grrr... done with Epson. Is Canon any better?

[agfa100]

I gave up on epson printers early and went with HP before canon, I only stopped using my HP's when they stopped making the photo ink for my printer. Went with a Canon Pro 100 I have had that for about 6 years now. At one point I had to have heart surgery and did not use the printer for about 8 months. I was all set to have to replace it, but figured I would give it a try and see what happens. Turned it on it went thru a normal cleaning cycle and said it was ready and hit print and got a great first print without any issues. That was a year ago and it's still going strong. I had a friend that had a Pro 1 that died on him and he got a 100 after the luck I have with mine and he likes it better then the 1. With the rebates they always are running I only paid 100.00 for mine. It was 400 with a 300 rebate my buddy got his for 400 with a 250 rebate so he paid 150.
Enjoy

 

[Dogman]

Guys, I have to ask, but by the time you spend money on the printer, ink, paper, and time to do it all, wouldn't it make more sense just to outsource the printing to someone who specializes in it?

I looked at the price of the Espson P800 ($1100) and thought: "That alone would cover all my prints for several years..." Add paper, ink, desk real estate and hassle and it's a no-brainer for me.

You could probably do it cheaper but, really, couldn't you also use a cheaper camera to take pictures? You can't put a price on something that you enjoy.

To me, printing means I have control of the image from beginning to end. I can recall my early days when I had my color printing done by a lab. No matter how good the print looked it never looked like I wanted it to look. The cost of a printer, ink, paper, etc., is minor compared to the satisfaction it gives me to see my photos nicely printed on quality paper. Priceless.

 

[View Range]

I've read all the responses to the original post. I've had a Canon Pixma Pro 10 for about 5 plus months now and have been using it on a Windows 10 PC. Canon CS is superb; they patiently took me through installation and wi-fi setup. Absolutely no problems with wi-fi operation and no clogging or other issues. Ink replacement is a snap and quality is excellent in my opinion. I print mainly scanned B&W negatives and Fuji jpegs.

I have had a Canon iPF Pro 1000 pigment ink printer for well over a year. It took over three days to install it on a Mac because Canon's installer didn't work and Canon CS didn't know how to install it either. I finally found the right settings in System Preferences / Printers. It is worth the pain because I love most aspects of the printer. The down side is that a lot of ink goes into the maintenance cartridge to be thrown away. The up side is that it uses the Canon Print Shop plug-in to Photoshop which gives better control of the printing process.

 

[Godfrey]

Read the whole thread.

I used an Epson R2400 from 2005 until 2014 (or 2015) and made literally thousands of prints with it. No problems, although I could tell it was past its due by date at the end. I replaced it with a P600, which has run flawlessly again. I think I’ve made about 2000 prints with it without a hitch.

I bought a second Epson printer for multifunction use and it similarly is a far far better printer than the HP it replaced.

I can’t tell you what magic I’m applying. I just use the darn things.

G

 

[nightfly]

I'm about to get rid of my Epson 3800 because I don't use it enough and when I try there's always some sort of problem that takes hours and dollars to fix. It's either out of one cartridge of ink or somethings clogged or there's lines on the paper or I forgot the hocus pocus needed to set up the print correctly.

Last show I did I sent all my prints out to Adorama who has their printing shop a short bike ride from my place in Brooklyn. I do like my homemade prints better, when they work, but the time and effort is just not worth it.

 

[Ronald M]

Gave up printers LONG ago and so should you.

Local pro printer is cheaper in long run, lots cheaper.

 

[Godfrey]

Gave up printers LONG ago and so should you.

Local pro printer is cheaper in long run, lots cheaper.

That may be so, but you never have the total control of your print that I like when you depend upon an external service to do your printing. Cost is only one aspect of making prints, and not the most important one IMO.

The key to minimizing printer problems is to USE THE PRINTER REGULARLY, as far as I can see. I make at least a print or two every week or two. Letting them sit, untouched, for months on end begs for problems due to ink drying in the feed lines, nozzles, etc.

G

 

[Dogman]

Yes, I have an Epson multifunction printer that doesn't get a lot of use other than an occasional scan or copy. I need to replace it right now because the color ink nozzles are clogged. Using the printer is the key. Keep the ink flowing and the pumps working. Sorta like exercise. Use it or lose it.

 

[froyd]

The issues I had with the Epson were not just clogged heads. It was black splotches all over the prints, pizza wheel tracks, paper feeding issues. All of these occurred several years after purchase. I have not owned my Canon long enough to tell if age will cause similar problems, but so far so good.

 

[robert blu]

That may be so, but you never have the total control of your print that I like when you depend upon an external service to do your printing. Cost is only one aspect of making prints, and not the most important one IMO.

The key to minimizing printer problems is to USE THE PRINTER REGULARLY, as far as I can see. I make at least a print or two every week or two. Letting them sit, untouched, for months on end begs for problems due to ink drying in the feed lines, nozzles, etc.

G

I'm among the ones who like to have total control on their work. Yes it is a cost but all the passions cost, time and money!

Godfrey is right, if you print on a regular basis the printer works much better.

 

[jawarden]

That may be so, but you never have the total control of your print that I like when you depend upon an external service to do your printing. Cost is only one aspect of making prints, and not the most important one IMO.

G

I have total control while using a professional printer. They scan the neg, which I fine tune how I like. They use my adjusted file to print a proof with me in attendance, and we all can weigh in on improvements. (I can get us 95% there.) They pull up the file on their monitor, adjust with a curves layer to suit the paper, printer, and our eyes, and make another proof. It's a process that has value (to me) because I'm not a professional printer and I value their input. The result is certainly better than I could do alone.

I enjoy working in the darkroom for small prints but everything else is done with professional printers, and I have no desire to own an inkjet printer of my own.