2018 Print 52 Shadowman P1

[Shadowman]

For my first print job of the year I decided to do an economical/quality project. I wanted to see what the cost of printing smaller images on wide format printer would be and also see if quality would be affected by the method. It was easy to create the contact sheet, I used FastStone Viewer to make the contact sheet shown and it is saved as a PDF. I could've also used Photoshop Elements to create a multi-photo layout but positioning each image was a bit more challenging.



So on to the cost savings by printing (4) 8" x 10" images on a sheet of 17" wide paper, the cost savings between printing (4) separate images on 8.5" x 11" paper and using the 17" roll paper was a whopping $0.0824 in paper costs, there might be some labor saved by using the PDF method; although there will be a bit more labor cutting the wide sheet into four separate images.

Regarding quality of the print, I have individual prints of some of the images used so I will compare once the contact sheet dries but so far the image quality looks good and these images will only be added to my folio if they pass inspection.

[Cantab]

John, I'll look forward to reading your final conclusions. It looks as if the important factor is labour: creating the PDF plus cutting the final PDF versus the labour saved by sending only one print command to the printer?

[Shadowman]

John, I'll look forward to reading your final conclusions. It looks as if the important factor is labour: creating the PDF plus cutting the final PDF versus the labour saved by sending only one print command to the printer?

Hi Bruce,

I rechecked the program (FastStone) and found that I can save the contact sheet as a JPEG, PNG, or TIFF so any concerns with file format can be minimized. I did find out that PDFs use either RGB or CMYK so not too much of an issue but important to remember that PDFs are color profiled for online viewing.

[Shadowman]

Completed the quality/economical evaluation of printing either: (4) 8 x 10 prints separately or (1) 17 x 22 PDF contact sheet of same four images and results regarding quality more than acceptable. Additionally, as stated in post#3, I can also save the contact sheet as a TIFF so concerns with color profile can be eliminated from the comparison.

Regarding costs of printing, there is a minute advantage to using a contact sheet ($0.0824) reduction in cost of paper used, the actual amount may differ depending on the brand of paper used, the ability to find in smaller sizes, and time spent locating/installing profiles for third party papers. To me ink usage should be equal using either method, Red River has a cost of ink chart for specific printers; not my model, but even though it appears that printing on 8 x 10 is cheaper ($0.68 x 4=$2.72) compared to printing on 17 x 22 ($3.16), those values were for 80ml cartridges used on prints with full ink coverage.

Time spent preparing prints for each method: 2 minutes prep for each 8 x 10, bringing each into print layout software, a bit of time prepping printer for format used; each print requires checking that printer is setup for particular sheet. For the contact sheet 2 minutes prep for one image, same amount of time prepping printer. After contact sheet dries, less than a minute to cut into four separate images. Overall, time (8 minutes or more) and money ($0.08 less) was not as much as I expected, however the ergonomics of utilizing large format paper might suit some individuals.

http://www.redrivercatalog.com/epson...per-print.html

[Polar01]

John if I remember from my Epson 4900 in maintenance when you scroll down I believe that you will find "Ink Used" it stores up to ten jobs, this will give you the amount of ink used for the job that you printed. It should give you are area printed along with the amount of ink used. You know the cost of ink per ml, so you can cost out how much ink you used.

Cheers: Allan

[Shadowman]

John if I remember from my Epson 4900 in maintenance when you scroll down I believe that you will find "Ink Used" it stores up to ten jobs, this will give you the amount of ink used for the job that you printed. It should give you are area printed along with the amount of ink used. You know the cost of ink per ml, so you can cost out how much ink you used.

Cheers: Allan

Allan,

Thanks, I'll check that out.

[Polar01]

John looking back at an old spread sheet I had done, I was using the figure of 8.1ml of ink to print a 12" x 18" image. As the Epson 4900 and P5000 are almost the same good starting point for overall in usage of an image.

Cheers: Allan

[Shadowman]

John looking back at an old spread sheet I had done, I was using the figure of 8.1ml of ink to print a 12" x 18" image. As the Epson 4900 and P5000 are almost the same good starting point for overall in usage of an image.

Cheers: Allan

Allan,

Your estimated ink usage seems close to the values Red River used.

