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09/08/2007 12:30:09 PM · #1 |
I love my r200/r300 series printer- better than hp and makes really nice prints of art or realistic photo/ but...
the multi ink system is almost too expensive to keep running, even for casual use.If you change them all at once its almost $100; and if you change them one at a time, you lose ink while charging and then you are changing them constantly.
A dilemma-
so , can anyone recommend a cheaper printing system- a printer for under 200$ with the most economical ink?
thanks-
Paul |
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09/08/2007 12:34:32 PM · #2 |
Now you know why I print all my pictures through photo labs (Costco, DPC Prints, Kodak, etc.) rather than even own an inkjet printer.
BTW: We have a large Epson at the print shop where I work, used to make color proofs for the customer to approve and the printer to match. To replace all seven high-capacity cartridges costs almost $1,000. |
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09/08/2007 03:16:40 PM · #3 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Now you know why I print all my pictures through photo labs (Costco, DPC Prints, Kodak, etc.) rather than even own an inkjet printer.
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Exactly. It ends up being much cheaper to have a lab do the prints.
A cheapo from Walmart will do for the rest of my printing needs (forms, model releases, contracts...)
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09/08/2007 04:11:31 PM · #4 |
You can find continuous ink systems for the epson printers, I think inrepublic.com has some and there are other brands out there. You can also switch to third party inks that run about half the cost of cartriages from epson, I think insupply.com probably has some useful information. I should note that I don't use these inks myself, I just remembered them from some investiation into B&W ink systems.
As to the comments about it being less expensive going to Costco, Kodak, etc, these are probably true, but I for one still enjoy making my own prints. Of course I started in the days of film and the dark room was just part of the process when I was learning. I have been printing through a local lab myself but recently realized I was missed actually creating the print myself. I purchased on Canon Pro 9000 printer on sale at Best Buy and have been having a blast experimenting with color prints. Based on my research, I would say that a 13" x 19" print uses about $0.23 in ink plus somewhere between $0.75 $2.00 in paper depending on the quality. This is more that Costco but less than professional lab like Millers.
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09/08/2007 06:46:49 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Now you know why I print all my pictures through photo labs (Costco, DPC Prints, Kodak, etc.) rather than even own an inkjet printer.
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Exactly. It ends up being much cheaper to have a lab do the prints.
A cheapo from Walmart will do for the rest of my printing needs (forms, model releases, contracts...) |
the quality of a print from costco, 1 houre photo, kodak are not a good quality print, its fine for a family picture of your own or a friend, but its definetly not professional.
when i replace the cartragis in my R1800 it costs me 80 buck sor so, but thats the price of approx 5 8x10's my customers buy, i get a great deal of prints out of a cartrige |
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09/08/2007 07:26:53 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by TroyMosley:
the quality of a print from costco, 1 houre photo, kodak are not a good quality print, its fine for a family picture of your own or a friend, but its definetly not professional. |
How not? With good quality photographic paper and profiled printers should give a result similar to that previously obtained in a darkroom with negatives and enlargers ...
Also, inkjets are an unknown quantity as to stability, consistency, and longevity -- all lifespan claims are estimates based on "accelerated aging" tests, not real-world experience.
But I know there's a place for both technologies -- I had to print some overhead transparencies for someone, and bought an inkjet just for that job ... it turned out that when I when I ran out of ink, it was $10 cheaper to buy another printer than a set of replacement cartridges. |
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09/08/2007 07:34:23 PM · #7 |
I do my standard size prints from the local drugstore and any enlargements (where I may care more about the qualitiy) online from MPix.com. Home printing was just too expensive. I have a laser printer for things from the internet.
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09/08/2007 07:45:48 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by TroyMosley:
the quality of a print from costco, 1 houre photo, kodak are not a good quality print, its fine for a family picture of your own or a friend, but its definetly not professional.
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I know people who have their own very expensive professional quality printer to do fine art prints, but for the little amount of professional work I do, I can't justify the cost. For day to day portrait work, costco does better than I can do myself. For the high end stuff, it's more cost effective for me to send it to a color lab than to buy an expensive printer and learn how to use it.
But I do use my inkjet to do quickie greeting cards and such, stuff that will get thrown away before the ink fades...
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09/08/2007 08:02:30 PM · #9 |
I have a lot of images printed at Costco on the Fuji Frontier printers on Fuji paper and have been very happy with the results. The images I send there are profiled to the printer the store uses - you can dl the profile from Dry Creek Photo
Message edited by author 2007-09-08 20:04:31. |
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