</p>

[darin_schaffer]

<p>I really like the 3800, haven't tried the 3880 so I can't say if it is worth the extra $$$ but I have no complaints about the print quality of the 3800 at all. The larger ink cartridges are really nice(until of course you have to replace them at $50 a pop, but they don't all run out at the same time) especially if you want to do larger prints. You lose a little ink when you switch from matte to photo black but proper planning makes it pretty much a non-issue. Epson has refurbished(refurbs actually get returned less often than regular ones and carry full warranties) for $895 with free ground shipping. Figure the ink alone is worth almost $500, that is a pretty good deal. Anyway, as you may be able to tell I am biased towards that printer because I love mine. Good luck in your choice.</p>

[bruce_hooke]

<p>This website: http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/EPSON%20Pro%203880/page-1.html has a helpful comparison of the 3800 and the 3880 for anyone considering these two printers.</p>

<p>For what it is worth, I just made a comparison of the ink costs of the 3800 versus the 2880. I assumed that both would use the same amount of ink per square inch of print. It appears that the ink cost for the 3800 is $0.75/ml, whereas the ink cost for the 2880 is $1.18/ml. These figures are based on cartridge sizes of 80 ml versus 11 ml and prices of $59.95 versus $12.95. There is also the factor that the 3800 (even a refurbished one) presumably comes with a full set of ink cartridges, which are worth $540, versus the set of ink cartridges that comes with the 2880 would be worth $109.95. Buying as much ink for the 2880 as comes with the 3800 would cost $753.</p>

<p>I hope I did all that math right! For what its worth, my trusty 2200 comes in at $0.55/ml, assuming it lays down the same amount of ink per square inch.</p>

<p>While all this makes the 3800 look like a no-brainer, the one other factor to weigh is that the recommended shelf life for the 3800 cartridges is reportedly 6 months, but I saw one post ( http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=33264294 ) by someone who said that he had used cartridges that were as much as three years old with no problems.</p>

[mori_insinger]

<p>I recently purchased large format Canon (iPF 6100) which is probably more printer than you are looking for, but after a lot of research and testing on a range of printers (incl. Epson and HP) I can definitely recommend the Canon lineup. The Epson 3800/3800s that others have recommended are definitely good too--and I originally researched smaller printers adn was leaning toward the Epson--but ultimately decided I wanted to be able to print on a roll, as well as have larger ink tanks (and ones that don't necessitate worrying about black ink swapping as with the Epson 4800). The Canon 5100 has larger ink tanks than the 3880 and is also a pretty frugal ink user from all I've experienced and researched. The quality of Canon's inks (LUCIA, w/pigments) are also well-regarded for gamut as well as durability over time, seemingly on par with Epson's K3 inks. The Canon is larger than the comparable Epson, but they're definitely workhorse machines, and that may be part of it...a tradeoff I easily made. Canon also does have some great specials on now, putting the 5100 in the same price range as Epson's 3880 even though it also handles roll media. <br /> From what others have written, Canon's PIXMA printers may be a good smaller and cheaper alternative. I don't know those as well as the iPF line, but the 9500 uses the same pigment ink as the bigger models and would be worth looking into. <br /> Lastly, I'd really recommend consulting with and buying from a reputable dealer. I found that the folks at <a href="http://www.colorhq.com">ColorHQ.com</a> provide phenomenal customer service, both before and after purchase, and I haven't hesitated to recommend others give them a call. They're friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and have great products and pricing. And they do carry many lines, including Epson and Canon, so they can tell you a lot from their first-hand knowledge as you consider the many strong options that are out there....<br /> Good luck in your printer search!</p>