Looking for reliable/affordable printer for color rich art prints

Discussion in 'Medium Format Inkjet Printers' started by owliedraws, Aug 15, 2013.

  1. owliedraws

    owliedraws New Member

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    St. Mary's City, MD, USA
    I am a digital/traditional illustration artist that needs prints to show well and not look too "dotty" after printing. No fading and if possible water resistant (I also make stickers). I like to use semigloss/matte papers and watercolor and bristol paper to print on (multiple sizes, I don't expect to print any larger than 12x18). A printer that can easily print on various paper thicknesses and not have confusing paper label settings for that (ex, gloss, semi gloss, matte, ect) would be good too.

    Also affordable ink if possible. If not, can the printer be fitted with other inks? I am interested in using lyson fine art inks since they are archival.

    I was interested in getting a Canon pro-100...?
    I'm wary of Epson since I read many reviews on their newest products complaining about short ink lifespan, too short for the amount of money paid for it and easily clogged nozzles (and even cases of fuzzy prints).
    I have also seen some HP printers that offer inkjet capabilities but I doubt they could be as good as either epson or canon. What are my options?

    $500 budget

    Thanks!
     
  2. xfactor printing

    xfactor printing Senior Member

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    Don't count HP out entirely. HP was an early market dominator with very solid office printers. Then they got in early to plotters and dominated the cad market with very economical to operate (by today's standards) and solid plotters.
    Epson came in with more than 4 colors and then great inks and dominated the art market where they are still tops.
    Canon was first to compete with Epson and has good cost to quality balance.
    HP then came in with the Z series, z3100, x3200, z2100, z3200 etc. and provided a solid easy to operate printer that also competes on quality. Not sure how this trickled down to their smaller art printers.
    Epson retains the #1 spot in the art market I think still, but the others have some cost and other benefits competing as well.
    $500 is tight. Printers in this range aren't the most solid in general - they're either office or the art printers are lightly built with expensive consumables and parts that wear out after a couple years so you may or may not be happy with this tight budget.
     
  3. IT Supplies

    IT Supplies Senior Member

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    If you want a good price on a high quality photo printer, the Canon Pixma Pro-100 would be the best one at the moment that is within your budget. There is also a very good rebate that makes it around $130 with free paper!

    HP came out with a really high quality laser printer (that uses pigment ink) and has been considered the Guinness World Record for fastest laser printer in the world. This is under HP Officejet Pro X series.

    IT Supplies
     
  4. OkiTech

    OkiTech Senior Member

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    OK guys, lets set few things clear....
    HP came out with a really high quality laser printer - office jet line isn't LASER it is still inkjet. None of the mentioned are water resistant so you may cross all of them out or cross out idea of water resistant prints. If water resistant prints required, most likely you need to look in to Solvent or Eco Solvent or UV Curable or Latex ink printer, I am not an expert in these but I'd out that they exist in such a small sizes and a budget is a joke. If using certain ink (I guess there is a aftermarket ink of somekind - Lyson) is requred, please keep in mind that not all inks are created equal, contact the manufacturer of that ink and ask them to suggest the printer that is gives best results with their inks. Please keep in mind that first drop of non-OEM ink will void any warranty that printer may come with. If water resistant printing isn't a must, I would buy a nice EPSON 4880 and leave all HP and Canon toys behind. Epson K3 inks are archival and quality should be supreme.
     
  5. IT Supplies

    IT Supplies Senior Member

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    First off, I work for a reseller of printers, papers and inks. Second, the HP Officejet Pro X series IS pigment based AND laser speed. Feel free to read these links for the model. Here is the toner which states Pigment inks:
    http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTE...SR&CatalogCategoryID=XhIQ7EN5nOAAAAEu_TF2Y5cL

    And here is the page for one of the models that states how quickly it prints version normal desktop printers.
    http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTE...D=bVsQ7EN508MAAAE2BQQsSM7g&CatalogCategoryID= (Print at record speeds with the world's fastest desktop printer.) it's still considered laser printer but with different type of ink- not the powder version like most laser printers have.

    I wouldn't have stated it if it wasn't true. We get direct training from the reps that work at these companies. Also, using 3rd party inks is a complete waste as it can damaged the printer sooner or later and will void the warranty. Also, you don't need to have a solvent or latex printer to have water resistant prints as pigment based inks also have this ability with most of the new models from Epson, Canon and HP. If you're going to be using using the media outside for a long duration, than yes, you would want a solvent or latex printer. Yes, Epson is a great brand, but Canon is also competing very much with them on their models and HP is not too far behind in certain areas.

    And if you don't think pigment printers don't have water resistant ability, than take a look at Epson's Exhibition Canvas which IS pigment based and water resistant. http://www.itsupplies.com/Epson/Epson-Exhibition-Canvas-Matte and read the description we have at the top. The last line is stating it. This is directly from Epson's site to make the customers know they get the genuine product.

    Not trying to be rude, but I go through my learning and research to provide the best options I can think of to assist people. I hope this clarifies things.
     

  6. xfactor printing

    xfactor printing Senior Member

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    "Laser speed" is the key there. It's not a laser printer. Toner is dry. A laser printer uses a laser to change the property of a drum to control attraction of toner. The HP referenced is an inkjet not a laser and uses inkjet ink not laser toner. Yes it prints fast and uses pigment ink and looks very interesting for the inkjet market with full page width inkjet head. Thanks for the link to it. Sorry to quibble. It bothers me when manufacturers twist technological terms to imply something that isn't... a good example is "offset finish".
     
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