A4 prints for 4p - is this guy completely deluded?

guybrush

guybrush

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Rebecca
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So I was having a discussion this morning with a friend of mine and something cropped up about how I print photographs, and I said I generally pay around 15-19p for a 7"x5" print online. The guy replied in shock, saying that was outrageous because he could print A4 for .. wait for it.. 4p.

Obviously, I'm really skeptical about whether that is true and that he has just hugely underestimated the actual price.

I was told about "continuous ink system" for Epson printers, something I had never heard of before. I always assumed that printing at home was just not feasible, both in terms of paper cost and ofcourse - the ink.

So for £100, apparently I could get an Epson R300 + a Continuous Ink Supply System + inks, and that it'd last me for thousands of A4 prints -which will print excellent quality photos. I'm just finding it very hard to believe..

I've had a "quick" look into this whole continuous ink supply system, and it does seem like it has a lot of benefits over standard printing at home mainly being that it is much cheaper than buying new catridges all the time. Although it looks very messy, and a lot of maintenance might need to be done - but if it works out A LOT cheaper over all vs printing online, I should be fine with that..

I have no clue how much excellent quality photo paper is though. obviously this will be a major factor..

I will be wanting really high quality photos, and I've never had any problems with photobox before, but I've not printed at A4 before with them so I can't say what they're like..
 
I reckon if your mate can print A4's for 4p then just send all your pics to him and let him print them.
Printing at home does have its advantages, you have complete control over everything you do, from paper to quality etc etc. However, it may not be the cheapest option home printing and thus a lot of people out source their printing needs.
Having your own printer though is great for those pics that you need / want to have done straight away and using a cis will undoubtedly enable you to get more done before having to refill the carts and so save money in the long run.
 
I've got the PX800FW with the CIS and have done hundreds of prints and the ink doesn't seem to have moved much at all. I can believe it only costs 4p for an A4 dependent on what paper he's using.
 
I used photobox for ages, I now have a new supplier
sams photolab!! cheap, easy interface and the quality is way better than photobox imho
 
I've got two Epson R300 printers (the last one cost me £3), I've never been happy with the quality of photo prints from them and only use them for printing letters etc.
 
I've got a canon pixma ip4500 and a ciss system with 100ml of ink for each tank, £30 for ciss and ink off ebay and I was very surprised at the quality, I cont comment on the longevity of the ink yet ! but a set of 5 100ml inks costs £15, as opposed to £10 each for 13ml from Canon.
 
I would assume that 4p is ink cost only.

I tend to print A4 all the time, and generally use Staples 270g matte paper, which is around £9 for 25 sheets, but have a whole bundle of different boxes of paper - mainly to see if x is better than y or if Canon paper makes any difference on a canon printer (PIXMA 3600 and for £60 it is bloody superb!)

So paper costs you are looking 50p + sheet plus for decent stuff, up to £1.50 or so a sheet for really posh stuff!

Even when Tesco's have a BOGOF on their "Finest" printing paper - you're still looking at 25p a sheet.......

Sorry but cannot see how you can produce a decent quality A4 print for 4p, continuous ink system or not.
 
I wouldnt have thought you could buy decent photo paper for 4p, never mind the ink and electricity as well. Tesco's photo paper is about 5p a sheet :D

I send my stuff to loxleys/DSCL as I find it easier and at the moment cant afford the money for a decent printer, CIS and calibrator for my screen.
 
Alright then, thanks for the replies.

I've been looking at DSCLabs for a while and I've heard great things, so I think I'll switch over to them for larger batch prints instead of Photobox.

If like you were saying that the R300 doesn't produce great quality prints, I may invest sometime further down the line for a proper printer, as long as this CIS system isn't too much maintenance.
 
