Printer for an Artist

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob Headrick
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob Headrick

Hi, I am looking for as many sizes as I can get. I saw at Comp USA
that some printers print as large as 13"x 44" but they only carried
13" x 19" which is fine by me.
I also want to print small.
Click to expand...

The HP C9180 may be a good choice. It uses eight separate pigmented ink
cartridges and will print on sizes from 3"x5" to 13" x5 19". There is a
very active Yahoo group that discusses this printer (hp9100Series), as well
as a large number of profiles for various paper types. The C9180 can also
print very nice B&W prints in addition to its color performance. You can
order some free sample prints from HP at:
http://www.hp.com/sbso/productivity.../IPG/VAcontent/colorprinters/Orderprintsample

Wilhelm (a recognized expert in testing fade) rates the lightfastness of the
C9180 at > 230 Years under glass and more than 100 years unframed. See
http://www.wilhelm-research.com/hp/PhotosmartProB9180.html

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Healthy Stealthy said:
I am a digital artist. I need a good printer to print my artwork I do
in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. I also want to print
artistic photographs. On the other hand, I want a printer that can
still print word documents and spreadsheets. I want to be able to
print large paper format as well.
Click to expand...

How large a format? If up to 13"x19" you might look at the HP Photosmart
8750 or the C9180. See
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/18972-18972-3328063-15100-3328076-1143049.html
and
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/18972-18972-3328063-15100-3328076-1143049.html.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
I am a digital artist. I need a good printer to print my artwork I do
in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. I also want to print
artistic photographs. On the other hand, I want a printer that can
still print word documents and spreadsheets. I want to be able to
print large paper format as well.

Can anyone suggest a printer?

Thanks for your help.
 
If you are working in color, and I assume you are, and you want good
quality in both photo, illustration and text, the best choice is still
inkjet. Color laser isn't quite photo quality (at least not yet) and
dye sublimation isn't good for line art and text due to the resolution
(and besides they are still costly in terms of consumables).

That leaves inkjet, which is probably the best choice for an artist at
this time. It gives you a great range of papers, is relatively fast and
price is reasonable.

You need to decide what width you need. Letter size printers (up to
about 8.5" by up to 44 inches long (or so)) are fine and much less
costly than wider carriage, but they do limit the one direction to 8.5"

Wider carriage are more costly, often considerably so. You can buy 13",
17", 24" and wider still. Sometimes the printer cartridges are less
costly per ml of ink, however, and if you go for a CI (Continuous inking
system) of some sort, you can further cut costs by using 3rd party inks.

The next question is if you require direct to CD printing, or if labels
will work... at this point Epson is the company with the rights in North
America, while Canon owns European and other right why they agreed to
help. I understand the printer parts and driver from the European
version of the Canon's can be encountered in North America.

Next, what permanence do you expect from your prints? If you want
something approaching "archival" you need to consider the pigment Epson
Ultrachrome models which rate upward of 200 years new.

However, the newer dye inks in the Epson Clarica, and HP Vivera inks are
dye or hybrid, but have much better gamut than most pigments while
maintaing pretty acceptable "in sunlight exposure" tests,

Epson has courted the artist market more closely and has gotten a number
of artists interested, and has many papers coated for different looks
and projects.. As a result the drivers are more mature and accurate.
Canon is working on improving there compatibility with 3rd party paper
and inks.

But having said that, other factors like cost of ink, type of media
required to print on, etc, all enter into the equation.
 
Bob said:
How large a format? If up to 13"x19" you might look at the HP
Photosmart 8750 or the C9180.
Click to expand...

He is an employee of HP. So this is not really an independent
recommendation. The best out there in a wide format printer for around
a $400 price is the award winning Canon Pro 9000. Soon to ship is also
the Canon Pro 9500. The 9500 will be a pigmented based printer.
 
Canon IP4300 standard format

Canon Pro 9000 wide format

Canon Pro 9500 wide format pigmented (will ship soon)
 
How large a format? If up to 13"x19" you might look at the HP Photosmart
8750 or the C9180. Seehttp://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/18972-18972-3328063-151...
andhttp://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/18972-18972-3328063-151....

