Need opinions on a replacement Photo Printer.
Must print at least 13 inches wide. Have been using a Canon Pixma pro 100 and was happy with quality and cost of ink (ouch! but not a big ouch).
Obviously I only want the perfect printer: excellent quality, longevity of images, and of course cheap but am willing to compromise with reality.
Any suggestions or opinions?
leighbythesea2
(1,216 posts)Is it for professional use?
I use one for work. Just did some research bc i print 13 x 19. I need good color on matte paper. Usually look at Photo stylus series. My 2200 is older, but a workhorse. Now discontinued.
Looked like a model 4000 (equivalent desktop) was 700$. Ink was 37$ a cartridge, but theres 10 inks. (I have 7). This may all sound high, depending on need. ?
Ive had my 2200 for 15 years and it ran 12 hours a day @ my employer BEFORE that. They upgraded so I got it.
I consider its life span and performance pretty great. Durability gets A+. People are sometimes confused that my printouts came from a desktop, the quality is so nice.
I think canon and epson have average # of printouts per ink set statistics, for each model ? (Based on photos with color that uses all ink in set). It's the only way i can get a sense of how much ink I may use in a month/year. & how long my cartridges will last.
A coworker just bought a canon to do same kind of work. She likes it. (We are working from home currently, so she wanted good results, but under 500$ printer)
I have no idea if this is any help.? What I do requires quite nice printouts, and a whole lot of them.
Good luck!
SWBTATTReg
(24,260 posts)too, so this is a nice help/aid for me, thanks so much! I've bookmarked.
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)leighbythesea2
(1,216 posts)My model is old. I'm astounded at it sometimes.
You will laugh. I had to go into corp office. Im new. Bc I have always had my own equipment for periods of freelance, used it from the beginning. Remote onboarded.
First time in office to prep for a meeting. Only our tiny 3 person team in there. I brought my printer on a little luggage type cart.
Leaving I nearly got stuck in the automatic revolving door with it. Security was gone. We sorta shimmied along together, the corner of the printer making contact with the glass the whole way.
I thought "this is it". Then immediately "nah, itll be fine". Lol, I have grand confidence in it.
Ok so far!
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)But then again I have a lifelong habit of personifying equipment & bonding with it, so...
leighbythesea2
(1,216 posts)Same brand/co i mentioned i got the printer from-----we prepped for meetings til midnight, 2, 4am and longer. It was a company culture top down (think silicon valley, but fashion).
The epsons chugging along.
A new VP of mine, fantastic team player who gave credit to others over herself, acclimating to all this, yelled out (like 9 pm) "Have we given the printers names yet?! How am I supposed to cheer them on, otherwise?!"
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)I've found them to work best for image printing which is all I use an inkejet for (HP LJ for black & white).
After Epson came out with the eco tanks (which my sibling swears by), Canon countered with the MegaTank, essentially big bottles of just ink (no printhead, like the Epson eco tanks) at $11-$15 each. That'll be my next Pixma, although I've never had problem with carts drying out despite sometimes truly intermittent use.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)They are after all in the photo business producing a line of DSLR cameras and would have a large institutional understanding of what is needed to produce photos on a printer. I have a small canon printer that I picked up on a Black Friday sale years ago for $39.00 and it runs like a top. When it dies it will be replaced by another Canon.
Earth-shine
(4,044 posts)If you can find one, it's the best printer I've ever owned.
I get generic ink cartridges from Amazon for very cheap.
The photos and graphics look great. I typically use Canon luster paper 13x19. I print multiple photos per page and cut them from the large paper.
There's no going back once one has tasted "large format" printing.
Previously, I had the Canon Pixma 9000 Mark ii, which was fabulous. The IP-8720 is somewhat smaller and substantially lighter than the 9000 and every bit as good.
Good luck.
MichMan
(13,414 posts)Fantastic picture quality. I have an older smaller Canon I use for documents on regular copy paper.
Why are you getting a new one?
AndyS
(14,559 posts)Pro 100.