going form 7600 to ??? help

[dseelig]

Well I have had a 7600 and I have just sold it. I never did make a 24 inch wide print so what next I have heard about the epson 3800 the canon 5100,mabe the 6100, maybe the hp 3100  I shoot alot of concerts landscapes and have alot of old black and white negs  to print from . So what has the best blacks and what is the cheapest per print to use ink wise.Thanks  David

[Wayne Fox]

Well I have had a 7600 and I have just sold it. I never did make a 24 inch wide print so what next I have heard about the epson 3800 the canon 5100,mabe the 6100, maybe the hp 3100  I shoot alot of concerts landscapes and have alot of old black and white negs  to print from . So what has the best blacks and what is the cheapest per print to use ink wise.Thanks  David
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There a dozens of threads comparing these printers in this forum.  I'm sure a couple of searches on the various printers will offer a wealth of information regarding your questions.

[Geoff Wittig]

Well I have had a 7600 and I have just sold it. I never did make a 24 inch wide print so what next I have heard about the epson 3800 the canon 5100,mabe the 6100, maybe the hp 3100  I shoot alot of concerts landscapes and have alot of old black and white negs  to print from . So what has the best blacks and what is the cheapest per print to use ink wise.Thanks  David
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If you plan on doing a lot of black & white printing, I think the Z3100 is probably the best choice. Its driver has a fairly sophisticated BW mode that permits differential toning of highlights, mid-tones and shadows. It also gives a visibly darker D-max on matte paper than Epsons can produce, and for matte papers provides quad-black printing out of the box. By comparison the Epson "advanced black and white" mode is not truly color managed and tends to block up shadows. From what I've read the Canon 5100/6100 produce beautiful image quality, but documentation and support seem to draw a lot of complaints, and $600 for a replacement printhead? For HP a replacement printhead is $70 and as easy to install as an ink cartridge.

I still own an Epson 7600 and used it for years, but it's mostly collecting dust now due to the faster speed and better image quality of my Z3100.

Finally, try printing big just for fun. If your files can take the enlargement, there's nothing quite like the impact of a sharp & colorful 24x36" print. It's addictive after a while.

[John Hollenberg]

To be fair to the iPF printers, a couple of things need to be pointed out:

1) Scott Martin has made B&W prints on Epson, HP and Canon and states when he shows the prints to photographers they usually choose the Canon print as the best.

2) The support is much improved from early on and not a significant issue now in my opinion.  The documentation could be better, but the information on the Wiki mostly makes this more of an academic point.

3) While the iPF printheads are very expensive, the one year warranty and relatively few reported failures (most covered under warranty) mitigate this concern to some extent.  Also, when one uses the "expected printhead life" from Canon the cost of the printhead compared to ink cost is not that unreasonable.  So far, we haven't seen a rash of printhead failures to contradict Canon's printhead life data.

4) As with the HP, the iPF printheads are easily replaced by the user.

--John