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


Hi, I am looking for as many sizes as I can get. I saw at Comp USA
that some printers print as large as 13"x 44" but they only carried
13" x 19" which is fine by me.
I also want to print small.
 
You might take a look at the Epson 3800. And then, think about an
inexpensive laser printer for your text documents. Brother and HP have
decent ones.

Gordo
 
Keep in mind that this poster is an employee of HP. Canon is a better
choice and the ink is far more economical. Look at the Canon Pro9000 or
the pigmented soon to be released Pro 9500.
The HP C9180 may be a good choice. It uses eight separate pigmented
ink cartridges and will print on sizes from 3"x5" to 13" x5 19".
There is a very active Yahoo group that discusses this printer
(hp9100Series), as well as a large number of profiles for various
paper types. The C9180 can also print very nice B&W prints in
addition to its color performance. You can order some free sample
prints from HP at:
http://www.hp.com/sbso/productivity.../IPG/VAcontent/colorprinters/Orderprintsample


Wilhelm (a recognized expert in testing fade)
Click to expand...

Wilhelm is an expert and proclaims that generic ink fades far more
rapidly then OEM ink and yet many in this ng still promote generic ink
and poo poo Wilhelm. But they do mention Wilhelm when it suits their case.
 
Here's a list of 11 medium-format printers for artists with pros and
cons for each.

HP makes some of the best laser and inkjet printers on the planet for
office use, but they have never addressed the needs of photographers
and other artists until just recently. Although there are only about
150,000 professional photographers in the world, this is a niche
market that Epson has found very profitable. Canon has also became a
player in this field. HP entered the photo consumer market years ago
with their Photosmart series, but these printers never fully addressed
the longevity issues that concerned professional photographers and
other artists -- that is, until HP's introduction of their new HP
Photosmart Pro B9180 ink jet printer.

The following list of inkjet printers share two things in common: (1)
they can handle at least a 13" x 19" format (and can also print letter-
size office documents with ease); and (2) they do an excellent job in
printing photography or other art because of of their high definition
and 6-ink (or more) printing technology:

Canon PIXMA Pro9000 (13x19), uses 8 dye inks - $499.99
Canon PIXMA Pro9500 (13x19), uses 10 pigment inks (avail. Spring 2007)
Canon iPF5000 (17x22 + rolls), uses 12 pigment inks - $1945.00
Epson Stylus Photo R2400 (13x19 + rolls), uses 8 pigment inks -
$849.00
Epson Stylus Photo R1800 (13x19 + rolls), uses 7 pigment inks -
$549.00
Epson Stylus Photo 1280 (13x19 + rolls), uses 6 dye inks - $299.00
Epson Stylus Photo 1400 (13x19), uses 6 dye inks - $399.00
Epson Stylus Pro 3800 (17x22), uses 8 pigment inks - $1295.00
Epson Stylus Pro 4800 (17x22 + rolls), uses 8 pigment inks - $1995.00
HP B9180 PhotoSmart PRO Printer (13x19), uses 8 pigment inks - $699.99
HP DesignJet 130 (17x22 + rolls + 24" width), uses 6 dye inks -
$1295.00

Epson has the most choices in this arena, because they have been more
focused on art and photography over the past 7-8 years.

LONGEVITY: The printers that use dye inks will do a great job, but
their prints will only last about 10 years when displayed on a wall.
(Some claim longevity of up to 80 years, but this is only when using a
limited number of glossy or semi-gloss special, "swellable polymer"
papers.) Those printers using pigment inks have much greater fade-
resistance, on a wide variety of media, including fine art papers and
canvas (50 to 200 years, depending on the media).

MEDIA HANDLING: Those printers that have "roll" capability can usually
print images longer than 19 inches, which allows one to print long
panorama images (the Epson 3800 does not have roll capacity, but it
can print on custom cut sheets up to 37"). Some of these printers can
even print on canvas (Canon iPF5000, Epson Stylus Pro 3800, Epson
Stylus Pro 4800). The Canon iPF5000, Epson Stylus Photo R2400, Epson
Stylus Pro 3800, and Epson Stylus Pro 4800 can all handle thick, fine
art papers.

