How cheap a printer can you get away with for good photo prints. When is quality too much work?
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- Опубликовано: 28 май 2024
- The problems of cheap printers and why you need to decide what your own needs are. Why really cheap printers are a lot of work if printing matters.
A look at what sorts of printers match some of my requirements for photo printing and where my best value/capability level can be found.
All my printer reviews over the last 15 years
www.northlight-images.co.uk/p...
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Keith just an FYI I have an ET 8550 in part because of low-cost ink and because you showed me that it can print Panos. So the news is Red River Paper in the US sells 13X38 inch paper for most of their papers. Cool
Thanks - noted
Thanks for tackling this one. Your expert take is always valued.
Glad it was helpful! - Thanks
Great video Keith. Perfect starting point, with a couple interesting suggestions. Thank you for sharing these great videos, keep up the great work! 👍
Thanks - appreciated
I don't know a paper company that does not give you FREE, downloadable profiles to match your printer and their paper. I know one person who worked out his own profiles working with an alternate ink manufacturer. A couple of big ass Epson printers and roll paper to do school photos. The prints were perfect. The cost was controlable. This was at a time when all of the great legacy pro photo labs in the Northeast were being run out of business by digital. I'm staying with my Canon pro 200 and semigloss papers from Canon, Canson. and Red River. One of my early mentors (to whom I owe much) told me "there are two solutions to every issue; work and time or just money"
Yes - many of the good paper companies do this for a few higher end printers, but if you've one not supported it becomes tricky, and I always assume that most people really don't want to get into paper profiling ;-)
Great video , thanks as always.
Thanks!
Another good video Keith
Thanks!
A lot of club and commercial photographers are using the Canon Pixma iP8750 - A3+ printer, excellent value. It punches well above its weight. It'd be worth a review.
Too long in the tooth I'm afraid for me to easily get one for review - it was launched in January 2014
@@KeithCooper among the pixma family, the ix6850 is also quite a great deal for the hobbist- I use with great pleasure and success for printing digital contact negatives
@@Mitja-ke1pc this is exactly what I am looking for - something budget that can produce acceptable digital contact negatives only. Thanks for the tip.
canon pro 200 love it !! Thanks to Mr. Cooper review.
Thanks - Great to hear!
Great insight as always Keith. "Low price" always catches you somewhere.
Thanks!
There are some great deals out there, usually on local market places. I picked up a canon pro 100 for $40 from a local art thrift shop. A new set of ink and some cleaning cycles and it is printing perfectly. This is my intro into printing out some of my photography and so far I love the results and looking forward to learning more. Thanks again Keith for all the information and insight you provide!
Glad to have helped!
Thanks for the video. I'm still using an old Canon Pixma 9000 Pro for colour work and a 9500 Pro MkII for B&W with great results. Yes the inks can get expensive but shopping around can save you quite a bit.
Thanks
I'd get the biggest baddest most expensive printer you can afford that you can grow into and that has the most parts available for either self service or if you need to call a technician. If you get to a certain size, price point, range of printers, you can also see about going to the seller/dealer and printing your stuff on their machines to see which one you like. We used to do that with office copiers and printers. It wasn't just about the printers, the cost, and the quality, it was how nice and easy was it to use any accompanying software. Some brands have really nice software that even my dead grandmother could use while others require a PhD in IT to use.
Yes - much easier to test stuff when you're buying big printers
I’ve got the canon PIXMA iP8760 printer, a six ink A3+, although I believe it uses five for photo printing, printer and have tried to research profiles and how to create them. Wish I had have seen this channel before I purchased it, it gets nice results but it would be great to be able to improve the results I’m getting especially on some papers.
Thanks - not one I've had a chance to test I'm afraid
I use this printer with Canon Pro Luster and Pro Platinum papers. To print from Photoshop I set it to “Printer Manages Color” and get what I consider “good” results.
