A3 printers

  • Thread starter Thread starter ian
  • Start date Start date
Bob Headrick said:
Currently I have a Photosmart 8750. In the past I used a DeskJet 1220.
What is your application? What do you want to print (how many prints,
photos, etc)?
Click to expand...

My turn! Currently I have a Minolta Bizhub C250. In the past I used a
Canon CLC950. As above, what do you want to do with it?
 
CWatters said:
Epson 2100. Good photo results. Just rather slow. Not a good general
purpose
printer
Click to expand...

I won't be printing high volume of A3. mainly A4 and 4x6. also use it as a
general purpose printer and getting rid of i850 and epson r300. Was looking
at canon i9950 but print longevity is an issue. Canon were suppposed to be
bringing out new inks bci 8. with improved longevity. 10 ink dye and 12ink
pigment. Got some interesting machines on the american site. on the uk
auto product chooser it keeps pointing to a ix 5000. Not to be confused
with the ip5000 or ip5200. I noticed those are only 4 inks. my i850
produces prints just as good as the 6 ink epson r300. If anything the epson
prints are softer. Not to mention alot more expensive to produce.
 
ian said:
I won't be printing high volume of A3. mainly A4 and 4x6. also use it as a
general purpose printer and getting rid of i850 and epson r300. Was looking
at canon i9950 but print longevity is an issue. Canon were suppposed to be
bringing out new inks bci 8. with improved longevity. 10 ink dye and 12ink
pigment. Got some interesting machines on the american site. on the uk
auto product chooser it keeps pointing to a ix 5000. Not to be confused
with the ip5000 or ip5200. I noticed those are only 4 inks. my i850
produces prints just as good as the 6 ink epson r300. If anything the epson
prints are softer. Not to mention alot more expensive to produce.
Click to expand...

I got an iX4000 as something of an experiment for my work and also for
my other half (a teacher) to print off her display work for next year.

It does print very well and at a more than reasonable speed if you
compare the output to an iP4200 and double the time for increase in
paper size.

Output is good, and the lack of a dyebase black (PCI-8BK) is no loss at
all. It's not intended as a photo printer after all, nor is it going to
be doing any autoduplexing (a feature sadly but I guess common sense
lacking on this printer and the iX5000).

All in all, not bad but then I haven't used any other A3 printers and I
guess the cost of consumables is one negative aspect..
 
Martin said:
I got an iX4000 as something of an experiment for my work and also for my
other half (a teacher) to print off her display work for next year.

It does print very well and at a more than reasonable speed if you compare
the output to an iP4200 and double the time for increase in paper size.

Output is good, and the lack of a dyebase black (PCI-8BK) is no loss at
all. It's not intended as a photo printer after all, nor is it going to be
doing any autoduplexing (a feature sadly but I guess common sense lacking
on this printer and the iX5000).

All in all, not bad but then I haven't used any other A3 printers and I
guess the cost of consumables is one negative aspect..
Click to expand...

Not so worried about the duplexing or lack of cd printing. More interested
in photoprinting. My i850 is only 3 colours when doing photos and seems to
do just fine. The bci 3 carts it uses are the same size as the bci 6 that
the better printers use and they are quite large and only sip ink. So it
comes down to people vouching for the 6 and 8 ink printers. I notice the
epson is very good at subtle colours. the canon does good punchy bright and
contrasty prints. Doing gradation patterns and test patterns they seem to
do just as well as each other with hardly any visible stepping in
gradations.

The epson is actually more fussy about paper type. Upping the paper
quality to get higher print resolution also affects the colour profile
whereas i can use whatever paper i like in the canon, tell it its paper pro
and its fine. Basically i can lie to the canon to get the highest output
without losing colour accuracy. That and the cartridge costs and the print
speeds leads me to consider canon for an A3 printer rather than epson.
Genuine maximum quality epson paper costs a fortune whereas i get just as
good results with the canon and costcos kirkland paper.
 
Bob Headrick said:
Currently I have a Photosmart 8750. In the past I used a DeskJet 1220.
What is your application? What do you want to print (how many prints,
photos, etc)?

For Photo and Graphics Arts products from HP see:
http://h30267.www3.hp.com/country/us/en/products/photo/index.html?pageseq=83255

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
Click to expand...

Bob,

what would be possible HP replacements for the DeskJet 1220 when the
requirements are:

- must be strong on printing black text;
- must be able to print in booklet form;
- must produce good (not necessarily top) quality photos that last;
- handles without problems a range of paper thicknesses, say from 80 to 270
grams per sq meter.

As my 1220 is aging, it has become more and more selective as to the papers
it accepts. HP here has no local service for this model, and does not sell
spare parts to third party service companies, so there is not much one can
do to it.

With the 1220 I had two gripes, and hope that those are addressed in its
successor models:
- two-way communication with the computer never worked, making some features
unavailable, and
- the rear paper feed never worked (in the predecessor 1120 it worked
perfectly).

Thanks
Matti Partonen
 
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