solid ink printers

[admin]

Greetings,

I understand solid ink printers give better rendition to photos and a
longer life span, but they are not so widely advertised, are they any better
than ink jets?

Where is the best place to find these in the UK?
--
Regards,

Peter

peteratNOSPAMhull-me.co.uk

 

[Taliesyn]

Greetings,

I understand solid ink printers give better rendition to photos and a
longer life span, but they are not so widely advertised, are they any better
than ink jets?

Where is the best place to find these in the UK?

I think the biggest drawback might be their price - $1,500 to $2,000.
(about $3,000 in Canada)

And we won't even talk about ink costs - you'll probably be tied to the
manufacturer's overly expensive ink because the printers may not be
supported by outside ink suppliers.

-Taliesyn

 

[Rafe B.]

Greetings,

I understand solid ink printers give better rendition to photos and a
longer life span, but they are not so widely advertised, are they any better
than ink jets?

I'm not sure they really are, in terms of photo quality -- at least
not when compared to the very best photo-quality printers from
Epson or Canon.

Dye sub prints have a very different feel to them -- much more
like conventional RC paper photo prints. They have no visible
dots, but they do have jaggies, and may exhibit banding.
(The old ALPS printers were notorious in this regard.)

Generally you will be limited to papers specifically designed
for the printer in question.

One of the photo magazines recently ran a review by Ctein of the
Kodak 8500. It didn't sound like the reviewer was overwhelmed
or overjoyed by the output, though he didn't diss it too badly
either. (Most of his complaints were about very subtle issues
of color rendition.)

The print samples in the article from the 8500 weren't terribly
impressive.

For my money, I'd go with a pro-quality inkjet. If you're
concerned about print life, get a printer that can use
pigment inks. (Which points to Epson or high-end HP,
and rules out Canon.)


rafe b.
http://www.terrapinphoto.com

 

[admin]

Greetings,

For my money, I'd go with a pro-quality inkjet. If you're
concerned about print life, get a printer that can use
pigment inks. (Which points to Epson or high-end HP,
and rules out Canon.)

Thanks for the info folks, I have an Epson C80 which uses pigmented ink,
this is far superior to the HP 970cxi of which I also use for text.

Because I do a lot of voluntary work I was looking at upgrading to a printer
that can handle a fair amount or work with good reproduction that I can use
for photos, newsletters, brochures etc as well as my own work, the best
option for some of the work is a new colour laser at about 499GBP, but
unfortunately I am allergic to the emissions given off by laser printers and
photocopiers.

I think I will stick to my Epson for photos and brochures and the HP for
documents, posters and newsletters.
--
Regards,

Peter

peteratNOSPAMhull-me.co.uk