You need to be careful when home printing that you use quality inks - light fast and UV safe or the images will fade and look crap.
 
guybrush, dscolourlabs knock the socks and most of the trousers off photobox :)
 
He was basing his prices on what I believe to be slightly dodgy inks, is this likely to be a problem? By dodgy I just mean ones that aren't the official epson ones..
 
guybrush said:
He was basing his prices on what I believe to be slightly dodgy inks, is this likely to be a problem? By dodgy I just mean ones that aren't the official epson ones..
Click to expand...
Dodgy inks killed my printer! twice.:D
 
I print a hell of a lot of 8x10. Been using an old Canon i865 and it's been great. Concern over ink costs prompted me to try compatible ink. It clogged in 24hours. Never again!
Now using a Canon ip4600 fab quality but very hard on ink. No way I'm not using genuine though.
 
guybrush said:
He was basing his prices on what I believe to be slightly dodgy inks, is this likely to be a problem? By dodgy I just mean ones that aren't the official epson ones..
Click to expand...
Usually the problem is they don't last any length of time compared to genuine inks. The prints fade a lot quicker.

The other issue is clogging up the print heads, often rendering your printer useless.

The plus side is that you'll likely save many time the cost of the printer before it dies. The negative is you might have some unhappy clients further down the line damaging your reputation.

Some of the good continuous ink systems do apparently use quality ink, but I couldn't name any personally - I've not used one.

Personally I use Loxley for our in-house school prints, and if we're doing a quick shoot (some basic photos around the pantomime) I'll use my trusty old Canon IP5300 (exactly the same as the IP4000 series really) with genuine inks, but for more formal shots (school portraits or prom shots) I use Loxley where possible.

The Canon prints work out at less than Loxley using genuine inks and Ilford Gallerie paper, but of course the Loxley prints offer more options and better quality. The Canon prints I've worked out at costing around £1.80 for an A4 print (including photo packaging (tube or simple cardboard box)) the last time I ordered cartridges when a pack was £34.50, not including the black text cartridge, with the paper costing £60 for 250 sheets. Loxley charge £2.00 for a standard A4 matte print (£3.00 for a metallic print) plus postage on top.
 
I had a continuous ink system for my Epson R300.

It was useless for printing photos, they all came out really dark and the colours seemed off. I mainly used it for documents though so couldn't complain. I was also dirt cheap and included loads of ink!

Maybe if I had my printer calibrated and bought some better inks for the system it would have worked better. It also threw up an error everyime i printed saying they were non-Epson inks. I think the more expensive systems get around this problem.

All was well with ours until the wife knocked the reservoirs all over our cream carpet! left a nice technicolour pattern right through to the floorboards!!:bang:

Save yourself time and hassle (and possibly a new carpet!) and get them done by a reputable online company!
 
I think you need a decent photo printer before you even consider changing to a CISS. I have 2 printers with CISS, an Epson Photo 1400 that does all sizes up to A3+ and an HP C7280 all in one. Not the cheapest printers around, but I use them both for work. I have had no problems at all with either, no blockages or mess and at less than £60 each delivered with 100ml of each ink ( 6 colour) its a bargain.
I did a blind test with my Sister using the Epson and printed 2 x A3 photos, one with Epson ink and the other with the CISS ink. She preferred the CISS print saying it was more vibrant, and it was.

Look at www.cityinkexpress.co.uk Thats who i use.

But, 4p a print for A4? Nah. Maybe just for the ink, but decent paper costs way more than that.

Allan
 
I have an Epson R2880. The prints are lovely apart from being consistently darker than my previous HP no matter what I do with profiles and settings. It also seems to drink ink.

I just thought I mention this as Epsons have been mentioned here. Many people are happy with them but I have to say that I wish I hadn't bought mine and if I'd Google'd "Epson dark prints" I wouldn't have as there seem to be a number of people out there tearing their hair out like me, the issue is also mentioned in reviews I've read.

I don't think there's much chance of a print costing 4p unless the ink and photo copy paper are all nicked, or the prints are very very small.
 
I'm using an Epson RX685 with CISS and cost is really cheap. Paper is the bulk of the cost and an a4 print will use less than 4p of ink.

It suits my needs (and the mrs) for snapshots round the house for framing or for family but I really wouldn't want to be selling prints out of it in all fairness.
 
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