Printer recomendations

[glider64]

I`m looking to display and hopefully sell some of my images at a local gallery but have been told normal printers ink fades over time and would like some recommendations for a suitable printer my budget is only £100.00 ,is this going to get me something worth having or would I be better off sending the images off to be printed?

[paulr5604]

Re: Printer recomendations

I looked into buying a printer for my images but decided that it is sooo cheap to send the photos off to be printed it wasn't worth the effort and expense to buy a quality printer and get it calibrated, there is also the cost of ink cartridges to consider.

[Paulstw]

Re: Printer recomendations

There's not many out there that would argue that a Canon Pixma A3 printer will do your images justice. Our Art Dept in school insist in using Epson A2 printers and get nothing but bother with them and that's using the consta-flow system where you never run out of ink. Expensive but for large print runs it's essential.

Never heard of Ink fading over time. Certainly if it's used once in a blue moon, you spend more money in cleaning heads than printing. Photobox offer a really cheap service and it's quick, however, their quality can't always be on par. If you're selling the prints, then maybe sell via Fine Art America? People can order all sorts of prints via that site, and you set the price. £30 for a year premium service is quite cheap.

[Les McLean]

Re: Printer recomendations

I'd agree with Paulr on this, it often takes a lot of effort and expense to get the printer calibrated, paper wasted doing test prints etc, etc.

I gave up years ago (mainly in frustration) printing my own images, and any prints I need are now done online.

DSCL (DS Colour Labs) is generally highly regarded service for printing, and I've had consistently good service from them over the years.

And yes, printer ink can fade, although modern ink technologies are better, I've had images from years ago that were home printed and have faded , mainly those in frames.

[nickorando]

Re: Printer recomendations

Never heard of Ink fading over time.

Really? It's an extremely well-known problem of inkjet prints, particularly with dye-based inks. There's a reasonable article on it here.

For a £100 budget, don't bother - use a decent print service.

[Paulstw]

Re: Printer recomendations

Really? It's an extremely well-known problem of inkjet prints, particularly with dye-based inks. There's a reasonable article on it here.

For a £100 budget, don't bother - use a decent print service.

Been using Epson A2 printers in the Art Dept in the school i work in for 6-7 years now and prints have always come out great, when you get past the mechanical problems of course.

I do agree though, sending to a specialist is the way forward. Leave it to the pros :)

[nickorando]

Re: Printer recomendations

Been using Epson A2 printers in the Art Dept in the school i work in for 6-7 years now and prints have always come out great, when you get past the mechanical problems of course.

It's not a question of how they come out, but if the inks fade at a later date. Any printer can produce a decent print, but if the inks fade over time, any customer will be mightily pissed off. Now the Epson (and Canon) A2 printers are wonderful, but they're not within a £100 budget! ;)

[antoeknee]

Re: Printer recomendations

I use to work in the dyes industry and 'fading' is a fact of life. Lots of work goes into minimising fading but it happens. Certain printer manufacturers HP, Canon, etc will give figures for print permanency though this will be based on using their inks on certain paper and stored correctly (temp/humidity/light). Not all dyes/pigments fade at the same rate so often one will fade more than the others which you'll normally see if the print is in a frame, when you remove it the part covered by the frame should be the original colours (though chemicals in the frame plastic/wood can also cause fading) and the exposed area will be bluer/redder/yellower.

As to the inks from the 3rd party suppliers they may well be worse/better than the OEM but again lots of variables that could trigger fading.

IIRC best permanency in printing is from dye sublimation printing which also offer better continuous tones. Cost is an issue with these and not really a viable home option though Canon Selphy printers use this technology I believe.

[MX5]

Re: Printer recomendations

There are long life inks and archival quality paper (it's not just ink that can fade (poor dyes, UV radiation), the paper can disintegrate) ... so on a budget best to use one of the many online services ... I'm guessing these offer an 'everyday' and 'professional' service??

Then you are in selecting paper ... an artist friend of mine swears by 'Hahnemühle' for the prints he sells.

[glider64]

Re: Printer recomendations

Thanks to everyone for the replies I now think the search for a reliable quality printing firm is on

[ST-EOS]

Re: Printer recomendations

Thanks to everyone for the replies I now think the search for a reliable quality printing firm is on

The correct choice in IMO Home printing in small quantities is OK but if you're serious about selling images you need to use a print company (Les has suggested a good one) such that you can have a supply of printed images at different sizes, mounted, unmounted, framed (now there's another expense), greeting cards etc.
However you only mention selling via a gallery, so you would need to know what they would expect to be able to sell to their clients. Good luck with your venture, I hope you do really well.

[digiman]

Re: Printer recomendations

Another vote here for DSCL(link). Very professional, quick, and reasonably priced.