[george013]

John looking back at an old spread sheet I had done, I was using the figure of 8.1ml of ink to print a 12" x 18" image. As the Epson 4900 and P5000 are almost the same good starting point for overall in usage of an image.

Cheers: Allan

Is that per color? Rather much. My inkjet printer has cartridges of 6 ml. Original HP big sized.

Normally the amount of prints is mentioned one can make with one cartridge. A calculation based on a covering of the paper of a certain percentage. I don't know how much anymore.

George

[Polar01]

No George that is not per colour, that is the total amount of ink used to print a 12" x 18". The printer had a feature where it stored the data from the last 10 images. It would give you the total area printed and the total amount of ink used to print that area. Yes I know that coated stock uses less ink that rag stock which sucks up ink. Now this was only an average of overall ink usage, it gets you into not just the ballpark but the infield so to speak.
I do not know George if you know this, however the P5000 like the 4900 are both high end printers that have 11 ink karts of ink of which are 200ml each, of which 10 karts are in use at any one time. These printers have both a matt black and a photo black of which only one is used at a time.
Yes a lot of low end printer will usually state the average number of pages that are a max size 8.5"x11", printed black only based on the average coverage of a typed page. I found over 20 years as an estimator in the print industry that it was safe to assume that the coverage of type (words) on any page was around 18% of the total page area, with that being safe to base the cost of ink usage on.
As for coverage in using low end printer of C,Y,M,K or high end printers C,CL,Y,M,ML,O,G,LLK,LK,PK, or MK if you print 24"x36" print area than coverage is 100%.

Cheers: Allan

[george013]

No George that is not per colour, that is the total amount of ink used to print a 12" x 18". The printer had a feature where it stored the data from the last 10 images. It would give you the total area printed and the total amount of ink used to print that area. Yes I know that coated stock uses less ink that rag stock which sucks up ink. Now this was only an average of overall ink usage, it gets you into not just the ballpark but the infield so to speak.
I do not know George if you know this, however the P5000 like the 4900 are both high end printers that have 11 ink karts of ink of which are 200ml each, of which 10 karts are in use at any one time. These printers have both a matt black and a photo black of which only one is used at a time.
Yes a lot of low end printer will usually state the average number of pages that are a max size 8.5"x11", printed black only based on the average coverage of a typed page. I found over 20 years as an estimator in the print industry that it was safe to assume that the coverage of type (words) on any page was around 18% of the total page area, with that being safe to base the cost of ink usage on.
As for coverage in using low end printer of C,Y,M,K or high end printers C,CL,Y,M,ML,O,G,LLK,LK,PK, or MK if you print 24"x36" print area than coverage is 100%.

Cheers: Allan

I see.
I've a HP Potosmart C309a, an all-in-one printer. Cartridges cost 6ml 18E. Per liter that's 3000E.
The Epson P5000 200ml for 78.50. That's 392.50E.
Maybe thats's why I stopped printing. And created another problem. The ink dries when not used frequently.

George

[Shadowman]

I see.
I've a HP Potosmart C309a, an all-in-one printer. Cartridges cost 6ml 18E. Per liter that's 3000E.
The Epson P5000 200ml for 78.50. That's 392.50E.
Maybe thats's why I stopped printing. And created another problem. The ink dries when not used frequently.

George

Printing is very similar to entering into the digital realm, a big investment upfront and hopefully a cost/benefit ratio that falls in your favor overtime and through use. Your all-in-one printer is to me more of a utility item; does more than just the average printer and hopefully provided you with some relief (less travel or shipping costs for print services) in other ways.

[george013]

Printing is very similar to entering into the digital realm, a big investment upfront and hopefully a cost/benefit ratio that falls in your favor overtime and through use. Your all-in-one printer is to me more of a utility item; does more than just the average printer and hopefully provided you with some relief (less travel or shipping costs for print services) in other ways.

That's why I always used a laserjet. A higher investment but lower variable costs. However, it's changing too.

If you want to compare things as paper costs, you must calculate it back to a uniform unit as square inch or square feet.
As long you print for yourself labor is free. But if you want to work commercial, then labor isn't free.

George