INK ECONOMY: The Canon iPF5000, Epson Stylus Pro 3800, and Epson
Stylus Pro 4800 printers all use very large capacity ink cartridges
that will greatly reduce ink costs.

Royce Bair, consultant
Tips, news, reviews and resources...
http://www.InkjetNEWSandTIPS.com/
 
Here's a list of 11 medium-format printers for artists with pros and
cons for each.

HP makes some of the best laser and inkjet printers on the planet for
office use, but they have never addressed the needs of photographers
and other artists until just recently. Although there are only about
150,000 professional photographers in the world, this is a niche
market that Epson has found very profitable. Canon has also became a
player in this field. HP entered the photo consumer market years ago
with their Photosmart series, but these printers never fully addressed
the longevity issues that concerned professional photographers and
other artists -- that is, until HP's introduction of their new HP
Photosmart Pro B9180 ink jet printer.

The following list of inkjet printers share two things in common: (1)
they can handle at least a 13" x 19" format (and can also print letter-
size office documents with ease); and (2) they do an excellent job in
printing photography or other art because of of their high definition
and 6-ink (or more) printing technology:

Canon PIXMA Pro9000 (13x19), uses 8 dye inks - $499.99
Canon PIXMA Pro9500 (13x19), uses 10 pigment inks (avail. Spring 2007)
Canon iPF5000 (17x22 + rolls), uses 12 pigment inks - $1945.00
Epson Stylus Photo R2400 (13x19 + rolls), uses 8 pigment inks -
$849.00
Epson Stylus Photo R1800 (13x19 + rolls), uses 7 pigment inks -
$549.00
Epson Stylus Photo 1280 (13x19 + rolls), uses 6 dye inks - $299.00
Epson Stylus Photo 1400 (13x19), uses 6 dye inks - $399.00
Epson Stylus Pro 3800 (17x22), uses 8 pigment inks - $1295.00
Epson Stylus Pro 4800 (17x22 + rolls), uses 8 pigment inks - $1995.00
HP B9180 PhotoSmart PRO Printer (13x19), uses 8 pigment inks - $699.99
HP DesignJet 130 (17x22 + rolls + 24" width), uses 6 dye inks -
$1295.00

Epson has the most choices in this arena, because they have been more
focused on art and photography over the past 7-8 years.

LONGEVITY: The printers that use dye inks will do a great job, but
their prints will only last about 10 years when displayed on a wall.
(Some claim longevity of up to 80 years, but this is only when using a
limited number of glossy or semi-gloss special, "swellable polymer"
papers.) Those printers using pigment inks have much greater fade-
resistance, on a wide variety of media, including fine art papers and
canvas (50 to 200 years, depending on the media).

MEDIA HANDLING: Those printers that have "roll" capability can usually
print images longer than 19 inches, which allows one to print long
panorama images (the Epson 3800 does not have roll capacity, but it
can print on custom cut sheets up to 37"). Some of these printers can
even print on canvas (Canon iPF5000, Epson Stylus Pro 3800, Epson
Stylus Pro 4800). The Canon iPF5000, Epson Stylus Photo R2400, Epson
Stylus Pro 3800, and Epson Stylus Pro 4800 can all handle thick, fine
art papers.

INK ECONOMY: The Canon iPF5000, Epson Stylus Pro 3800, and Epson
Stylus Pro 4800 printers all use very large capacity ink cartridges
that will greatly reduce ink costs.

Royce Bair, consultant
Tips, news, reviews and resources...http://www.InkjetNEWSandTIPS.com/
Click to expand...


I want to thank everyone who suggested printers in this thread.
Since my Epson 860 was broken I decided to get the Epson 1400 for now.
It's a decent printer for the price, $399.00. I can use this printer
until I make a more serious decision of what I want from printing
down the line. I figured, I could not beat the Epson 1400 for the
money.

Thanks again.
 
Back
Top