Buy new printer or use print service?

[Cap'n Bill]

I have always found getting consistent prints difficult on my Canon Pixma Pro 9000 ll and now it is really playing up, sometimes completely missing colours or banding.

I have tried most things. repeated cleaning, cleaning solutions, pressure flushing print head, changing ink etc and it's costing me a small fortune for no result. I don't print enough I suspect so the printer dries up. About 30-40 A3 prints for exhibitions twice a year then just odd prints for my own use and the occasional competition.

I tried using Staples today for some A4 prints. Very quick and efficient though they will need some colour adjustment and reprinting and the black and white lacked sparkle. Paper was flimsy and no choice of finish. I have used DS Colourlabs in the past and been quite pleased but postal costs mean that it is only economical for reasonable sized batches.

What do forum members do or recommend. If I buy a new printer what is the recommendation?

 

[realspeed]

my latest printer is an Epson XP-950 A3 printer yet the same size as an A4 printer foot print wise. The paper i use is Galerie professional inkjet photo range PRESTIGE in smooth gloss.

Might be worth considering

 

[droj]

... but postal costs mean that it is only economical for reasonable sized batches.

Still damned cheaper than the endless buying of inks for a desktop printer whose environmental footprint will be far larger than its desktop footprint.

But some people are fixated on possessions and have to own stuff.

 

[psybear]

I have an Epson R3000 - bought it new a couple of years back and my usage levels sound much less than yours. It can go months without printing anything. So far (touchwood) I haven't had issues with blocked heads or anything else. I've never been quite satisfied with what it produces though - prints are invariably darker than my screen image, despite lots of calibration of both printer and monitor. I usually boost the brightness now by +20 or so before I hit print.

 

[connersz]

Still damned cheaper than the endless buying of inks for a desktop printer whose environmental footprint will be far larger than its desktop footprint.

But some people are fixated on possessions and have to own stuff.

Do you have anything to backup those claims?

 

[connersz]

I have an Epson R3000 - bought it new a couple of years back and my usage levels sound much less than yours. It can go months without printing anything. So far (touchwood) I haven't had issues with blocked heads or anything else. I've never been quite satisfied with what it produces though - prints are invariably darker than my screen image, despite lots of calibration of both printer and monitor. I usually boost the brightness now by +20 or so before I hit print.

In a lot of cases it's not that the printer is printing darker. It's that that the lighting conditions in the room show the prints as being darker. If you use a proper viewing box or just take the print outside you may see something more comparable.

I use Canon printers and when I do the preview I select the "light" option under colour adjustments which makes it a bit lighter just to account for the fact that they will be displayed in my clients homes rather than in galleries etc.

 

[viewfromthenorth]

I have an Epson R3000 - bought it new a couple of years back and my usage levels sound much less than yours. It can go months without printing anything. So far (touchwood) I haven't had issues with blocked heads or anything else. I've never been quite satisfied with what it produces though - prints are invariably darker than my screen image, despite lots of calibration of both printer and monitor. I usually boost the brightness now by +20 or so before I hit print.

I only tend to use my Epson R3000 for black and white, and I've found that in the Advanced Black and White mode, in the settings it defaults to 'Darker'. Predictably, this means the output is darker than I want, so I have to set it to 'Normal' and then boost the contrast a bit and the photo come out fine. I'm not sure if there is a similar setting for colour printing - I don't recall doing anything in colour.

 

[psybear]

I only tend to use my Epson R3000 for black and white, and I've found that in the Advanced Black and White mode, in the settings it defaults to 'Darker'. Predictably, this means the output is darker than I want, so I have to set it to 'Normal' and then boost the contrast a bit and the photo come out fine. I'm not sure if there is a similar setting for colour printing - I don't recall doing anything in colour.

Cheers for that Andy - must check that setting - I've actually made much more use of mine for colour prints.

 

[cosmicma]

the way i look at things like this is
how much will a new good quality printer cost ?
how many prints can i have done ( with postage costs ) from the likes of DSCL for the price of the printer
the chances are you could have 2 to 3 + years of prints for the cost of a new printer and that's before you even put a piece of paper through it

economically it's probably cheaper to have prints done rather printing at home but the sheer convenience of printing at home can verify the extra cost it depends on whats important to you

 

[psybear]

But some people are fixated on possessions and have to own stuff.

Well everyone's entitled to their own opinion, even if I personally don't always understand the need to express it so bluntly.

For me, even as an occasional printer, it is important that I have as much control as possible over the finished article. I don't have the knowledge or experience to develop film in a darkroom, but I imagine those who do get a great sense of satisfaction over 'owning' that part of the process. Having my own printer is the closest I can get to that.

 

[Byker28i]

I had the same thought process but ended up using professional labs for my prints. I have choices of media, obvious choice like Matt, gloss, but also paper types such pearl etc. I find I have control over the images through print profiles and have not been disappointed so far, plus the space saving in the office is significant.
We have a colour laser printer as the majority of it's use is office type jobs, teacher and company director in the house.

 

[connersz]

the way i look at things like this is
how much will a new good quality printer cost ?
how many prints can i have done ( with postage costs ) from the likes of DSCL for the price of the printer
the chances are you could have 2 to 3 + years of prints for the cost of a new printer and that's before you even put a piece of paper through it

economically it's probably cheaper to have prints done rather printing at home but the sheer convenience of printing at home can verify the extra cost it depends on whats important to you

But then you're mostly guessing and presuming that it's not economical to own your own printers. I don't know about your situation but from a business point of view you need to look much more closely at the options and accurately work out the differences. I say differences because a lot of people only consider price when there are other aspects like P&P, delivery times, print issues, re-prints etc. to take into account.

