Advice on Black and White Printer Purchase

ThatMartinChap

ThatMartinChap

Suspended / Banned
Messages
24
Name
Martin Phipps
Edit My Images
Yes
I am looking to replace my flagging ip5200 printer for something capable of printing good quality B&W prints.

I'm currently thinking of something along the lines of Epson R2880 or Canon Pixma Pro 9500 Mark II.

I would be really interested in anyone experiences in these; especially for B&W prints and also the longevity of ink etc.

Are there any other alternatives worth considering ?
 
Hey,

I personally have a Pixma 9000pro, but it does decent B&W, but slow. The new mark II is faster at BW.

The 9500pro is very good and i have found it much easier to color calibrate than the epson. One very important thing to remember if you go to a pigment printer ( epson 2880 or canon 9500 ) is to shake the hell out of the cartridges before putting them in. The pigment settles and you will not get accurate color.

The 9000pro is a dye printer and you don't need to do this.

I have not tried it but HP has a 9xxxx series 13x19 printer that is supposed to do very good B&W.

If your looking at selling them , have a look at the epson 3800..more money but cheaper in the long run, and a more professional setup, and does 17x22.

Hope this helps.
thegary
 
Thanks guys - thats good feedback. I'll bear your comments in mind in my research.
 
I'd either go for the epson or the HP b9180. if you are planning to do a lot of prints then invest in a CIS system as the ink costs for printers are crippling.


ThatMartinChap said:
I am looking to replace my flagging ip5200 printer for something capable of printing good quality B&W prints.

I'm currently thinking of something along the lines of Epson R2880 or Canon Pixma Pro 9500 Mark II.

I would be really interested in anyone experiences in these; especially for B&W prints and also the longevity of ink etc.

Are there any other alternatives worth considering ?
Click to expand...
 
I use a Epson R2400 with great results, but any printer with 8 inks or more will do a good job. The above Epson uses 3 black inks, Photo Black, Light Black and Light Light Black.
 
Try the website of Keith Cooper who came to the camera club I belong to last week.He specialises in b/w and does printer reviews.His site is called
Northlight Images.Hope it is some help.
 
Jack Flash said:
Try the website of Keith Cooper who came to the camera club I belong to last week.He specialises in b/w and does printer reviews.His site is called
Northlight Images.Hope it is some help.
Click to expand...

Thanks - I had just found that site. Very informative...

I'm still no closer to making a decision. Current thinking is :

HP : Read too many horror stories over reliability although it looks like a good printer.

Epson R2880 : Looks very good although the faff of changing black ink cartridges to swap between matt and gloss sounds like it would really annoy me. Need to think more about that.

Canon Pixma Pro 9500 Mark II : The DMAX numbers of close to 3 sound very impressive but I am concerned that not many people seem to use this printer. Epson/HP seem to be the more popular choice.

Oh well. I'll keep thinking....
 
I'm using the R2880 and it produces some very good B&W prints.

As I tend to print on Galarie Smooth Pearl changing to the Matt ink has not come up, but I do agree that wasting a whole load of ink just to change one cartridge is a bit of a waste.

If it's any help I've just printed some images on Epson Matte paper with the Photo Black Ink and I can't see any gloss difentiation between the printed image and the background paper.

My understanding is the Matte option is designed for uncoated papers rather than simple coated matte papers.
 
Thanks all - after much "umming and erring" I decided to go for the 9500mkII. All I can say right now is wow.....

On Gallerie Perl this produces some stunning prints in both Colour and B&W. I am sure that the Epson2880 is just as good but since I like to print on matt and perl (& sometimes gloss) I did not fancy the faff of switching inks.

Anyway, I am very happy - especially as I managed to wrangle it as a birthday present from SWMBO so it was FREE :-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top