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+--- Thread: Any reliable source for photo printers review ? (/showthread.php?tid=5492)
Any reliable source for photo printers review ? - toni-a - 03-30-2023
Couldn't find any, plenty of marketing for features etc, but how des influence final output ?
would a 6 color with 1.5 pilcoliter drops have smoother color transition than a printer with 1 picotiter drops with 4 inks ?
couldn' find amy measures for actual resolution etc
anyone can helpm
RE: Any reliable source for photo printers review ? - stoppingdown - 03-30-2023
I'm interested too, in general, for a number of reasons. Ten years ago I used Blurb to publish a book and was overall satisfied. After ten years I'd expect better quality and lower costs, but as far as I know Blurb prices have increased. Leaving the thing off my mind for ten years disconnected me from the possible alternatives; I've searched for reviews, but I didn't find much better, so I'm longing to see answers here.
RE: Any reliable source for photo printers review ? - Klaus - 03-30-2023
Can't help you there - but one warning - don't go for the printers with refillable "megatank/ecotank" etc.
I got a new printer (not for photos) a few months ago and wherever I looked for user reviews - these were often marked as unreliable.
RE: Any reliable source for photo printers review ? - wim - 03-31-2023
You could try Northlight Images, although Keith generally tests professional photo printers.
https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/photography-articles-and-reviews/
HTH, kind regards, Wim
RE: Any reliable source for photo printers review ? - davidmanze - 04-01-2023
(03-30-2023, 11:16 PM)Klaus Wrote: Can't help you there - but one warning - don't go for the printers with refillable "megatank/ecotank" etc.Contrary to your findings Klaus my Epson ET-2710 has been completely reliable, only needing a nozzle clean once after many months of being unused in extremely thick house renovation dust (disc cutting euro bricks) two cleans and it was business as usual, how it survived those conditions is beyond me, the Epsom ink tank series has a good reputation for reliability btw.
I got a new printer (not for photos) a few months ago and wherever I looked for user reviews - these were often marked as unreliable.
I've printed hundreds of prints and there still remains 1/3 rd of the original ink in the tanks after more than two years.
The price for the four ink bottles is 40 euros, which gives you 265 mls (more than a 1/4 of a liter !?!), print resolution is higher than most and the quality is very good for a four tank system.
It's the first printer I've loved and not hated, unlike Canon printers and their bad management of "no paper" warnings when it has paper and cartridges also not being recognized ...... I threw away enough Canon printers to fill a dustbin ..... drove me nuts!
RE: Any reliable source for photo printers review ? - stoppingdown - 04-01-2023
What is a rough estimate of the printing costs per A4 print (only counting ink consumption)? Also, how long does it take for an A4 print?
RE: Any reliable source for photo printers review ? - stoppingdown - 04-01-2023
If you don't mind, I'd like to recap some points from my past experience in case they can be useful for others (but also for me):
- my latest printer was Epson Photo Stylus 2100 and I was pretty satisfied by the prints;
- the ink cost per A4 print was roughly 1€ (take it as a reference, I don't have written notes and I'm recalling by heart; it could even be the cost per A3 print);
- I see that e.g. Blurb asks $205 for 33×28 cm, 200 pages, dust jacket hardcover (the cheaper softcover is not available for this format) — that's roughly 1€ per page and I have roughly 200 photos to print per year; so 1€ per page is my cost reference;
- the problems were the extreme slowness and the fact that the printer didn't work well in unattended mode (I have a dedicated computer to handle printers and technically I could submit dozens of prints to the print queue, leaving me free to do other things with the laptop): I mean that when an ink cartridge was empty and I replaced it typically the current unfinished print was ruined;
- also, the low capacity of the cartridges caused the replace operation to happen often; I'd like to be able to submit 20/30 prints to the queue early in the morning and have the prints complete by the evening, with — say — at max. 1/2. cartridge operation changes per day;
- of course services such as Blurb also include cover and binding, but it's no something I need; the print I did in the past are stored in the original paper box and I'm fine with that;
- on the other side, printing by myself would allow me to select the desired paper for each print; and of course the print quality would be higher.
RE: Any reliable source for photo printers review ? - toni-a - 04-01-2023
Like David, I never had issues with ecotank, it's basically the same printer with cartdidge, with the ecotank added.... it adds complexicity and is more prone for problems maybe, never had any of them.
My Epson L800 is fantastic: fast, very reliable, excellent ink quality and print quality, have a print on plastic paper that has been wet many many times still looking excellent... only problem: nozzles clogging I think I wasted ink on cleaning nozzles more than I used for printing, although its ink is cheap, sadly it's in Lebanon and can't use it now...
it doesn't have wifi and epson software osn't that advanced but for the printing job it's absolutely excellent, however you have to use it at least weekly to avoid nozzles clogging.
Now I am using Canon G4320 it doesn't have the smooth color transition like Epson and skins are better rendered with Epson, 4 inks is not enough for that... however it has wireless connectivity and possibility of printing wirelessly from smartphone or camera, wife and children prefer it by far.
If you do black and white printing both have rather poor quality and must be avoided....
RE: Any reliable source for photo printers review ? - stoppingdown - 04-01-2023
Quote:however you have to use it at least weekly to avoid nozzles clogging.
Eh, this is a problem indeed...
RE: Any reliable source for photo printers review ? - toni-a - 04-01-2023
When I was in Lebanon I used to like it a lot (except when it needed nozzle cleaning, maybe weekly is a little bit exaggerated except maybe in summer, as it was hit by direct sunlight.... that's mostly my fault....but still it was a serious problem.
I recommend calibrating printers and not only screens, problem printer must be calibrated to the media used and you spend 2 papers and 2 prints worth of ink for a calibration... but the result is worth it, what you see on screen is exactly what you get on paper... I noticed using Epson paper calibration was useless as the ICC used by the printer is almost the same as the one I will have after calibration, for non OEM paper calibration was sometimes a must like HP paper I used once, it had a magenta color cast corrected by calibration.
For some papers you can download ICC profiles from manufacturers website for example
https://www.hahnemuehle.com/en/digital-fineart/icc-profile.htm
https://ilford.com/printer-profiles-paper-settings/
https://kodak.globalbmg.com/en/color-profiles
https://print-it-large.eu/downloads/icc-profiles
Obviously here you are expected to use manufacturer ink.
Neglecting color management for prints can sometimes pass unseen, however better doing the job correctly and avoid unpleasant and sometimes expensive surprises.
What's the point of rising before sunrise to get the best colors and use a camera and lens with excellent color rendering, edit on a pro screen if in the end you will use the wrong paper color profile for printing and get random results....