Home printing suggestions if possible

[BlimeyCharlie]

Hi all,
I don't have my photos printed very often, so have used a local guy who is a commercial printer amongst other things. This works out expensive per print but I don't have kit/ink sitting around unused.

Anyway, I have loads of frames and fancy printing stuff myself more often.
Familiar with calibration and so on, but wondered what the cost is per print from something like an Epson 1500w and how many prints I get before I need more ink.

I only want to go up to A3/A3+ in size. I also do black and white from negatives that I've scanned too.

Anyone suggest a printer system they are happy with and costings would be really helpful. Is there a clear 'winner'?

Thanks in advance.

[GetCarter]

BlimeyCharlie said:

Hi all,
I don't have my photos printed very often, so have used a local guy who is a commercial printer amongst other things. This works out expensive per print but I don't have kit/ink sitting around unused.

Anyway, I have loads of frames and fancy printing stuff myself more often.
Familiar with calibration and so on, but wondered what the cost is per print from something like an Epson 1500w and how many prints I get before I need more ink.

I only want to go up to A3/A3+ in size. I also do black and white from negatives that I've scanned too.

Anyone suggest a printer system they are happy with and costings would be really helpful. Is there a clear 'winner'?

Thanks in advance.

Most of us regulars in here have given up home printing as it works out much more expensive than on-line printers. I have an Epson A3 printer, but the ink cost is stupid, as is the price of decent paper.

Coupled with that most online printers deliver next day (even up here in the Highlands), so there is no real downside.

Edited by GetCarter on Tuesday 10th February 16:23

[Simpo Two]

Yep, go online, eg to Photobox, and let someone else worry about colour problems, banding, cartridges running out halfway through etc.

If I do want to print something at home I use an HP printer/scanner/copier that cost £70, and is perfectly good.

[LdnShtr]

I would echo the above.

One point worth noting on larger home printers. When I last looked at them I noticed that the cartridge cost per unit of ink was cheaper on printers larger than A3 as they used different cartridges. No idea if that's still true though. I ended up just getting an A4 Canon Pixma for messing about and outsourcing proper work to Loxley, Photobox etc depending on the application.

My biggest complaint about home printing is partially blocked heads if you don't print anything for a month or two. You end up using half a set of cartridges clearing it sometimes! Why is it not possible to just tell the computer which cartridge is blocked? I've ended up switching to refillable copies which have ended up costing a 10th of the Canon cartridges per unit of ink and if anything they block less often. The colour reproduction is pretty close to genuine Canon ink too surprisingly.

[MysteryLemon]

You generally get more value out of ink the bigger the printer gets. Compare cartridges for home A4 prints in capacity and cost to the likes of a 24" printer and you soon realise just how much more affordable it is. But then you often have 6/8/10 or 12 cartridges in the bigger printers so that has to be taken into consideration. Take our Canon IPF 6xxx printers. They have 12 cartridges with two heads. Cartridges are 130ml each and cost around £50 each. Costs a lot to fill the printer but then we use it day in day out and it prints multiple images a day. Can be non stop when busy for 9 hours straight. 130ml cartridges last a lot longer than you might think, esspecially considering the printer makes up the colours from 12 colours rather than just the 4/6 you get in a home printer. You don't even wanna know the cost of replacing a head

As said too, inkjets dry up pretty easily. Not worth the effort printing photos at home. You wont do a better job than a professional printer and you wont save money.

Edited by MysteryLemon on Tuesday 10th February 17:08

[BlimeyCharlie]

Thanks for the above experiences.

I think online is the way to go. Any variations experienced in colour profiles changing or is it consistent? That really is my only concern I have.

[GetCarter]

BlimeyCharlie said:

Thanks for the above experiences.

I think online is the way to go. Any variations experienced in colour profiles changing or is it consistent? That really is my only concern I have.

Try Photobox first... they are pretty much the cheapest, and whenever I have had a problem, they have re-printed free of charge. Most of the time they are fine first time.

There are many other more expensive options that offer more - but you pay and they take longer.