Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

Hi All

Well this is the so called $64,000 question  ???

I typically get my prints done by a lab but thinking out loud I am considering getting a new inkjet (would love dye sub but getting up to 8x9 & greater the printer costs are close £1000 and out of my pocket :( )

So, as this is the QImage fora ideally want the printer to handle as wide a gamut as possible (light magneta & light cyan carts a must?) but what make & model to consider that will do A4 (A3 woud be nice but limited space and likely cost of printer make that a no no?)

I would welcome your suggestions and user experiences in regard to how well they 'play' with QImage???

TIA  8)

Hi,
All printers will play with Qimage very well but there are one or two that have buggy drivers than cause the odd problem.
Epson and Canon seem to be the most popular. I own an Epson R800, now long in the tooth but still seems to available; inks for it are getting expensive now  :( but it does produce very nice print with QU.  ;D
When I was looking for a friend a couple of months ago, Epson seemed to be the only maker of A4 photo printers that have at least 6 cartridges. The R800 has 8.
Not necessarily, some ink sets have odd colours to improve the gamut, you would have to check specs to see what they are. I agree that only 4 colours, CMYK, is not really sufficient.
Why don't you check the specs of a few and then ask here about specific printer models; there are likely to be some owners on this forum.
Terry

Terry, I'll be your friend any time.!
Fred

Dooh! I meant on behalf of a friend. ::)
I thought you were already!  :-*
T

There there...... :'(  All better now  :)

Terry, I think you are right Epson seem to have the most 'offer' by way of 6 ink printers?

I have found these 3 models that are in fact multi function ones!

PX730WD
810FW
830FWD

Actually there are 3 others without WiFi (FWIW I think WiFi is very usefull connectivity  ;) )
P50
PX660
PX650

All use the Claria inks that Epson target at photo printing, so has anyone used these models and/or Claria inked models of any type???

Forgive me for stating the obvious.  The cost of ink is often more relevant than the price of the printer.  It seems the printer is often provided at a nominal price with special, low volume cartridges supplied - then when you need replacement cartridges surprisingly soon and at a similarly surprising price you realise what's going on.

If you can raise the capital, the Epson 3880 is a pretty good deal - it comes with 9 cartridges, each 80ml.  And being larger cartridges the replacement costs are good on a ml/£ basis.  It's an A3 printer but has an unusually small footprint for that size.

Sandy

Hi Sandy

No issue stating the obvious :) Yes, inks were going to be factored in and yes I know they sell the printers at daft low costs especially the typical SOHO ones.  I had not thought of the A3 other than thinking they were rather too costly and had way too large a footprint so will check that out.
Oh as for the inks the place I used to use when I last had an inkjet had the OEM ones as sets on special offer every so often so was good.

FWIW I used inkjets for way too much general printing of docs etc and in the space of 4 to 5 years got end of life events with both an Epson which lasted 3 years and a Canon PIXMA which lasted just over 15 months, neither of which was economic to repair!!!!  Talk about the throwaway society :(

Currently using a small monochrome laser for docs and HP P1102W that has printed over 8500 sheets in approx 18 months

Edit ~ just checked out the UK price at over £1100 is way OTT for me and the planned usage.  If I could justify that sort of money I would be giving serious consideration to a dye sub.  Oh and it is described as an A2 printer ;)

Without any intention to offend, you slightly remind me of an Irish policeman who once advised me, when I stopped to ask for directions, "Well now Sir, if I was going there I wouldn't start from here". You describe your, I presume, business  printing needs and jump to a wish for a dye sub. And, like most of us, you're on a budget. But shouldn't you first get your priorities in some order. If photography is your prime interest then you buy the best printer you can afford for that. Why must you have a dye sub? the latest Canon/Epson photo printers are superb. Then buy a cheapy for the office work. You can get them almost for the price of the ink. And touching on ink, why do so many people moan about its cost. If you're mainly using your printer for photography most cartridges last quite a while and even ink companies have to make profits. So decide what's most important and go from there.

The price of ink is a substantial factor for many people.  Whether ink is fairly priced or otherwise, it is still a significant expense.   However, in general, it seems the larger cartridges are much more economical.  The Epson I mentioned includes 9 cartridges (total 720ml) in its price which equates to close to £400 of ink in its purchase price of about £1100.  The smaller and cheaper 2880 uses the same ink but the cartridges are 11-12ml ie approx £1/ml vs just over 50p/ml for the larger 3880 with its 80ml cartridges.  The 2880 includes about £100 of ink in its purchase price of £450.  So, the real difference in printer price is about £350.  This is not insignificant but if you keep your printer even a couple of years, the 3880 is likely to have cost you less.  There is the old joke, too true and a bit sad as a result, "I'm poor so I can't afford the economy packs."

A brief comment on printer sizes.  Since the width of A2 paper (about 420mm) is the same as the length of A3 paper, A3 printers will print A2 so long as the length of paper they can print is not too restricted, hence they can be called A2+.  Similarly an A4 printer that can print sheets 420mm long or more can be called A3+; it can then print 420mm x 297mm - which is A3.  I suspect that most A3 printers (sometimes called 17" printers) will print above the 594mm length.  There is a fair number of A4 printers that is restricted to 297mm length and cannot print A3.  If Box Brownie chooses the right "A4" printer he might be able to print A3 with it; of course, the printer might then be called A3+, not A4.

Sandy

Hi Sandy
I think you are one step out on your A sizes  ::)
The maximum width for an A3 printer is 297mm but most are A+ so can take 329 mm (13"). The printer size, A4, A3 etc is defined by the smallest dimension of the A size.
I have 2 A4 printers and they certainly will not take an A3 sheet.
An A2 printer will take up to 420+ mm or 17" (432mm).
Terry

Thanks Terry.  It was getting late (after midnight) and I knew I would get it wrong - but proceeded anyway!
Sandy