[victormeldrew]

It's so difficult to find genuine unbiased buying advice online any more, I thought I would ask here to see if there is anyone who can give me some suggestions?

Ideally I would spend no more than about £200 ($250-300), but would spend more for the perfect model.
Ideally it would be cheap to run, so either have reasonable proprietary ink or a good selection of 3rd party options.

I need it to be capable of:

Nice mono printing (I shoot a lot of mono)
A3+ preferably
Fine art papers (I don't tend to use massive textured papers, but for example Permajet FB Gold Silk at 315gsm is a favourite)
Fast printing is not essential as I won't be printing huge quantities
Absolute gallery quality is not essential as if a gallery ever happens to come calling, I'd farm the work out.
But I would want to use them for my portfolio or hanging on my own wall.

So far I have spotted the Canon PIXMA iP8750, which seems to fit the bill fairly well on paper. But hopefully there are more options to consider?

Many thanks!

[marcusBMG]

My pixma MG5350 just lost it - B200 and U043 errors. But while it was running it was the cheapest printer because the third party compatible tanks (C525/PG525) available are the cheapest going.

[macman24054]

I highly recommend the Epson Artisain 1430. It can print up to 13x19 I use it with Red River brand paper and get great results. I use it with Satin Luster, Art Canvas and metallic finish paper with no feed issues. I shoot weddings, portraits and events for a living and have had no complaints about the quality of my photos. If fact, quite often my clients rave about how much better the print look than the on screen image.

[victormeldrew]

I highly recommend the Epson Artisain 1430. It can print up to 13x19 I use it with Red River brand paper and get great results. I use it with Satin Luster, Art Canvas and metallic finish paper with no feed issues. I shoot weddings, portraits and events for a living and have had no complaints about the quality of my photos. If fact, quite often my clients rave about how much better the print look than the on screen image.

My biggest reservation there would be the single black ink. I don't know if it makes a huge difference, but for monochrome prints most people say the more shades of grey the better. Probably 70%+ of my prints are B/W. The PIXMA in my first post has black and grey...the next (fairly big) step up in canon is the Pro100 - 8 inks with 3 black/greys. Epson seem to reserve multi-blacks for their SC range, which starts higher still...

The MG5350 above seems to be nearly out of production, but is still available at a price around the same as the Pro100. Probably of the 2 the Pro100 is better specced but really is out of my range - or the range of my wife's tolerance level.

[stevebrot]

Define mid-range...

I have a very nice Canon Pixma Pro 100. Pricing has been very aggressive here in the U.S. recently and perhaps the same is true in the UK. Ink can be expensive, but if you print frequently, that is just part of the cost of the print.*


Steve

* Ink expenses per print tend to go up when usage is sporadic due to multiple cleaning and startup cycles.

[victormeldrew]

Define mid-range...

Well, I'm seeing sub £/$100 models that are decidedly 'consumer' grade and £/$600-1000 models that are decidedly 'home photo pro' grade - obviously photo-lab grade kit is not on anyone's scale - and then in the middle is the 'photo enthusiast/semi pro' stuff, which is where I'm aiming. Good enough to rival sending off to a lab, cheap enough to afford as a hobby purchase, seeing as it won't pay me back.

I do sell the occasional set of prints, which I have so far been sending out through a white-label print lab, which would be nice to do myself. Large and fancy prints would always go to someone else anyway. Mostly it will be for my own enjoyment and to build a portfolio, so it's not going to be working very hard.

[stevebrot]

and then in the middle is the 'photo enthusiast/semi pro' stuff, which is where I'm aiming.

It is hard to say where the Pixma Pro 100 is priced at present in the UK, but B&H will sell one to me (shipping and 50 sheet paper included*) for $129 USD after rebate. That is a heck of a deal on a printer that will go 13"x19" and has 8 ink tanks (3 for gray-tones). FWIW, the Pro 100 is not a toy. It is quite heavy (just under 20Kg) and has a working footprint of 70x110cm with paper path extended. The printer has full network connectivity (ethernet + wireless) as well as USB.


Steve

* The free shipping for 50+ lbs is quite a give-away as is the free paper pack ($40 USD value). U.S. models include full-size ink cartridges for all 8 colors.

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Last edited by stevebrot; 09-17-2016 at 06:10 PM.

[victormeldrew]

That is a great deal, but they won't sell it to me at that price! It's around the 'pre-rebate' price here at the moment...with a free set of half-filled cartridges and a pack of Permajet paper. A year ago I could've got a lot more Dollars for my Pound, so it would've been cheaper, but such is life.

I am a patient person so I can wait for offers to come around. Or for the dollar to crash. Whichever comes first!

[stevebrot]

with a free set of half-filled cartridges and a pack of Permajet paper

The half-filled cartridge part is a rip-off.


Steve

[macman24054]

Actually as far as Epson goes they come with full cartridges. The first set just runs out faster because you have to go through priming the print heads. As far as the monochrome printing, my father uses an Epson 1800 and has printed some stunning monochrome images. Keep in mind that I have used only Epson since 1995 so I may not be the best person to compare other brands.

[victormeldrew]

The R1800 and R2000 were great printers, perfect for what I need, with multiple blacks for monochrome and decent dpi. But the Stylus Photo range seems to be discontinued and they now have the Expression Home and Epression Premium range both of which are all-in-ones...personally I would rather get as much printer as I can for my money rather than have to buy a scanner and copier with it and the inks are not great for monochrome (5 or 6 colour, single black). So now their dedicated photo printers start with the SureColor range, but even in that range the first with multiple blacks/greys is the SC600 which is fairly pricey (but very good).

At around £200 I have either:
Epson Epression XP-960 - 6 inks (2x cyan and 2x magenta shades), single black, 5760ppi, or
Canon PIXMA iP8750 - 6 inks, grey, black and pigment black, 9600ppi

If I needed a scanner and did more colour then probably the Epson would make sense. If I was spending more like £400-600 then Epson would have good alternatives to Canon, but currently they seem to have really watered down their mid-priced range whereas Canon have some really good options both at the top end of the PIXMA range and the bottom end of the PRO range.

[dstar]

I have Canon 8750 extremely happy price very-good
I supply usually from third party from Amazon
Save a lot money
Also my printer has wifi option so I can print fist look from I phone or I pad

[stevebrot]

I am a patient person so I can wait for offers to come around. Or for the dollar to crash. Whichever comes first!

First week in November...


Steve