I wanted a printer for making digital negatives, not at a very high resolution as it’s just for Cyanotypes / photopolymer relief type prints. I got an HP7110 A3+ and used it for a few years, but it is truly terrible! The paper advance leaves ‘tractor marks’ in the ink on the special inkjet transparency film I use, plus the cost of cartridges is enormous - and it insists on having all four colours available to operate, even if set to use black only! So I finally threw up my hands and ordered an Epsom 8550 which should reduce the running costs by a factor of ten I reckon, as well as giving the option of making nice colour prints sometimes. I think the pigment black will also be helpful in making negatives.
Yes, the 8550 is a good printer
Any, even mono laser printer, is enough for bichrome gum etc. Cyanotypes can take an advantage from some inkjet but for these things, 8550 is an overkill. Any pigment inkjet is good. May be cheaper ecotanks with pigment black.
KEITH, I have watched your videos and they have provided me with answers. One video you are printing a pano on an Epson ET 8550 using Epson Print Layout...But Epson website says that Epson print layout only works with listed printers and the ET 8550 is not listed. SO, I did load Epson Print Layout, (EPL) and it does recognize the 8550 ...So does EPL work with the 8550???
Absolutely - that list is out of date and incomplete ;-)
I've lots of examples of the software working just fine!
@@KeithCooper Thanks I will give it a try and let you know if it works well.
5:53 paper suppliers that make custom profiles. do you have some links?
Permajet and Fotospeed in the UK
Red River in the US have a very wide range of profiles for a lot of less common printers
For other places, you'll need to do a bit of digging... ;-)
Et8500 or 8550 because of the ink tanks. Cartridges will make a cheap printer expensive quickly.
The Tc20 you tried out seems great for huge prints of adequate quality and I'd get a third party ink as they are charging a terrible amount for small bottles.
Thanks - yes, the TC20 inks do seem priced to make you look at 3rd party inks ;-)
Hello Keith, thank you for your helpful info on your website and youtube channel.
I am a painter and have a small studio/gallery in Germany. I get requests for my paintings printed as a card or smaller print. I do not have a scanner or colour printer. Is there a printer that scans and prints? I do not need the copying or faxing function. I also like to use thicker art papers to print my cards/smaller prints. I have looked into the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500 or ET-8550. Though they do not come with a scanner. Would you suggest buying a scanner separately?
See my main [i.e. written] 8550 review and the section on art repro and the scanner
www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson-et-8550-printer-review/
Hi kieth been watching alot of your stuff loved them thank you.. i have had 4 of the ET 8550 and it was a nightmare for me. roller marks on everyone of them and also bad customer service from epson with lies and sending me secondhand printers out. so I just bought and got the cannon Prograph 300 like yesterday all set up but learning it still but seems like a better printer to me than the ET 8550. for me anyway one again thank you
Thanks - sorry you've had those issues.
Which Epson region was this?
@@KeithCooper Hi Keith this was UK based.
@@magic1nds If you want, could you send me an outline of what happened? I cannot necessarily get a response, but I always like to have examples when I'm chatting with companies
@@KeithCooper Kieth srry just saw this notification sorry.. i will write up a description and email it you could you provide your email please. i don't have the epson anymore sent them back I went for the cannon pro 300 in the end. and it works fine so far. no issues with paper or roller marks now regards stephen
@@magic1nds Thanks - contact me via Northlight Images
Just wonder what you think about the et-15000 for photo printing?
Unfortunately I've not tested that exact model, but the ink set is the same as the 2850 I tested.
So all the qualities and foibles I found with that printer...
www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson-et-2850-printer-review/
Great video as ever. Thanks.
In it, you said you could teach anyone to get good results from a cheaper printer. Does that mean you offer paid-for, tailored printer tuition?
Thanks.
Yes, it's actually part of our commercial training services.
www.northlight-images.co.uk/commercial-photography/training/photography-tuition/
It is more usually people with larger higher end printers [pigment ink], given the costs.
Note though that it is only in-person [I'm based in the UK] - I don't do any remote teaching [on-line or video].
Permajet papers publish icc profiles for canon g650 or g550 for their papers
Good to know, but only if you are using a windows pc - colour management is still broken on Macs, which is what I test with...
