What ink do you use on your Epson for photo?

[KamWeng]

I have a 4 color Epson printer being used mostly for photo printing. I find that the original Epson ink is the best in color but the price is a bit scaring. I tried Nippon Ink, MicroJet and Sepoms. Nippon Ink was the closest to the OEM but it's not cheap enough. Sepoms needed a bit of tweaking in the color control.

Anybody uses any other third party ink which is cheap and good in color?

Regards

 

[ckiang]

Originally posted by KamWeng
I have a 4 color Epson printer being used mostly for photo printing. I find that the original Epson ink is the best in color but the price is a bit scaring. I tried Nippon Ink, MicroJet and Sepoms. Nippon Ink was the closest to the OEM but it's not cheap enough. Sepoms needed a bit of tweaking in the color control.

Anybody uses any other third party ink which is cheap and good in color?

Regards

Don't waste time and money. If you value your photo prints, use the original. Sure, it costs more, but you get best results straightaway. Some 3rd party inks/refills are also known to leak, causing an even more expensive repair bills.

The time spent on getting correct colours out of 3rd party inks is just not worth the savings.

Regards
CK

 

[mistral]

I agree with CK's views. The manufacturers (be it Epson, HP, Lexmark or Canon), all have their research and their products like paper and inks are meant to work well within its own brand.

Here's some interesting articles on inkjet printing and their lifespan (27-200yrs):

http://www.micropubnews.com/pages/issues/2000/800_news-inkjet_mpn.shtml
http://www.wilhelm-research.com/

 

[KamWeng]

Yes I think you guys are right. But since these normal inkjet printouts are not truely archival, I just use them for distribution of photos to friends/relatives, or for desktop photo frame (which is to be changed every 1-2 months). So OEM inks are too expensive for these purposes.