Best A3 and A4 color inkjet printers...

[mpenza]

which one do you recommend or have used for
1. A3 printing
2. A4 printing

you could choose to state the pros and cons in terms of image quality, speed, costs of consumables, value (for money) and reliability

[Barret]

My printing gear.

EPSON Stylus Photo 1290 (bought last year at 990)
pros:
up to A3+ borderless! 13x19 flawless!
Fantastic colour reproduction, good enough for proofing work.
55 years archival quailty!

Cons?
none.


EPSON Photo 2000P (cant remember when i bought it)
Up to A3+
visually grainless
200 years light fastness.
ability to print on plastics, water colour paper, cloth and more mediums

Cons?
Ink sucks cash


Epson photo 710 (the old 1 about 400 bough 5 years back)
It has great colour reproduction, good enough for poster printouts
for 8Rs
max size of A4
how ink is cheap
although it may be noisy, the quailty is very goof for its generation of printers.


for everything else i print with commerical printers.

[ckiang]

A3: The ultimate would be the new Epson 2100 (replaces the 2000P mentioned by Barret). With the new 7-UltraChrome inks, (the usual 6 + "light black") you can now print realistic looking B&W. Can even print on CD direct.

Regards
CK

[Barret]

i want a 2100!

but no money


need more jobs man

[ckiang]

Quote: Originally posted by Barret i want a 2100! but no money need more jobs man

hehheh, and did I mention it has a paper cutter built-in too?

Downside: Ink is incredibly expensive.

Regards
CK

[Barret]

you know actually i was thinking about selling off my 2000p for the 2100, however, after asking around, no one is willing to pay more than 600 for it
so i dicided to keep it

The 2000p has a paper cutter which is attachable
but i havent seen any on sale in singapore

[jasphotography]

sorry for reviving old thread...

Got a handful of questions (directed to ckiang and Barret ) :

1) Can Epson 2000P print on CD? I doubt so but just to be absolutely sure...

2) How much is a Epson 2100P now?

3) How much can one get a Epson 2000P second hand?

4) If one is to print A3 size from a scanned slide, would a consumer scanner like a Nikon Coolscan 4 or a Minolta Scan Dual 3 be adequate in terms of scanning resolution for A3 printing?

Would really appreciate any form of reply... thanks!

[Barret]

answers to your question.

1) nope the 2000p cannot print on CDs

2) CP will be having a sale on the 2100 this christmas, at about $1259. you should watch for it then

3) Not many people have the 2000P or are willing to sell it off, the lightfastness is better than anything on the market even the 2100! I sold mine off at 900 bucks

4) I use the scan dual 3 to scan my negitives and slides, its really awesome. the colours are good and the optics are great. I dont care much for ICE or Flare cos in my opinion they are over rated. Comming back to the Qn, If you compare prints from a scanned slide to that of a D100 or a 10D printout, the slide print will be better. You usually have better colour control and larger file sizes to work with 20 mega pixles !!!! a scan and thats pretty big.

_________

But what you should really be looking out for is the epson pro 4000
The first 8 colour A2+ Printer, with enough features to blow your mind!
it even has 220ml individual ink tanks!!! Massive


now anyone if anyone can help me with ilford papers, i would be exreamly apperciative. I cant get print colours right on ilford

hope that answers it all

[jasphotography]

Originally Posted by Barret answers to your question. 1) nope the 2000p cannot print on CDs

errkkk, my existing and humble Epson 900 can!

Originally Posted by Barret 2) CP will be having a sale on the 2100 this christmas, at about $1259. you should watch for it then

That's quite a good buy, isn't? How much is it now by the way?

[jasphotography]

Originally Posted by Barret 3) Not many people have the 2000P or are willing to sell it off, the lightfastness is better than anything on the market even the 2100! I sold mine off at 900 bucks

To be frank, a friend of mine is going to sell the 2000P to me for $580. Think I should just grab it... live with it, sleep by it and forget about the 2100.

Originally Posted by Barret 4) I use the scan dual 3 to scan my negitives and slides, its really awesome. the colours are good and the optics are great. I dont care much for ICE or Flare cos in my opinion they are over rated. Comming back to the Qn, If you compare prints from a scanned slide to that of a D100 or a 10D printout, the slide print will be better. You usually have better colour control and larger file sizes to work with 20 mega pixles !!!! a scan and thats pretty big. hope that answers it all

So, were you saying a slide scanned from a scandual 3 is enough for A3 size printing and the A3 prints were awesome? At what dpi? 300 dpi?

