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New tool arriving tomorrow.

ChromeScholar

Rollerblading along the road
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Thanks to quarterly work bonus, I have a new tool arriving tomorrow. This time it's an Epson ET 8550 Photo Printer. It does 13" x 19" prints, and uses Eco-Tanks instead of cartridges, so it's very cheap to run compared to a standard inkjet printer. It uses 6 different colors - pigment black, and dyes in black, grey, magenta, yellow and cyan. A full set of ink bottles is about $110, but a single bottle is equal to around 100 normal ink cartridges. Or so Epson says. It gets very good reviews. It is not quite at the quality level of an Epson P700. The P700 is about $130 dollars more. However, it uses $40 cartridges, and there are 10 of them, so a full refill of cartridges is $400. And the cartridges don't last near as long as a $17 - $19 bottle of ink for the ET 8550. Granted using 10 different colors makes better prints, but it also makes much more expensive operating costs.

I considered the equivalent Canon photo printer. I am a Canon guy, after all, and we like our current Canon printer. However, the Canons are getting bad reviews, especially when it comes to overflow ink pads. Apparently, on the Canon printers, they fill fairly quickly, and then the printer has to be sent in for service. The Epson has owner replaceable pads contained in a "maintenance box". You can replace the box for $15-$20 dollars, and reset the service warning yourself. No need to send it in.

All in all, I'm anxiously waiting for this printer to show up.
 

Kiwi's Dad

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I'm excited too! I can't wait to see the beautiful pictures you take. :camera:
 

Dartman

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I use a HP 9025 all in one here. Every Epson I have had the heads dry up and clog from sitting between print jobs and the heads are almost impossible to remove and clean. The HP the head is removable and easy to clean or replace if it gets damaged. The Epsons I had did print photos nicely when they were working right but the HP does really well for what I use it for and photos still look really nice. Ink is expensive though but you can buy refill kits and aftermarket cartridges.
I don't think HP makes a ink tank printer at the level your or my printer can do yet but if they ever do I might upgrade again because your right, in tanks are way cheaper to deal with and less restrictions built in because ink is ink.
 

ChromeScholar

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Printed a couple of 4x6 prints with Kodak paper and Canon paper. Found out immediately that paper does make a difference. All other setting being the same, The Canon paper did a better job. It was more accurate to the original shot. The Kodak was darker, and on the portrait shot it had a slight pinkish cast to it. I'll post a couple of shots to show the difference. This printer is going to be a learning experience.
 

ChromeScholar

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Spent most of the day playing with my new photo printer. There is something about holding a high-quality photo that a digital pic can't match.
 

Dartman

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When you get a really nice photo print it's like looking at a good 35mm picture professionally printed, just brings it to life. I have a old Epson r800 that had 8 colors and could print labels on cd/DVD disks. It finally ran out of ink a few times and I'm sure the heads are completely dried out and plugged but it did print nice pictures when it worked. Probably can't even find cartridges for it now. I had the same problem with the HP 990 that only printed but it was a tank that always worked excellent even with aftermarket refills. I had to retire it because I can't find good cartridges anymore :mad:
 
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