Another interesting video! Thank you! I own a canon pixma ip8700. It prints a4 beautifully but a3 paper just rolls through without being printed. Could you possibly give me some clues as to what is happening or what I may be doing wrong? Thank you.
Not a printer I know I'm afraid. Apart from re-installing the driver and making sure that the paper size is properly specified, there's little I can say...
Sorry, it’s an 8760 and actually you were a big help.
Something you said was a “light bulb moment” and I realised I wasn’t selecting a3 in system settings on my Mac. Before I even get to the print settings for a photo. Duh! All those wasted months of frustration. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
@@KeithCooper actually, you were a great help! Apparently on my Mac laptop, I have to specify the paper size in the system settings as well as the printer settings. A light bulb moment when I was checking the driver in the system settings. Now I can print A3. Thank you!
Hi Keith, thank you - my whole goal is to produce good quality digital negatives on transparencies for alternative printing methods luke cyanotype. Thanks to this video I am now seriously considering the Canon PRO 200 (over say the 300 or equiv) - transparency printing is essentially glossy printing I think?
Also, the negatives I make certainly do not have to be archival, just last long enough to function (block UV light rays), so I don't need the hype of pigment products
Transparency is nothing to do with glossy - the film works by having a suitable ink receptor layer on it. The media setting could be anything which gives the best ink density.
This is best checked via a group doing such printing - there are a lot of tricks and potential issues.
See the discussion group at
groups.io/g/QuadToneRIP
@@KeithCooper thanks for your reply Keith. Would love to hear your tips and advice about producing digital negatives one day, although I know it is a niche market for RUclips clicks. I want to go as big as possible, to do so cheaply (can’t afford transparency roll paper) I am experimenting with A1 copy shop paper negatives, made translucent with baby oil. I suspect the inevitable paper grain that will remain will be unbearable for me, but I am gonna give it a go, and can report back. 2nd experiment will be “plan printing” service, but expect the gamut, and therefore potential linearity range of blocking values is not as good on plan / plotter printers
@@scottregan Not likely something I'll cover in any detail - it's perilously close to we photography, which I gave up [along with my darkroom] over 20 years ago ;-)
@@KeithCooper appreciate your candour Keith.
Thank you for your informative videos. I am a painter and like to do prints of my paintings on watercolour paper or other archival art paper for sale as postcards or smaller prints. What would you recommend? I would sell these for anything between 5-25 Euro depending on size. thank you
A that price I'd be happy with the mixed ink set of the et-8550, but if I wanted to push the quality aspects of my marketing [archival, giclee etc] I'd want full pigment inks, so a PRO-300 or perhaps P700.
Just be sure to use a paper made for inkjet use - there are lot's of good cotton rag ones
See here for example
www.northlight-images.co.uk/canon-pro-300-printer-review/
and the art repro section of
www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson-et-8550-printer-review/
@@KeithCooper thank you for your quick response and the further info. This helps a lot! 😀
I have a PRO-100S printer which you seem to think is not that good. What problems are there with this printer?
No - I don't think that. I think the PRO-200 is better, but that doesn't make the 100 'bad'
I have a detailed review from when I tested it...
www.northlight-images.co.uk/canon-pixma-pro-100-printer-review/
My concerns were about the maximum print length and enforced margins on some media. The 100S version did address some aspects [as well as improve connectivity]
One of the major improvements of the 200 is the screen and local control/feedback, as opposed to the 'one big button' interface style of the 100 - very much a personal opinion... Some like the 'simplicity' ;-)
Print quality is almost the same - hardly a surprise given the design commonalities of the 100/200
I was going to buy a nice Epson printer here in the Philippines but access to good quality photo paper is very limited so I would not be able to use profiles so I am not going to bother as the color matching would be poor
Sorry to hear that
@@KeithCooper Very sad, I suppose I could import the paper but that would be expensive
Get a photo paper and try profiles for similar papers. You can find a pair of paper+icc that works with zero to little manual corrections in graphic software, for 99% images.