I think the biggest issue with the labs is the postage cost. If you were to order five A4 prints from DS colour labs you would pay £3.25 for the prints and £3.99 for the postage. If you count for the P&P in the print it works out at £1.44 per print rather than the listed £0.65. I don't know how many images people order in one batch but I deal on a per client basis who as a minimum will order 5-10 prints.

Then there is the issue with the time-scales. The delivery time is reportedly 1-10 days which means you can't provide your clients with an accurate ETA. If your client receives their order and makes another one afterwards which is quite common, you will have to quite up to 14 days including sending them out yourself which is inconvenient. If you're just printing for personal reasons then you will have to wait potentially 10 days. It may be debated whether it's important to receive an order so quickly but in general people respond better to a faster more accurate service.

I think if the labs sort out their postage it may work out a bit better. I know it doesn't cost £4 to send those prints. It costs me about 20p for the envelope and first class large letter is about 94p? They would actually get a discount anyway for franking the mail.

 

[cosmicma]

But then you're mostly guessing and presuming that it's not economical to own your own printers. I don't know about your situation but from a business point of view you need to look much more closely at the options and accurately work out the differences. I say differences because a lot of people only consider price when there are other aspects like P&P, delivery times, print issues, re-prints etc. to take into account.

I think the biggest issue with the labs is the postage cost. If you were to order five A4 prints from DS colour labs you would pay £3.25 for the prints and £3.99 for the postage. If you count for the P&P in the print it works out at £1.44 per print rather than the listed £0.65. I don't know how many images people order in one batch but I deal on a per client basis who as a minimum will order 5-10 prints.

Then there is the issue with the time-scales. The delivery time is reportedly 1-10 days which means you can't provide your clients with an accurate ETA. If your client receives their order and makes another one afterwards which is quite common, you will have to quite up to 14 days including sending them out yourself which is inconvenient. If you're just printing for personal reasons then you will have to wait potentially 10 days. It may be debated whether it's important to receive an order so quickly but in general people respond better to a faster more accurate service.

I think if the labs sort out their postage it may work out a bit better. I know it doesn't cost £4 to send those prints. It costs me about 20p for the envelope and first class large letter is about 94p? They would actually get a discount anyway for franking the mail.

with you mentioning DSCL their estimated times are as follows according to my last order email
Standard prints: Same day if ordered before 1pm Mon-Fri only.
Large format prints and canvas: 1-3 days.
All other products will be dispatched with in a 3-7 day period,

i'm not guessing i have owned a printer of one type or another for the last 29 years purely on a domestic level i fully understand in business speed could be more important than cost and regular orders could work out cheaper to print youself
at this moment in time i own 3 printers an oki C301dn A4 colour laser, an oki C822 A3 colour laser and a rather ageing canon s9000 A3+ inkjet which iv'e owned since launch around 12 years ago
over the years online photo printing has become cheaper and cheaper to a point where it's just not worth doing them yourself, this has been the case for quite a few years and one of the reasons iv'e never bothered updating to a newer inkjet printer
i use laser printers for everything else

never owned a sub dye printer yet but it's on my wish list if ever the opportunity / price becomes a reality

since we are talking about photo prints i will ignore the lasers but lets consider the cost of my last order from DSCL

3 x Prints (10" x 8", Lustre, (Pro Only), No border) @ £1.59
4 x Prints (A3 16.54"x 11.69" (Require Trimming), Lustre, (Pro Only), No border) @ £4.60
1 x Print (A4 11.7" x 8.3", Lustre, (Pro Only), No border) @ 65p
Postage & Packing: £1.80 i live close enough to DSCL to collect but still get charged £1.80 for the privilege

a grand total of £8.64

if i were to print this little lot myself providing i get them spot on first time on canon paper ( which i use ) without having to reprint any, the cost of paper alone would come close to the cost of DSCL printing them
add the price of ink per sheet of paper ( canon originals k) it's cheaper for DSCL to print them
now add the cost of the printer itself
in my personal circumstance it would take a long time if ever to break even not to mention the results are usually better than my ageing printer can produce anyway

if i were to start from scratch and buy a new printer probably one of the current A3+ that canon offer i could get a lot of prints done for the cost of said printer never mind feeding it with decent paper and ink and that's where i'm coming from

the OP's original questions was about occasional printing for domestic use and 30 - 40 A3 prints twice a year and in those circumstances i still think having them printed is cheaper than buying a printer and printing them at home

 

[ianp5a]

Regarding possessions, remember the old adage, "he who dies with the most possessions... wins!"

 

[connersz]

I have always found getting consistent prints difficult on my Canon Pixma Pro 9000 ll and now it is really playing up, sometimes completely missing colours or banding.

I have tried most things. repeated cleaning, cleaning solutions, pressure flushing print head, changing ink etc and it's costing me a small fortune for no result. I don't print enough I suspect so the printer dries up. About 30-40 A3 prints for exhibitions twice a year then just odd prints for my own use and the occasional competition.

I tried using Staples today for some A4 prints. Very quick and efficient though they will need some colour adjustment and reprinting and the black and white lacked sparkle. Paper was flimsy and no choice of finish. I have used DS Colourlabs in the past and been quite pleased but postal costs mean that it is only economical for reasonable sized batches.

What do forum members do or recommend. If I buy a new printer what is the recommendation?

I suspect by now your printhead is covered in paper particles and other stuff which is drying up often. It shouldn't be temperamental otherwise.

I would try giving the printheads a good clean. Take out the print head and fill and plate up with 50/50 isopropyl alcohol and water mix, a level of about 3mm high and place the printhead in it for about 5mins. Take one of those blue flat cloth things you use for washing the dishes and soak it with the solution, rub the printhead gently across it a few times and put it back in the solution for a couple of minutes. Wipe of the printhead and put it back in the printer.