Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hello all,

I was wondering what are the most popular Canon and Epson printers that are designed for photographers that like to print their own photos?

I've only read Epson R1400 is one of them, do you guys know any other ones?

Thanks!

I'm not sure I understand your question.
I'm using a Canon PIXMA Pro 9000.

sorry maybe I'm a bit wordy.

Just want to know what are the popular photo printers among us photographers.

I have an Epson 3800.

I also have an Epson 3800.

I have an epson 1400 and 4000

I have an Epson 1400

looks like 1400 from epson is a very popular ones.

Make it yet another Epson 1400 over here but I sure lust after the 3880 now.

What's so good about the 1400?

Just sold my R2880 to put towards my 3880.

As for the question about the Epson 1400, I think it has to do with the entry price for a 13" printer ($249 at Vistek right now). Of course any savings quickly gets gobbled up with ink use.

How is the cost of the ink for the 1400??

The R2400 and R2880 ae likely the most popular for serious photographers as they have reduced ink costs over the 1400 and R1900 as well as having the K3 inksets and Advanced B&W mode which produces excellent B&W prints (which is impossible with stock inks on the lower-end printers)

Some move up to the 3800 and higher-end printers with larger carriages and even lower ink costs. The price difference between a R2880 and 4880 (over $1500) is payed off after around 300 prints due to the far lower ink costs of the high-end printers and their available 220ml cartridges (in comparison a 2400 or R2880 cart is around 12ml and a consumer printer like the 1400 is usually 2-3ml)

i also picked up the epson 1400 since it was so cheap, seeing how the ink set alone is at least 90$

tested with a few letter sized prints and they look pretty damn good. but will probably move onto cheapo inks after and save the savings for higher end printer, can't imagine how good those will be if the entry level printer is this good.

mawz broke it down into perfect perspective. It all really boils down to how much are you going to print. If you are going to print the occaisonal photo larger than an 8x10, but regularly print an 8x10, then I would say the Epson 1400 is not worth it. In 18 months, your ink costs would equate to getting the R2880.

The R2880 was perfect for me when printing for myself. Keep in mind the ink carts are only rated fro 6 months after opening them (ie. colour shifting or thickening of fluid). So my personal use of the R2880 was always perfectly on the border, and I printed quite a few 8x10s, 5x7s and some larger sizes. However, getting into printing for others, I started approaching just over 2 months ... and then the 3880 was released.

If you print a lot of black/white photos, I would recommend having a serious look at the R2880. If only colour, then look at the R1900.

R1900 is what I have and I will agree that the ink cost are annoyingly high, but the quality of print is great for the price of the printer. I use mainly roll papers and this offers saving when printing larger images. If seriously looking at printing larger prints you will DEFINITELY want to look at the R1900 or higher series of printers. I am looking at the 4880 currently mainly due to ability to use roll paper over the 3880 and then also the better cost per volume for ink.

Just remember that yield is justified by use of said printer. The more you use your printer the more prints you will get per ink set. The less you use it the more money you waste. Choose a printer that offers the best price per ink set with the average of prints you intend to print.

Sorry in advance if this is a dumb question, but why would you buy a printer and print stuff yourself when you can go to Costco? Is it for the same reason why people would rather print negs themselves?

as for me, i wanted something larger than letter sized prints. epson 1400 does 13x19 prints or 13x any length if you got the paper for it. getting something similar to 13x19 from a pro printshop is quite expensive per print so it makes economical sense to do it yourself.

and of course, the process is fun and you get bragging rights as well!

i assume the benefits are even greater if you are a pro who sells pictures.

you have more control over the process and you can use whatever paper you want.
It also can be faster.

Costco uses laser printers which have a smaller gamut than ink-jet printers.

I agree 100% on this one ....

I'm looking for a rig to allow printing roll on the 3800. Have to figure out how to cut if efficiently though

I think for most people, it is instant gratification and convenience (and maybe they're printing naughty photos ).

I'm not familiar with direct comparisons from 1400 when compared to outside non-pro labs. However, in comparing photos out of the R2880 to those who have printed the same pics from other sources (I print some pics for the shoots I do as part of the deal), everyone has come back to me to print out. The quality at places like Costco, Walmart, Futureshop, Shopper's, etc., just isn't there. Its easier for me to ensure that what I see on my screen is what I give to the client. The only time I'll use a pro-lab is when there is a high volume of prints, especially if they only want 4x6 ... then it makes sense. Anything larger, I can print just as good quality (sometimes it does look better) for the cheaper on larger prints.

After forty 11"x14" prints my Epson 1400 printer paid for itself. That, while giving me greater control of output and immediate delivery.