@@c64club Worth a try I suppose, it's a pity the kit to create your own profiles is so expensive
@@ViaFerrataCH A spectrofotometer is a cost about half of the printer itself. I use 8550 with cuatom pigment inkset so I hve to find/make/adjust a profile for each paper. Sometimes ICC for particular printer/inkset + paper provided by paper supplier is completely unusable. In some cases I use ICC creating service, in others it's enough to manually correct colors and tonality, then save the changes as "preset" and you are done. It's possible to eben print an image set for exhibition this way, I'm just printing my wildlife photo exhibition with ICC for other paper, with only reds/pinks and darks corrected on calibrated monitor. The goal is not to get the same colors on monitor and paper (it's impossible even with colorimeter), but to achieve needed color accuracy on reliable level. With some effort you can.
Well, I've got a dirt cheap Epson all-in-one printer equipped with very cheap third party inks, using 6x4 glossy paper inherited from my late Father. and it's doing a great job helping me dip a toe into the greetings card world. BUT, that is its limit and I recognise that. So, a more capable printer is very soon to be added. But, which one??? Think I'd better watch some more of your videos...😉
Thanks - glad it was of interest!
The real killing fault for printers, whatever the cost, is that, unless you print every day, clogging will cost you a fortune anyway trying to restore the nozzles, if ever possible.
Owning a printer is definitely a cost, weather you use it or not. I stopped bothering, despite liking the results, because I was spending more time and wasting ink on cleaning and restoring my Epson Stylus Photo R3000, then I was doing for printing stuff for me.
I'm not saying printing is bad or useless, just pointing out that printing with expensive printers is a "full time job", not something you can do once a week.
I disagree... 'every day' is way over the top for any reasonable modern printer.
Whilst lack of use is a major contributing factor towards printer unreliability, it's people leaving printers for weeks/months who are more likely to find problems.
It absolutely IS something you can do every week or two.
Hi again Keith , thanks for your professional content I've learned so much . My comment isn't related to printing ( sorry ) its about the use of TS ( Tiltshift ) lenses . I'm only a new starter to digital photography and quite bamboozled when watching your TS tutorials ! . Why on earth would you cut a lens in half to change what you see ?
Having said all that I should get to my point . You may or may not watch BBC Breakfast Tv when they do a political report from Westminster ! .
As I've said I don't understand Tilt Shift but the backdrop image the BBC show from Westminster has the Leaning Tower of Big Ben on the Right with the Leaning Abbey on the left ! .
Maybe this is an intentional composition from the BBC but I find it really annoying each time shown .
Ah yes... one of the downsides of becoming familiar with shift [tilt has nothing to do with it - they are two very different things] is a reduced tolerance of leaning verticals... I do take a few shots like this on jobs, often because the marketing department of the client may like it, as opposed to the architects hating it ;-)
Strong lean is to me a 'creative' decision. A slight bit of or uneven lean just smacks of carelessness either in photography or editing...
You keep trying to steer me away from the Epson 8550
Indeed - dreadful printer ;-) not...
In my opinion, people buying for their home don't have the space for large prints.
Depends on the size of the homes and your market for prints ;-)
looks like the Epson ET 8550 is the most talked about printer here, but its collecting some bad reputation.
Says who and in what respects?
Evidence always helps such generalised assertions...
@@KeithCooper I dont mean to be too harsh on this model but some users are complaining that they are facing some reliability issues with the tray, roller etc. Also many have complained about the Epson service when reading about this particular model. But I believe its a very unique printer and a crossover between a serious photo and an office printer. I'm looking at this model with a lot of interest. I wish there was something like this for A2 size papers with these cheaper ink system. All the A2 printers I've seen are around double the price of this, and they dont have any office related utility, scanner etc., plus they will incur a higher cost using the inks used int hem.
@@anulearntech Yes - I have a list of areas I'd like to see tweaked/improved, but I've also heard from lots of people who've said that the 8550 has allowed them to experiment a lot more with printing, free from worrying about ink costs.
This hits the current limits of how far 'generalist' printers will go - adding office functionality to larger 'good quality' printers may be a small market.
I was interested to see what you got [and didn't get] with a larger ink tank printer like the Canon TC-20M [24" roll - A3 max sheet], when I tested it