Thanks for your reply, Barret.

[Watcher]

For A3 printers, I don't think you have the budget for the Epson 5000 (out in Jan) as it cost oh US$1.8k list (about S$3.5k)

For A4 printers, see this thread of mine . List is US$400

[Barret]

waho.. the 2000p at 580 ! thats an awesome price, but really depends on the condition.

Yes The Scan dual actually makes scans large enough for A3
and to go to A3+ a little interpolation is required.
(300 DPI Files)
flim scanners even as the consumer will beat digital SLRs hands down in terms of resolution, unles syou have a digital back. but thats a diffrent class by its self

I think watcher is talking about the Epson 4000pro which is NOT an A3 Printer
its an A2 printer, its list price will be 3750 when its launched soon

right now the 2100 is at $1650 at cp

[jasphotography]

Thanks Barret. You do know Epson printers well, don't you?

Just curious... are you a Nikon user? I have this thing in me that Nikonians use Epson printers.

[Watcher]

Originally Posted by Barret I think watcher is talking about the Epson 4000pro which is NOT an A3 Printer its an A2 printer, its list price will be 3750 when its launched soon right now the 2100 is at $1650 at cp

Yep, it is A2 (up to 17" wide, A2 is 16.5"), but hey, it still can print A3, right

As for the 2100, South Asia is selling it at $1290. They have one unit at the bottom...

[AJ23]

Originally Posted by jasphotography Just curious... are you a Nikon user? I have this thing in me that Nikonians use Epson printers.

Not really.

[ckiang]

Originally Posted by jasphotography Thanks Barret. You do know Epson printers well, don't you? Just curious... are you a Nikon user? I have this thing in me that Nikonians use Epson printers.

Most do. Doesn't seem to "right" to use a Canon printer if you are a Nikonian. Doesn't seem to "right" to use a Nikon (or Minolta for that matter) scanner if you are a Canonian, though I do know one Canonian using a Nikon scanner.

But personally, I like Epson printers (not because I am a Nikonian of coz), and I don't quite believe in the ThinkTanks at $15 a piece. My usage is always such that the inks run out at about the same time, so individual carts are not very advantageous to me.

Regards
CK

[Barret]

Nope i aint a nikon person.

Actually i use olympus and canon.
in fact i have a nikon scanner too haha
I reckon most people go for epson printers for its lightfastness, although many may argue that canon printouts are better. i still stick to my epsons for the following reasons.

1) all printers have a minimum 25 years fade free prints and up to 200 years in the 2000p

2) Profiling is easy

3) service is remarkable, especially for the A3+ and biger printers. They collect and deliver free of charge for the full 4 years. more over they have the Xbox at their service centre

4) i have long been an epson fan, why change now?

like i said CP will be having a massive sale for the 2100P this christmas, and it will be really cheap.

you can mimic the print quailty of the 2100 with the 1290 actually

[wind30]

errr... when was the Epson stylus photo 2100 launched??? I am thinking of buying it but it seems that it was already lauched in August 2002. Isn't it rather "old" technology?

[mpenza]

Originally Posted by ckiang Most do. Doesn't seem to "right" to use a Canon printer if you are a Nikonian. Doesn't seem to "right" to use a Nikon (or Minolta for that matter) scanner if you are a Canonian, though I do know one Canonian using a Nikon scanner. But personally, I like Epson printers (not because I am a Nikonian of coz), and I don't quite believe in the ThinkTanks at $15 a piece. My usage is always such that the inks run out at about the same time, so individual carts are not very advantageous to me. Regards CK

Used to use Nikon flash on a Fujifilm camera powered by Olympus batteries with an Epson printer and Minolta film scanner

[ghibli]

Originally Posted by Barret i still stick to my epsons for the following reasons. 1) all printers have a minimum 25 years fade free prints and up to 200 years in the 2000p 2) Profiling is easy 3) service is remarkable, especially for the A3+ and biger printers. They collect and deliver free of charge for the full 4 years. more over they have the Xbox at their service centre 4) i have long been an epson fan, why change now?

Hmm...don't you face that famous (or infamous) print-head clog problem with your Epson printers which I keep hearing about? Maybe you're a high volume user.

And how come no one talks about HP printers? No good? I use one at the office and like the sturdy paper feed system. Now not sure which printer to buy for home use.