Re: Printers...

Alan Browne wrote:

What printer are you using for photography?

Pros/cons of it?

Plans to upgrade, change approach, etc.

Thanks,
Alan

PS: I'm esp. interested in small pro printers such as the Epson 3800 and Canon iPF5100, but all comments are very welcome.

I'm using an R1800 (13" carriage width). I bought it 3 years ago. It took about a year of effort to really nail /my/ workflow so that I can get a great result first time.
I use it to print mainly on matte (true matte) and semi-gloss papers. For matte papers, the later "K3" (ie for 3800) inksets are better (R1800 gamut on deep saturated greens is more limited) For pearl (or gloss) finish papers, there's very little difference. For monochorome, printers with the multi-shade black inks should be better, but OTOH, I can churn out better monochrome than many I've seen displayed printed with Epson K3 by pros who apparently either don't know what they're doing - or have strange taste or are colourblind etc.
An advantage that Epson /might/ have over Canon is that the Piezo print-heads do not age, and each printer is factory colormetrically calibrated. This applies to R1800 - not limited to "pro" (production models) as reported by non-experts like Luminous Landscape. Thermal heads do age (due to cycling of heating elements) and AFAIK, Canon does not self-calibrate. HP's pro level thermal printers do self calibrate. (in fact the high end models can also produce custom profiles using inbuilt colorimeter)

Despite much supposedly good advice that "epson printers clog all the time", in 3 years use, sometimes with extended periods of complete non-use, my R1800 has never clogged and never missed a beat. I have still not had to run a "cleaning cycle". The only extra reason for my "good luck" may be that I periodically inspect the seals around the printhead station to make sure that there is no ink build-up or paper shards, and vacuum the interior to remove dust etc.

Print cost is much less for large prints than any local pro lab, plus I can print on matte papers which are better IMO for framing. Conversely, print cost for small prints is much higher than local discount labs, let alone the time and hassle to print (OTOH the ability to be able to print off small photographs immediately is sometimes priceless).
.

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