New A3 Printer

[stevedevil]

As I posted on the Chat, took the plunge with a new Canon Pro 200 A3 Printer, and it arrived today, and what a beast..

Took a while to set up, align the heads, and then the fun trying to use it with a Mac, but after some Google searches, all sorted, and its print quality is just stunning

Should have got one years ago, but then I guess the Technology and Inks have come a long way since then, 

I can Highly recommend the Printer, its just awesome

[Clicker]

It looks a  neat and tidy size Steve ... not  as overpowering  in a room as I might  have  thought .  It's a difficult decision to make as  I am wondering ... will I print  a lot more  because I have it  on a regular basis  as I imagine  one need s to use it regularly  as I know   two of my printers  were not happy when I  decided  not to use them for months  during a  health scare a good few years ago ... I   haven't checked out  the  inks  situation  in the past few years as I  have   my prints done   by an outside source usually . I  suppose it depends on a number of things:- not least   as to whether  you are printing for yourself or    for  sales of your work ...   It isn't  always easy to  justify what one wants with what one needs  .... So I  really  keen to hear  your back story on this ....  I am so , so tempted ... but is it an indulgence for me ...?

  Having whetted my appetite  now  I half wish I hadn't seen  this post  and your comment in the chat room !!! 

[Fogey]

What did you quote to me Polly - you don't get pockets in shrouds, or some such.

Is that a Santa boot/stocking/sack I see in the desk knee hole, Steve?  Very appropriate for a late Christmas present, I'd have thought.

[Ryewolf]

Quite a number of years back I looked at buying the Pixma Pro 1, now Pixma Pro 1000, which is an A2 printer and there were a couple of stumbling blocks; size (twice as big as the Pixma 200 you bought); ink prices, it had 12 ink cartridges that were almost 65-70% of the price of the printer (the Pixma pro-1000 is around £950-£1050 but the 12 inks are anything upto £650); and thirdly something Polly mentioned, would I get enough usage out of it to make it a worthwhile investment?

In the end it came down to the last point, as an amateur photographer, it wouldn't be worth it, even as a professional photographer I'd be hard pressed to justify that cost (and depreciation), particularly as places like DS Colour Labs can do it so much cheaper.

[stevedevil]

Wow, a hot topic lol, I used to spend around £10 per A3 print in my competition days, and had to spend hours in Calibration of the Screen ( Spyder Pro ) and then send RGB info to the Printer, as printing from home was just not a reality for the quality the Labs gave..

So now, yes inks are still amazingly costly, and in no way would I sell a print from home, but these inks are now lasting 30+ years, and the Papers have improved so they don’t fade as much in the sunlight, 

OK so for me… Would I use the Printer to get a great A3 Print, Yes, would I then use that same image and get it on a canvas / or Larger Print, Oh yes.. do the costs worry me.. with that I’m in 2 minds..

As if I did not have the Printer, I cant then print the image for just an A3 Photo frame, so cant see the image in real life, so cant critique myself to get what I want from the Print, so would then leave the file on the PC for another day..

Would I then send it away to be put on a Canvas, then No as would feel that the RGB data could be off

With all Photography its about the kit your using, and with Digital the Printer has to be part of the Kit..

Anyway again thanks for the replies, made such a good read 

[Fogey]

Thinking back to the days when my wife, Anne and I, first became involved with computers, the companies who produced printers started to develop ink that dried 100 times faster than the Quink ink in your fountain pen.  Then I believe they developed the bubble jet ink head and than the heated bubble ink jet head, just to improve the speed of print for images.

All went quiet for a couple of years, until the news came out that the colour fastness of the ink had been improved, while great inroads were made with the quality of the photographic paper we could print on.  Meanwhile the drying time for the ink reduced so that it dried 1000 times faster than the original Quink ink.

The cost of inkjet printers reduced dramatically, costing circa £60 - £120, just to ensure the sales of the expensive ink cartridges.

What inroads have been made since I retired from the industry, I don't know, but now we have images that can be printed on the icing of a cake, canvases, acrylic blocks, photowraps and now the latest Giclée printing by the professional printers at ridiculously cheap prices. 

The printer I have is now used purely for  correspondance, as I simply can't match the quality of the professionals.

 

[stevedevil]

I can't agree more, the Pro's just have better equipment, but to just have a mediocre print of an image around the house lends to me, I have a good mate that runs Point 101, and just got some stunning canvasses again from him, so the really serious shots that I have taken we get on Canvas, hence the other thread I started, as im finally starting to like my images, and the brain has grown to see what I want, I felt in my competition days I was trying to get images outside my Comfort zone, and of course Skill set