Photo Printer opinions

[jcwade]

Hi All,
I am in the market for a good quality photo printer.
Right now, I am looking at the Canon PROGRAF pro-1000.
It is huge and heavy but also prints 17x22 prints.
It is a bit pricey ($1300) but the ink cartridges are even more expensive.
Does anyone have any experience with this model OR any other photo printers.
I am looking for large print size as well as quality of the images.
Your input would be appreciated.

[Hockey fan]

I own a large vintage negative archive and print daily. I've been using Epson for years and last year moved up from the 3880 to a pair of P-800s. When I need larger than 17x22 prints (not more than 1 or 2 a month) I have a local printer that uses a large Canon printer with roll paper.

I did a blind test with both the Epson and the Canon printing 17x22 before making my final choice and to my eye the Canon prints had a distracting solarization effect from certain angles which I don't get with my Epsons. Customers have been fine with them so far but I always feel a little hesitant when sending them out.

It really comes down to what type of prints you're making and paper choices. The majority of my prints are from late 1800s glass plates to 1950s 4x5 negatives. These get printed on luster paper. My own photography gets printed on glossy or sometimes metallic paper.

You might check in your area for fine art printers and check to see what they're using. Maybe you'll find an Epson printer and a Canon printer and you could get a test print of one of your best images from each.

Good luck!

[LWJ]

I have a canon pro-sumer grade printer. It was blow out priced with ink for super cheap. They did the same pricing the following year. Yes, ink will kill me. But. It has lasted a long while.

Advice? Watch the sales. I think the printer with ink was way less than the ink. I remember the photo club did an analysis and it was a stupid good deal.

Good luck.

[gchappel]

I have 3 canon printers.
Pro-10, 13". I use it as a test printer, refilling the inks. Been a good workhorse. The refilled inks look great, but fade in a couple of months. Ok for some uses.
Pro-1000. Expensive to keep running. This thing eats ink even if you are not printing a lot. It has been reliable and to my eyes, and my customers and galleries, prints look great.
Ipf-8400. 44" roll printer. Fabulous printer, but the size of a piano.
The pro-1000 has been a good printer- but is sucks ink cartridges like I drink water. Cleans itself constantly. I would still buy another one tomorrow.
Unless you print a lot, it will be cheaper to use a service. But if you want to print yourself, and want a 17" printer, it works great.
I have no experience with the newer epsons. I had a 3880 which worked great as well.
Good luck with your journey.
gary

[GH85Carrera]

I would look at the Epson line of printers. We had a Epson that used 16 inch wide rolls of paper, and nice size inch cartridges. We printed a LOT of stuff on it and it was basically bulletproof. We also had a 60 inch wide model for the big stuff and made a lot of 5 foot by 12 foot prints.

Now most of our customers don't even want a paper print, just the file so we use a local print shop that uses high quality paper and inks.

What was amazing with the Epson prints is you could take the print to the sink, and use soap and water, rinse it off and it was just not affected by the water. Only something like rubbing alcohol or Windex would affect the print. For large wal prints we always suggested lamination to protect it.

[jcwade]

Thanks for the information.
I guess I'll have to research the Epson printers as well.

[GH85Carrera]

The Epson model we had several years ago had a high resolution mode. It took longer, but without 8X magnifier you could not see any dot pattern. It was really astonishing the quality. It had 8 ink cartridges. With a light grey, and dark gray as well as black it did wonderful B&W prints.

Even in normal mode is was a great printer. It only took a few seconds to swap in a new inch cartridge, and the print head lasted many years of heavy use.

[flipper35]

I know Epson makes ink that does not blot if it gets wet. Year ago my boss did not believe me so I took the picture and ran it under the faucet. Shook it off and you would have never known it was wet.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by flipper35

I know Epson makes ink that does not blot if it gets wet. Year ago my boss did not believe me so I took the picture and ran it under the faucet. Shook it off and you would have never known it was wet.

Yep, we used to show our clients that. But we warned them if you have it framed and hung on the wall, use glass or have it laminated. Windex will strip it right off, so if the cleaning crew gets a bit over-zealous with the cleaning it can ruin an expensive print.

Coffee will wash right off and leave no damage.

https://www.itsupplies.com/Epson-SureColor-P5000-17in-Printer-p/scp5000se.htm

This is the updated version of what we had. It takes 17 inch wide roll media or sheets from the cassette. They are up to 10 inks now, and I bet the print quality will knock your socks off. I miss our old printer. We have a local print shop to do the small amount of printing we need done.

[911 Rod]

How often are you going to use it?
I've had 2 44" Epsons and now have an HP.
They need to be run or the heads will dry up. Usually 1/2 way through a print!
The HP does an ink dump regularly to keep the heads free and the ink moving.
I've had a few customers buy a printer only to come back to me because theirs doesn't work anymore.

[GH85Carrera]

Yea, if it is going to sit much, it might be overkill. It has a "cleaning cycle" that pumps ink through the heads and into the waste tank. As our business changed from my digital delivery and less analog prints, we had to do more cleaning cycles. It is painful to see the 10 ink cartridges just send the ink to the waste tank, that tank is something that has to be replaced every so often.

That is why we changed to just using a service bureau for our prints.

And you really want to stick with Epson branded cartridges for best results.

[jcwade]

Well, the marketplace made my decision for me.
I found and almost new (17 prints) Canon PROGRAF pro-1000 for $400.
The thing is a beast at 70lbs.
I could not pass it up and if I don't like it, I'm sure I can get my money back after even getting new
ink cartridges.
Thanks all for the advice, I'll get it set-up and see how it does.

[GH85Carrera]

They are heavy. The Epson I posted a link to is 117 pounds. And that is likely empty, not full of inks.

Canon makes good stuff. That is a good price.

I have a cheap Dell laser printer-scanner-fax-copier that does decent prints on bond paper. Nice prints on photo paper. Having come from the darkroom background and knowing how hard and expensive a perfect photo print was to make, it blows me away.