Printer suggestions?

BBones

OK, I use an Epson R-200 now for simple prints, to let people get an idea of what pics would look like and especially for it's CD printing ability.

This season my wife has offered to help me at the race track to sell inkjet prints (disclaimer included that they are not guaranteed to last as long as prints from EZ-Prints). The idea is to sell nice 8x10's for about $10 trackside off of an inkjet.

I'd like to know what you recommend for a quality inkjet that I would still be making money off of instead of losing money due to the ink wells being used to fast. As it stands now, the R-200 really sucks up the ink when doing "Best Photo" mode in Photoshop.

Bodley

BBones wrote:

(disclaimer included that they are not guaranteed to last as long as prints from EZ-Prints).

I don't do onsite printing and only have experience with the Epson R800 - Great Prints - but your disclaimer would scare me if I were your customer. Canon, HP, and Epson all now have pigment ink based printers which provide lasting prints. Also may want to look into DyeSub.

BBones

Scares me when I see other photogs out there selling prints from 2-3 year old inkjets for more then what I charge on my website to go through EZPrints.

R-200 has really does some specatular stuff for only being a $90 printer and the ability to print directly to CD is VERY important to me

cmason

BBones wrote:

The idea is to sell nice 8x10's for about $10 trackside off of an inkjet.

How about selling 4x6's instead: Canon Selphy. It provides 4x6 300dpi waterproof prints in less than 1 min. about $0.28 each. Some models are even battery powered.

flyingpylon

BBones wrote:

Scares me when I see other photogs out there selling prints from 2-3 year old inkjets for more then what I charge on my website to go through EZPrints.

R-200 has really does some specatular stuff for only being a $90 printer and the ability to print directly to CD is VERY important to me

I go to a fair number of local tracks and see people doing this... the photos are not impressive, the prints are less impressive, and yet people buy them.

But anyway, I would recommend a Canon printer. I used to use Epson but got fed up and switched (but I still shoot Nikon!). Epson ink cartridges get clogged easily and they are "chipped" meaning that a microchip decides when it thinks the ink should be out as opposed to when it really IS out.

In the US market, Epson might be the only one that advertises CD printing, but Canon printers can do it too. They sell them that way in the UK. You just have to get the CD tray off of eBay for about $20, enter a few codes via the service menu (google for it) and boom, you're in business. I'm very happy with mine, even though it's a multifunction device, not one of their higher-end photo printers, so I wouldn't recommend that model for your situation.

BBones

which model do you recommend? Makes sense to use a printer made by a photography company to print photos

mercphoto

flyingpylon wrote:

I go to a fair number of local tracks and see people doing this... the photos are not impressive, the prints are less impressive, and yet people buy them.

Instant gratification rules. I have looked into the Epson Picture Mate (too slow) but not into any other brand. And as far as longevity goes you'd be surprised how long an R200 print will last. Don't go talking print life to your customers, it will just scare them. And I would strongly discourage on-site prints for less than the web. On-site is a ton of work (why I have yet to even try it) and is more costly to you, and its more value to them. On-site should be priced higher than online.

flyingpylon

BBones wrote:

which model do you recommend? Makes sense to use a printer made by a photography company to print photos

I honestly wouldn't know what to recommend. I have the MP780 because I really needed the all-in-one features, even the fax. But I know I made a compromise on the photo quality for that. That said, the output is excellent and I think it's better than my older Epson 870 despite using fewer ink colors.

Here are all of the Canon printers:

http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=103

There are far too many models to choose from, but on the other hand there seems to be one for every budget or need.

flyingpylon

mercphoto wrote:

On-site is a ton of work (why I have yet to even try it) and is more costly to you

I've always understood that you need at least 3 people... one to shoot, one to download/sort/crop/etc. and one to make sales transactions. Which is why at first I always say "onsite sales would be cool... um, on second thought... nah."

Dee

Ink Refills
I bought 2 Canon printers just before the holidays, a PIXMA 1600 (extremely fast in black and white, slower in color) and the PIXMA iP6210D. Faster in color, slower in black and white.

Both suck up ink like it was soda!

However I got a refill kit and have managed to successfully refill the cartridges. It's a little messy -- the hard part is figuring out where each color lives in the cartridge. The printer/cartridges were so new no site had instructions.

I took an old dried up cartridge, drilled holes into the indentations, stuck down a Q-Tip and marked which color is which. So now I'm set. And, I do have a spare pair of new carts just in case. They say you can refill them 6 times, but I'm not sure if that's the ink amount or the cartridge life.

Inside those cartridges is hard spongy material. I'd much prefer the cartridges where you can see the ink disappearing, but these printers were $50 and $90 each, hard to beat the price if you can beat the ink problem. These are my first Canons, I still have 2 epsons at home, one I'll keep as long as I can because it takes up to 17 x 22 inch paper. The other I have to part with soon, as it won't grab paper anymore.

I tried to have an epson fixed, paid money at the repair shop and all, but it was never the same.

They (Epsons) do clog up so easily -- but the Canon clogged up also!

I did manage after 2 "deep" cleanings and leaving it sit a week and then trying another deep cleaning to unclog it. I like the roller cleaner and other features these PIXMAs have that my Epson didn't.

Refilling takes some work, as you lose the ability to check the ink level once you refill them. And, refill as soon as you can, when they are half empty if you can figure that out.

The color and print quality is fine, and the refill ink is very close to the originals.

Since then I've seen Frys Electronics has ink refill kits that are much cheaper than the ones I got online.

If you are interested in this, google ink refills. Some sites have online movies showing how to refill the carts.