Printing, Myths and Truths.

In my house, we use three printers, Epson SC P600, Canon TS6259 and Brother DCP 7060D. The Epson is used exclusively for my competition Prints, the A4 Canon used as a general office printer and the A4 Brother used for larger quantities of Office stuff. The Brother is the cheapest to run being mono laser printer and cheaper than photocopying for quantities. I have a friend who also has a P600 for his photography but also uses the P600 for his general Office stuff. His printer is also 7 years old but has never blocked so perhaps he has the right solution. My office work is far too much in volume for me to do that but it does suggest I use the P600 for occasional office work.

Dave
 
Dale. said:
I'm pretty sure some of the heads have dried up as it doesn't print a full set of colours.
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You could try Magic Bullet (search for "Magic Bullet Printer"). Whack it on a cloth and leave it under the print head overnight. I had some success with it on my Epson 4800, but my experience was that whilst it cleared the blockage, if I left it a week it would dry up again. Might be cheaper than a new printer though :)
 
Harlequin565 said:
You could try Magic Bullet (search for "Magic Bullet Printer"). Whack it on a cloth and leave it under the print head overnight. I had some success with it on my Epson 4800, but my experience was that whilst it cleared the blockage, if I left it a week it would dry up again. Might be cheaper than a new printer though :)
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Nice one, thank you. (y)
 
Magic bullet works well. I also use it if a standard head clean doesn't work.

Usually the cause of blockages is dust or paper fibres under the head which causes residual ink to dry. It's not the ink that drys inside the head.

As well as dropping some MB on a cloth and placing it under the head over night, I have also folded the cloth a little thicker, added som MB and slowly moved the head back and forth over the cloth.

I use blue kitchen cloths and cut them into strips and fold them to the desired thickness.
 
Craikeybaby said:
Just cut up £50 notes and stick them in a frame, it'll be cheaper than printing at home.
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Truth be known it would probably be a lot cheaper to get someone else to take your photo's also. No need to spend all that money on equipment. People don't do things like photos and printing normally because it's cheap, they do it because they enjoy it!
 
stevewestern said:
A few of us here use an Epson eco-tank printer and while expensive to buy they are so very cheap to run, making cost per print so cheap once the purchase price has been forgotten.
Worth looking at I'd say.
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I'd go with this too although I have an older Epson XP-900 with individual cartridges. I have fitted a continuous ink system and buy Epson eco-tank inks which are about £55 for a set of 5 bottles (1x140ml + 4x70ml) compared with £99 for a set of high capacity (33ml each) cartridges. My wife is a prolific card maker and I print a good number of images after each shooting day so it gets plenty of use and those eco-tanks last for ages.
 
My head has been into other things over the weekend but I am continuing to weigh the options up regarding a printer, or not.

It makes sense to carry on as I am financially but I am missing that final link of doing it all myself. That's the thing I need to get over if I can but I don't think it's possible. I want to do it, from start to finish.

I have a garden project just starting, a lot depends on how that goes, espicially financially, we'll see. (y)
 
I bought a second hand Pro-300 2 years ago. I don't use it that often and have probably done about 100 A3 prints on it in that time. I mostly do them in batches of about 8-10 at a time, as the printer does go through an "ink adjustment" cycle if it's not been switched on/used for a while. The print quality is much better than the cheapest DSCL prints, but it does take a bit of fine tuning to get the results perfect. Mostly I have to increase the brightness in the Canon print plug in for LR/PS by about 15-18% to match what I get on my screen.

I've gone through at least 2 of each of the 10 print cartridges in that time, and maybe 3 or 4 of the photo black and CO as I do a lot of black and white prints. All in probably about £300 in inks, and about £150 on various boxes of papers. That works out at about £4.50 per A3 print which is higher than I thought it would be, but a lot of the early prints I do would do one or two, re-print if required and then leave it for weeks or longer before starting it up again. Hence the ink usage is much higher than if I had had started doing them in batches.

I don't change the ink on the first warning about low levels, but instead when it tells me it's run out - generally about 2 A3 prints later. If I've got any other inks that are on low warning levels, or close to it, I'll swap them out at the same time, as the printer goes through an ink adjustment cycle when you replace a cartridge which will likely nudge the one running out over the edge. I've got a couple that weren't quite empty that I've resealed and keeping for emergency use.

I've left mine switched off for 4-5 months at a time and haven't had any issues with blocked ink jets/heads etc. It does take about 5 minutes to start up and do all it's adjustments after an extended off period though.

I would have likely saved money by sending off the prints to a photo lab, even when choosing some fine art papers, but as always you spot things you would like to change in a photo once you get it printed and view it under good lighting, and the ability to make the changes and re-print within minutes is ideal, rather than waiting days for your prints to arrive before spotting some mistakes.

I successfully achieved CPAGB last year using my own prints and mounts, and I enjoyed the steep learning process about the whole printing process, paper profiles, the impact different papers have on the final image etc.
 
JohnStewart said:
I bought a second hand Pro-300 2 years ago. I don't use it that often and have probably done about 100 A3 prints on it in that time. I mostly do them in batches of about 8-10 at a time, as the printer does go through an "ink adjustment" cycle if it's not been switched on/used for a while. The print quality is much better than the cheapest DSCL prints, but it does take a bit of fine tuning to get the results perfect. Mostly I have to increase the brightness in the Canon print plug in for LR/PS by about 15-18% to match what I get on my screen.

