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Photo Printer Reviews

Canon                  Epson                      HP

Epson Stylus Pro 3800:  After a lengthy demonstration at a trade show I decided to buy an Epson stylus Pro 3800 A2 photo printer. The main selling point was actually ink costs, rather than the increase in maximum print size, which considering pretty well all A3 photo printers do up to A3+ or Super A3, isn’t as big a jump as you might think. However the ink tank capacity of 80ml, compared to about 10ml in most inkjet cartridges, is a huge benefit. Yes the cartridges are more expensive at about £ 35 each, but that’s roughly 3.5 times the cost per cartridge for 8 times as much ink. 

So far the print output per cartridge has been phenomenal - main colours lasting weeks rather than days. Full review on the way, but if you’re looking at buying an Epson Stylus Pro 3800, I’d say go ahead, it’s a great printer, and can print on glossy paper, unlike the Epson Stylus Photo 2100 which it replaced. There is still a slight chroming effect but it’s far less of an issue, as is metamerism, where Epson 2100 prints that looked great in daylight had a horrible magenta cast under artificial light. With the Epson Stylus Pro 3800 this isn’t a problem.

Epson Stylus Photo 1400:  I’m a long way behind with my review of Epson’s replacement for the much loved 1280 / 1290 / 1290S - I’ve been too busy using my Epson Stylus Photo 1400 to write about it. My original plan was to use the printer for a month or two before selling it on to a friend, but John never did get his Epson stylus Photo 1400. In the end I persuaded him to buy the Epson Stylus Pro 3800 - just because it would save him money on ink (see the story above). The Epson Stylus Photo 1400 is an excellent printer, and at a very reasonable price, but ink costs and cartridge availability are it’s main weaknesses. If you’re moving from the 1290/1270/1280/1290S you will find your ink costs increase substantially.

Although the Stylus Photo 1400 actually has a pretty good output per cartridge with main colours good for about 100 A4 photos, the light colours last about half this and since a Light Magenta and a Light Cyan cartridge for the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 will cost you slightly more than all 5 colours for the 1290, and you do still need to buy the others when they run out too, it will be more expensive to run. Ink cartridges for the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 are also extremely difficult to find - They are only used in that one printer, so I’ve found in the UK that only a couple of the bigger online stockists keep them. Most don’t. If you run out on a Saturday night your chances of finding any in a local computer store are about nil. On the plus side print quality from the new printer is excellent - glossy prints especially are beautiful - but not noticeably better than the 1290 though, so the main gains are in speed - it wouldn’t be hard to be faster than the 1290 - and in print life which with the new Claria inks is up from 25 to up to 200 years. The Epson Stylus Photo 1400 is an excellent printer, but it’s a good buy only if you really need a smallish number of high quality A3 photo prints.

Canon Pixma iX4000 Review

How does Canon’s new A3+ photo printer bargain the Canon Pixma iX4000 inkjet printer compare to the excellent Canon Pixma iP5200? 

Does having only four inks, without the extra photo black of the Pixma iP5200, really make a difference?

Photo Paper Tests

Getting the very best quality prints of your photographs depends not only on your printer and ink, it depends a great deal on the quality of the paper you use. Many cheap photo papers are terrible, but there are many great independent photo papers out there. Most work fine with Epson printers, some work well with Canon photo printers, but hardly any independent photo papers seem to work with hp printers. So which paper should you use with your photo printer? With each printer tested I list my paper recommendations.

Photo Paper Tests

After choosing the photo paper that works best for you, should you stick with the manufacturer’s own inks? Many independent inks are much much cheaper. Does it make a difference?

Should You Buy Cheap Ink?

How long will your inkjet photographs last? Do inkjet photographs fade in the sun? Do the manufacturers own papers fade less quickly? All the inkjet photo printer manufacturers now make claims about how long their prints will last, but these are all, at best, educated guesses at the truth, since most inksets are only a few years old, how can they know how long they’ll resist fading?  Some claims are based on storing the prints in the dark, in an album, others on display behind glass. All are based on scientific tests aimed at giving the best case life for prints stored in ideal conditions. What happens if you display your prints in the real world - where conditions are rarely ideal?

Fade Tests

All text and images copyright David Gold 2006 - 2009
and must not be reproduced in any way without permission
davidgold@ezeedsl.co.uk