A3 plus printer

[Andybazyoung]

Request for guidance...
I have a £350 budget. What would be the recommended photo printer to last?
Regards.
Andy

[Geoff F]

I think you will need to add a little bit to your budget if purchasing new and you want pro, or at least semi pro, results.

I bought the Epson Photo R2000 recently and it is certainly worth considering.

Personally, I don't think it is a substantial improvement on the R1900; unless you want to go wireless, although the set up procedure totally baffled me so I am running with two computers which are cable connected.

You may find a R1900 still available at a reduced price and there are cheaper alternatives in the basic business class models.

[Donald]

The other thing you need to think about, Andy, is the costs of the inks. You need to factor that in when you're setting your budget. As Geoff suggests, I don't think you're going to be able to look at an A3 plus printer for the budget you have available.

[Geoff F]

That is correct, Donald, when using 7 or 8 colours at a cost of over £10 per cartridge it does get expensive to have a full refill.

But if you don't have a decent photo printing shop just around the corner it does become handy to be able to do it yourself.

[tommcana]

7 or 8 color use then make Decent printing look like beauty but when look is not good don't be fear try make it new and fabulous.

[Andybazyoung]

Thank you Geoff,
Your comments are certainly food for thought!
Andy

[Krawuntzel]

Hello Andy
Decent A3+ inkjet printers are IMHO more expensive than your budget (printer only!) and I do not get into the costs of ink, paper, etc. My personal experiences are Canon and Epson, both at least acceptable.
Not knowing your standards of quality for (different?) output and the frequency you print "at home", it is not possible to propose a specific product. If you enjoy - as I do - to print yourself, cost is not the barrier. If you intend to print "for the market" other considerations may prevail.
Erwin

[loosecanon]

If you want a cheapish A3 printer then the Brother range will give you one for £200 - may only use four colour inks but they are cheaper to run than many, and if you accept slow printing they are quite good.

A lot is said of the better quality given by printers using many different inks, however simpler printers using very fine droplet sizes are quite acceptable for many things. Canon 9000 8 colour dye printers only use the two extra inks for printing gloss prints!
As a cheapskate I often print on the Brother printer using cheap inks (£5 per 100ml) but with a proper profile to give the right colour.

Personally I find the whole ink pricing mad. And the way makers force you to buy their inks is by adding an extra colour - be it pale magenta, vivid magenta, pale grey or whatever is wrong. If the profile is right one can get very good results with cheaper printers.

[James G]

Andy,
A lot of this thread is discussing ink and ink cost.

There are a number of companies out there that offer cheaper ink alternatives for printers, Permajet, Marrutt being two.

This option, using refillable cartridges or continuous flow systems can reduce your ink costs by margins as great as 80%.

I use such a system and provided you profile the inks with your preferred papers, results are very good. (I would argue as good as the manufacturers inks). There are potential drawbacks , shorter life before significant fade etc, but....

I suggest you research this option as part of your buying strategy, it your budget is too tightly stretched.

[Manfred M]

And the way makers force you to buy their inks is by adding an extra colour - be it pale magenta, vivid magenta, pale grey or whatever is wrong.

The manufacturers add the additional colours to provide a wider gamut. This is why you see these in photo printers.

All basic four-colour printers are CMYK devices and this has the smallest gamut of all of the normally used colour spaces. Add the additional grays, magentas, cyans, reds, greens, oranges, etc.; this allows the printer to reproduce colours that are out of gamut for a simple four-colour printer and it does result in better looking prints. More colours = better looking prints, it really is as simple as that, and yes, we the users get to pay for that.

[george013]

Don't forget the kind of ink that's used.
George

[Andybazyoung]

I agree about alternative ink suppliers.
I run a canon ix6850 at school but really want to go to the next level. However, students get some good results from this canon. Bye the way, the canon was not my choice, it was donated by a parent!

[george013]

I agree about alternative ink suppliers.
I run a canon ix6850 at school but really want to go to the next level. However, students get some good results from this canon. Bye the way, the canon was not my choice, it was donated by a parent!

I don't mean alternative inks. What I mean is that by choosing for a certain printer, you also choose for a certain ink. I don't know much about it. Searching for information I found this site. http://www.inkguides.com/printers-ink.asp
I didn't read it all but it mentions some important aspects of a printer. The size is less important.

George