I've gone through at least 2 of each of the 10 print cartridges in that time, and maybe 3 or 4 of the photo black and CO as I do a lot of black and white prints. All in probably about £300 in inks, and about £150 on various boxes of papers. That works out at about £4.50 per A3 print which is higher than I thought it would be, but a lot of the early prints I do would do one or two, re-print if required and then leave it for weeks or longer before starting it up again. Hence the ink usage is much higher than if I had had started doing them in batches.

I don't change the ink on the first warning about low levels, but instead when it tells me it's run out - generally about 2 A3 prints later. If I've got any other inks that are on low warning levels, or close to it, I'll swap them out at the same time, as the printer goes through an ink adjustment cycle when you replace a cartridge which will likely nudge the one running out over the edge. I've got a couple that weren't quite empty that I've resealed and keeping for emergency use.

I've left mine switched off for 4-5 months at a time and haven't had any issues with blocked ink jets/heads etc. It does take about 5 minutes to start up and do all it's adjustments after an extended off period though.

I would have likely saved money by sending off the prints to a photo lab, even when choosing some fine art papers, but as always you spot things you would like to change in a photo once you get it printed and view it under good lighting, and the ability to make the changes and re-print within minutes is ideal, rather than waiting days for your prints to arrive before spotting some mistakes.

I successfully achieved CPAGB last year using my own prints and mounts, and I enjoyed the steep learning process about the whole printing process, paper profiles, the impact different papers have on the final image etc.
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I've found out about John has with my old 9000 MKII. Loved that printer and only reason I didn't replace it with another was I couldn't find one! I to don't replace the cartridge on the low ink warning. Usually get a decent number of prints after it comes on. I think, truth be known, we all endorse what we became familiar with. For SLR and DSLR cameras I shoot Nikons. Don't believe they are all that much better than the other but I'm familiar with Nikon which means comfortable! Pretty much same with printer's Have had best luck with Canon and not changing hoping for something better. Nephew use's big Epson printer and get great photo's, equal to my Canon's. But I know my Canon's better.
 
Owning a home printer is not economical on paper (no pun intended) but neither are camera kits. For me, the enjoyment of printing images you've captured is on par with making them. To that end, it's to be valued and encouraged. I have used (reputable) compatible inks for a number of years (when I was producing large amounts for sale) but I have switched back to originals now that I print a much smaller amount and mostly for myself. I have found that the dynamic range is better. It would appear also that I'm one of the lucky few who very rarely have clogging issues, even when it's switched off for a week or two at a time, FYI, I use Epson. An old one at that.

Also note that while the larger ink cartridges are more expensive to buy, they are in fact cheaper as they last longer.
 
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Thanks for the replies......... really helpful.


dragonfly said:
For me, the enjoyment of printing images you've captured is on par with making them.
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Yup, that's where I'm at, this is the part I'm missing. I can even bespoke frame my own but I'm not doing the prints myself. That will be changing soon I think. (y)
 
The immediacy of home printing is one of the attractions - while I use DSCL sometimes for certain work, it can take anything from 2-5 days for delivery depending on well, reasons.

I do have a love / hate relationship with home printing mainly because of my temperamental printer that is currently working beautifully but the next time it starts to have one of it’s irrational episodes it’ll be heading to the recycling centre. In fairness, I’ve had it for maybe ten years so I’ve had a lot of use out of it.

But I do love the printed image, it was a difficult learning curve at the start to get a usable image both on the computer and out of the printer, but it’s very satisfying to have a tangible artefact.
 
I have a Canon Pro Graf 1000. If I switched it on and off every time I used it, I know that it would be dumping way more ink. I only switch it off when we are away and I run the head cleaner print once a week. The prints it produces are excellent. Having this printer has ensured I keep printing and keep evolving. It is not for everyone; I have a friend who is coming next week to get some mono prints done for his wall. He is pondering a printer but knows, at the moment, that he doesn't need one like mine. I found Fotospeed's Tim Jones very helpful in the steep learning curve that buying this printer involved once I knew I needed the instant feedback - I had a friend who printed for me but that involved a 40 mille round trip and for him not to be away on photographic trips. It is a wonderful thing having a print in your hands...
 
Hi Dale, I recently bought the Epson Eco Tank (ET-18100), as I was in a similar situation to yourself and needed to keep costs 'reasonable'.

I have to say that i'm incredibly impressed with the image quality that i'm getting from it and ink costs are next to nothing, compared to many other systems!

It's pretty much a dedicated 'photo' printer and currently on offer from Epson at £649 including ink, which should last a very long time!

PXL_20240905_163127854 by Glynn Hobbs, on Flickr

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56noiEASA1c
 
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Every printer I've ever had has mugged me off, and now I hate them so much I'd never own another. Which is a shame....lol
 
I hope print but...

I'm prepared for a 5 minute job to take 2 days and a lot of swearing.
I'm prepared for a print which should cost £1 to cost £5.
I'm prepared to think that despite all the hassle and pain it's still worthwhile.
 
woof woof said:
I hope print but...

I'm prepared for a 5 minute job to take 2 days and a lot of swearing.
I'm prepared for a print which should cost £1 to cost £5.
I'm prepared to think that despite all the hassle and pain it's still worthwhile.
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This. Many times this. Thanks for the chuckle Alan.
 
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