Raw & Post Processing, Printing > Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks

Which printer for large scale landscapes?

<< < (2/8) > >>

Huffie:
What about paying extra for the designer edition? - (it includes the "EFI Fiery eXpress RIP software)
Is that going to be useful for making art prints?
I have read someone saying that creating ICC profiles is not needed for them because the P800 settings are good out of the box.
Does that sound reasonable?

Mark D Segal:
Numerous photographers find they don't need a RIP to make excellent fine-art prints, but quite a few photographers appreciate some of their convenience features. Print quality mainly depends on how well you prepare the photos for printing, and the quality of your colour management including the paper profiles. Profiles can be fine whether from the paper and printer manufacturers or custom to your printer. A lot of material about this on this website.

Rand47:
Let me toss in an additional something to think about re sizing the printer.  Whatever models you narrow down to, take a good look at the replacement cost of a full set of ink carts.  It can be fairly staggering for the really large printers.  I do a lot of file preparation and printing for myself and other photographers and I only keep "in house" a 17" carriage printer.  This easily handles 95% of my needs.  For really large prints/canvases it is much more cost effective to do file prep and soft proofing in my digital darkroom, but have the print made by someone else.  I would love to own a 24" or even larger printer, but it just doesn't pencil out based on the actual need for that size print in terms of total volume.

Anyway, price the ink!  In the long run and with any volume of printing at all, the ink will be at least as large a consideration in the overall cost of operation as the printer itself.

And let me add something that has been inferred but not stated fully... all of the printers mentioned so far, and even adding in the 13" carriage printers using the same inksets, are capable of producing gallery level works of art with beautiful detail and color and excellent longevity (assuming the paper used is up to it) when handled properly.

You're in the right place for good advice... Mark, and others here like Jeff Schewe, are truly experts and are very gracious in sharing their knowledge.  I've been "taught" by everyone here and it has been a huge help in achieving really fine results.

Best wishes in your analysis.

Rand

Mark D Segal:
Hi Rand - you're raising an important point about the inks. The per ml ink cost for an 80 ml cartridge whether Epson or Canon runs quite high compared with the 160 ml and up cartridges that come with the 24 inch models. The inks do last a long time - well beyond their expiry dates, so even printing relatively low volume, if one can make use of the 24 inch carriage and has the space to house such printers, ink would be one consideration favouring this size printer. But with limited space and no need for a 24" printer, you are correct that a P800 will make exhibition quality prints, as will the Canon Pro-1000.

shadowblade:
HP Z3200 and don't look back.

Longest-lasting inkset on the market, and the most reliable art-quality printer I've used, especially if you're not printing all day, every day (i.e. most photographers). Self-profiling, and you can leave it idle while you're away for a 3-month shooting trip, and it will print as normal when you get back, without clogs. It also uses very little ink, so is cheap to run.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page