A3 printer with cheap compatible inks?

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Quizmaster

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Hello everyone.

I am looking to buy an A3 printer, for printing photos.

Is there a good A3 printer, that will print borderless photos, with inks that dont cost too much, that could maybe be bought off eBay?

Any reviews on A3 printers would be good, that members of this forum use, please.

Many thanks.
 
most 3rd party inks are not that great.

how much to you want to spend?
 
I've an Epson 1400 a3+ printer that I got second hand for a little over £100 (check if you have an art school near you as students often need to buy a printer for their degree work and then sell it once they graduate). I use Fotospeed inks in a continuous ink supply system that works out very reasonably.

The cost comes in getting everything to work correctly. I've had a hell of a game getting decent glossy prints. Matte prints worked fine, especially once POAH did me some profiles, but glossy/silk were awful. Then I tried Eposn paper (rather than Ilford) and everything works very well without effort.

Black and white printing seems to be a different game and the 1400 is poor for that (although the unintended greeny-blue casts I get look like I have done a decent toning job). For good B&W you need to get a newer/better printer, I think.
 
Hi quizmaster, have had this conversation many times and always am quite baffiled as to why people spend hundreds or possibly thousands of pounds on cameras lenses etc etc but want to skimp on the finished result--the picture--. You half answered your problem when you said using epson paper got good results. A pro photographer gave a talk on printing at the camera club I am in and one member said he was getting poor results with his prints, the pro asked him what inks he used, answer 3rd party, pro- you just answered your problem. I have a canon pro 9000mk2 printer, use canon paper and canon inks, yes it's not cheap but the results are absolutley stunning. As the saying goes you get what you pay for.
 
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not all 3rd party inks are bad an people don't bother getting new profiles when they change the ink.

there is nothing wrong with getting the cheaper option.
 
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