On Mon, 02 Sep 2013 13:56:35 -0400, Alan Browne
wrote:

On 2013.09.02 13:18 , PeterN wrote:
On 9/2/2013 1:01 PM, Alan Browne wrote:
On 2013.09.02 12:48 , iCod wrote:
My Canon ip5000 has died. I need a replacement. Any recomendations
greatfully received. Ink replacement price is an important issue.

Pro photo printers give you the best ink cost - about 1 ¢ per square inch

Example: Epson 3880. It has a new cost of about $1300 - but that
includes a full set of 100% full 80 ml ink cartridges (that's about $500
worth of ink). So in reality it is a $800 printer. Those large
cartridges are more expensive (about $50 - $55 per cart) but they
contain far more ink than the 15ml carts that you pay $20 - $30 for.

Common ink jet printers (such as you would get at Staples) with scanner
and fax integration, are about 2 - 4 times more expensive in ink costs -
but the up front cost is very low ($100 or less).

Kodak claimed that their personal use printers, while more expensive ,
had lower ink costs that most ink jets. I do not know if that bears out
in real life.


Your suggestion is for an excellent high quality printer. And indeed if
I decide to do fine art printing, it is the one I would purchase.

If the OP is more concerned about ink costs than quality, he should
consider any printer for which he is able to get third party ink. We
don't know what size images he is seeking to make, and the quantity of
printing he does, therefore, it is difficult to make a recommendation.

I assume that anyone making photo prints wants photo quality ink and not
the hit or miss of 3rd party inks.

Pro printers such as the 3880 (I have the predecessor 3800 which uses
the same ink carts except one) are designed for high throughput (not
that I do high volume). So the ink quality is superior and the cost per
print is far lower than common inkjets. At a lower capital cost and
slightly higher ink cost is the printer that the duck mentioned.

The OP should not ignore the cost of photoquality paper. Larger sheets
are often cheaper than smaller (e.g. A3+ is cheaper than A3) and this
should be borne in mind when considering printer size. I went through
this exercise about three years ago and, like PeterN, I ended up
buying an Epson 3800. I could have bought a cheaper printer but by the
time I had bought my first set of replacement ink cartridges it had
already cost me less to run than if I had bought a smaller R2800 (I
think it was then).
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens