Printing at home Vs Lab?

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Deadlock

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Hi,

I could use some advice about printers please as I'm toying with the idea of producing A3 prints to sell.

1 - Can you buy a printer that will rival what you get from a lab in terms of quality and longevity?

2 - If so then how much are you looking to spend to achieve this?

My experience of printers is just a canon pixma 4850. Although good for the price, I'm not particularly fond of the image quality and prints always have a magenta cast to them.

3 - In the Epson range, would I be looking at something along the lines of the R3000 or R3880 or something else?

Thanks for any advice.
 
We use a 3880 in our shop and sell the prints commercially most days of the week.
We only ever use Epson Ink along with Epson and Ilford paper and the results are excellent.

At about £1000+ you will need a reasonable turnover (or inflated prices) to make the purchase viable.
 
To answer your questions

1: Yes. provided you use similar products. Pigmented inks and good paper can give image life ranging from 65 to 200 years. Go to the Wilhelm institute web site and you'll see data on a number of paper ,ink ,printer combinations.

2: Price is variable, due to the cost of the machine. For A3 I would suggest the Epson R3000 is probably the cheapest Epson option. I can't speak for Canon or HP as I have not used their machines.

3: The R3000 is a good machine at a reasonable price. The 3880 prints up to A2 and is more expensive option particularly if you only want to do A3. One advantage though is it's larger ink cartridges which may in the long term save you money.

You may like to consider having some prints produced commercially to see what the market is for your images, and then make the decision as to which printer to go for
 
Deadlock said:
Hi,

I could use some advice about printers please as I'm toying with the idea of producing A3 prints to sell.


1 - Can you buy a printer that will rival what you get from a lab in terms of quality and longevity?

most high spec A3+ printers give better quality than lab prints. pigment ink have longer life than labs too

2 - If so then how much are you looking to spend to achieve this?

epson R2880, R3000, canon 9500, pro1 £450+

My experience of printers is just a canon pixma 4850. Although good for the price, I'm not particularly fond of the image quality and prints always have a magenta cast to them.

3 - In the Epson range, would I be looking at something along the lines of the R3000 or R3880 or something else?

Thanks for any advice.
Click to expand...
 
No matter which you choose - get a good calibrator for your screen. Once calibrated the prints you get from low cost labs that don't colour correct should be a near perfect match - and if you print yourself you'll at least know if its your file thats the wrong colour or density - or the printer.

Many people correct the screen to match their printer - then wonder why prints from elsewhere are wrong...
 
Thank you all.

The R3000 has a running cost breakdown here:
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...on-stylus-photo-r3000-963900/review?artc_pg=6

ok so using the above as a basis and
- adjusting for what I'll actually be printing
- comparing costs to loxley and photobox that I normally use
- planning on running A3 prints only (I'll leave the smaller prints, books, etc for the labs)
then the R3000 would pay for itself within a few months purely in terms of print costs.

It may be worthwhile looking into the R3880

Can I also ask...
- What is the working life of a printer?
- Does quality deteriorate over time?

@ David
Yes. I would need to buy a better monitor & better calibration device.
I currently have a Spyder 3 Pro and the screen output does not match my printer, photobox or Loxleys calibrated prints. The magenta cast only appears on the canon prints making the printer the culprit. (The correct colour profile for the paper has been selected in the printer.)

Any suggestions for
- a reasonably priced srgb gamut monitor suitable for this type of work? I was thinking of something like the Dell U2410.
- a better calibration device to match screen with prints?

Thanks again.
 
Deadlock said:
Hi,

I could use some advice about printers please as I'm toying with the idea of producing A3 prints to sell.

1 - Can you buy a printer that will rival what you get from a lab in terms of quality and longevity?

2 - If so then how much are you looking to spend to achieve this?

.
Click to expand...

I have the Epson Pro 3880 and love it. Yes it's a fair investment at £1250, but the quality is first class and especially the black and white beats anything I have ever had back from a lab.

Ink is pricey, about £500 for all cartridges, but thankfully you only need to replace one or two at a time and they last a good amount of time.

You can get A3 printers much cheaper than the A2 Epson 3880, but they also have small ink cartridges that run out more often.
 
I thought the r3000 shared either the same cartridges, or the same capacity cartridges as the r3880? Of course, the usual answer is to get a continuous ink system if you had a 2880, or maybe by now the r3000.

Printing your own is probably always dearer than the lab but mine seem to have a vibrance i didn't get before and I can tweak sizes, change papers, print at short notice etc.
 
The spyder 3 should be good enough.

Monitors can only be calibrated for 5-6 years - anything older or really cheap probably wont profile. Also remember that once the monitor is profiled the brightness of the room makes a difference - as does the colour of the wall behind the monitor. Also remember to use good light to check the print - get a good daylight one from any craft shop.

The ICC set up the profile space many years before digital photography and home printing - and followed through your prints will usually look too dark when the monitor is at the suggested brightness. If your prints are looking too dark simply darken the screen.
 
BlackCloud said:
I thought the r3000 shared either the same cartridges, or the same capacity cartridges as the r3880?
Click to expand...

R3000 = 25.9ml
R3800 = 80ml

I doubt I can justify the R3800 as I still want to give the labs about 95% of my work due to prioritisation of working time. So the R3000 is looking like the right choice.

Thanks again.
 
How big a print do you want to produce? And roughly how many a week would you churn out? If you're thinking of spending around a £1000 - have you thought of a Dye Sub Printer? That could be a very viable cost effective alternative... Print quality is good, and no 'inks' to fill up... As it works in a slightly different way.
 
As far as working life, I don't think any manufacturer has given that sort of information. However as you say the R3000 would pay for itself after a few months and it has a 1 year warranty you should be quids in even if it only lasts one year. You had better check the warranty small print though in case I've missed something.

Quality shouldn't deteriorate over time. What you tend to find is component failures due to wear and tear. One problem is usually tracking problems due to roller wear, or build up of paper deposits on the rollers. Rubber Roller Restorer, (yes there is such a product) can usually help. It's sometimes sold a s a roller cleaner

As far as screen calibration devices go the Spyder is a good choice, but go for the elite version. You could also look at the Colormunkie, which would also allow you to profile your printer should you need to do so. Also look at the new iDisplay Pro form X-rite
 
hmm
 
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:lol:
 
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