If you want to make a living from photography, the Epson 1280 is
definately not the way to go as the prints will fade and your customers
will complain. Pro photographers need pro gear i.e. the Epson
4000 or the Epson 7600. These use archive quality inks and media,
are much cheaper to run than the 1280 and do not clog. The 7600
has a 24 inch wide carriage and will print on anything from art paper
to photo paper to canvas but you'll need a camera that is capable
of making the most of that huge print size.

Graham


"JC Dill" wrote in message
...
I have been using an Epson 1280 at work. I need to either A) buy print
cartridges for it or B) buy my own printer. I may not be working there
much longer (I'm a contract employee, and I'm itching to start doing
photography full time), so I'll have to buy my own eventually at some
point anyhow.

I would like to buy something that can do large format prints. The
Epson can print up to 13 inches wide and I bought 2 boxes of 13x19
glossy and watercolor paper to print for a portrait customer and I was
quite happy with the results, so I'm looking for something of similar
use and quality. What are the Canon and HP equivalents to the Epson for
this purpose? I'm a bit leery of buying an Epson that is this expensive
given that I have a 1520 that is dead due to a clogged vacuum tube to
the black print head, due to sitting unused for several months. I have
heard that this is a common problems with Epson printers, so unless I
hear that it isn't a know problem with the 1280 I'm inclined to get a
non-Epson that can better take being left idle without risk of clogging
up.

Thanks!

jc