Canon Ink usage (i9950)

[GB]

Just a FYI (or bored babble).

I had to print 222 6x4's today on Canon GP-401 (the cheapest of the 6x4
Glossy Photo Papers). I started with full carts on all colours. Image were
from a wedding, with a lot of variety (indoor/outdoor etc) so I think they
would be a pretty good spread of 'typical' photos. Here is the amount (in
carts) of each ink I went through:

Photo Magenta 2.2
Red 0.4
Black 0.8
Green 0.5
Photo Cyan 2
Cyan 1
Magenta 1
Yellow 1.1

Approximate total ink usage of 9 carts.

Fortunately I use Formulabs bulk inks so the cost was relatively trivial
(about AU$9), if I had been using Canon inks as the price they sell for here
it would have been about AU$225!

With paper costs of AU$55, total cost was AU$59.
Cheapest lab prints here cost about AU39c which means a total cost of AU$87

I still win ;-) But it shows how cheap lab prints are getting, I'm sure they
are even cheaper (relative to exchange rates) in the US. You can't beat the
convenience of printing at home though.

 

[Rescho]

What weight 6X4 paper did you use? 222 6X4's for AU$55 works out to about AU$0.25
each.
The best I can find is Samgee 265 gsm glossy (called "265gsm (Glossy / 4R)") for
AU$0.30 from Ink direct in AU - http://inkdirect.com.au/ .
Nice paper though - lovely high gloss. 265 gsm glossy A4 is AU$18 for 20 sheets, A3
is AU$20 for 10 sheets.
Rescho

 

[Ben Thomas]

Just a FYI (or bored babble).

I had to print 222 6x4's today on Canon GP-401 (the cheapest of the 6x4
Glossy Photo Papers). I started with full carts on all colours. Image were
from a wedding, with a lot of variety (indoor/outdoor etc) so I think they
would be a pretty good spread of 'typical' photos. Here is the amount (in
carts) of each ink I went through:

Photo Magenta 2.2
Red 0.4
Black 0.8
Green 0.5
Photo Cyan 2
Cyan 1
Magenta 1
Yellow 1.1

Approximate total ink usage of 9 carts.

Fortunately I use Formulabs bulk inks so the cost was relatively trivial
(about AU$9), if I had been using Canon inks as the price they sell for here
it would have been about AU$225!

With paper costs of AU$55, total cost was AU$59.
Cheapest lab prints here cost about AU39c which means a total cost of AU$87

I still win ;-) But it shows how cheap lab prints are getting, I'm sure they
are even cheaper (relative to exchange rates) in the US. You can't beat the
convenience of printing at home though.

Thanks for posting that GB. Very interesting.

I've bought Canon photo paper pro 6x4s off eBay for AU$0.44 per page (including
postage). Would have increased your paper cost to AU$98. Ink would have cost me
AU$99, so all up it would have cost me virtually $200. Still less than AU$1 per
print. I'd be happy with that. Home printing gets cheaper if you're doing 8x10s
or bigger though.

Out of interest, who were the prints for? How will those prints last? The owner
would want them to last 25years at least. It's not a quick job to reprint 222
photos once they start to fade.

--
--
Ben Thomas - Software Engineer - Melbourne, Australia

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Disclaimer:
Opinions, conclusions, and other information in this message that do not
relate to the official business of my employer shall be understood as neither
given nor endorsed by it.

 

[GB]

All the paper I use at the moment is Canon (although I really like the look
of the Ilford low sheen paper but I haven't used it yet. The paper I used in
this case was just Canon GP-401 "Glossy Photo Paper" which is only 190gsm.
Each pack of 50 costs me $11 from my Canon distributor. For the Photo Paper
Plus Glossy (PP-101 270gsm) I pay $16.50 for an A4 20 pack, and Photo Paper
Plus Semi-Gloss (SG-101 260gsm) $7.70 for a 20 pack. Photo Paper Pro
(PR-101 245gsm) A4 is $19.25 for a 15 pack. A3 10 Pack of PR-101 Photo
Paper Pro set me back $31.40

There are too many papers and I wish they cost 1/4 what they do ;-)

 

[GB]

They are proofs for a wedding client and I seriously doubt they will fade
much sitting in an album in total darkness 99.99% of their life. For
enlargements I generally use Canon Photo Paper Pro (PR-101) up to A3 (then
lab prints for larger), but if a client tries to bust my balls on pricing or
gets nasty with me, I'll just use a cheaper paper on them (though still
Canon paper).

....

 

[Caitlin]

Yikes - I don't think I'd be very happy to know a professional wedding
photographer was providing me my 'memories' on non-permanent paper and ink.
This really highlights the concerns raised in earlier threads. Are you
providing your clients with the photos in digital form as well? Otherwise
their children are not going to have anything substantial to look back on in
40 years...

 

[GB]

Depends on the package. What makes you think lab prints stand up to the
test of time, most old film prints I see look pretty bad as well. Keep them
protected and they will all do well.

All clients get digital copies of their images, the quality/resolution
depends on their package (you get what you pay for). I'll keep the
originals forever as fas as I am concerned (in time larger media will simply
allow me to archive a years worth of weddings onto a single piece of media
etc). The way I see it is in 40 years there kids will have more and higher
quality images to look back on than if I shot film. I do actually shoot a
little medium format on the day as well. In 40 years we can reprint any
desired prints using technologies we can only dream of at the moment, no
quality loss unlike negative stock which does degrade in time.