Printer Recommendations for a small creative business

[springermichelleend]

Print with a border gives you much better quality and a few minutes spent trimming the edges results in the same finish without compromising your printer..
View attachment 12732 click to enlarge..

Thanks for the information! My printer is a must-have at my work, so I usually buy two, to have a spare one. I print a lot of tips that I found on the Internet from which can benefit my business (I like to read more on paper, so this is why I print them). Recently, I have found many good articles which present the information in detail and in simple words. And I have found out that in order to boost my marketing strategy will be good to organize some webinars,

 

[theweesparrow]

Hi, thanks so much for your reply! That's interesting to know - truthfully, I'm unsure of the printing quality I need for my greetings cards. I know the Canon Pixma iP8750 which I currently use is specified as a photo printer, although more of a hobbyist/amateur photographer rather than a professional printer like the Pro series I think? My greetings cards have quite bright and colourful designs but they haven't got masses of detail like a photo - I guess my art style is between realism and cartoony, probably leaning more toward cartoon really, so I wouldn't need a printer that gets every last detail, just that gives a decent print. Having clear text is important though as I use text on all of my greetings cards. That being said, I do really love the professional aspect of the Canon Pro printers - you mentioned the reliability and lifespan of them which is something I do worry about with my current printers, I just don't know if I'm overworking them with the amount of printing I do especially on cardstock!

As much as I do love the look of the Pro-200 (which is the only one I can currently buy online out of the pro series), the ink costs do worry me. At the moment I can buy 84ml of off-brand ink for my iP8750 for £17. In comparison, I'm unable to buy off-brand ink for a Pro 200, and the full set of official inks is £120 for 136ml.
Now I know off-brand ink isn't the best for printers, so if you can convince me that buying the official inks for the cost is worth it in terms of helping the printer last longer, printing quality and how the inks don't fade then I might be tempted! I have noticed that official inks (such as the ink that came with my iP8750, although I think they might have been... not full ink cartridges? like test ones which come with the printer?) they do last a lot longer than the off-brand ones I currently use. So do official inks generally last longer in terms of being able to print more compared to off-brand ones?

I'm not sure if the overall costs balance out in terms of how long a Pro-200 printer can last compared to an iP8750 with the amount I print. At the moment I can buy a iP8750 for £230, and probably replace it every 2 years. I'm not sure how long the ink cartridges I buy last, but they do seem to last quite a while still - I maybe change them every 2 weeks? This is from printing 10-20 cards a day 6 days a week. If a Pro-200 at £477 can last more than 4 years printing everyday, hopefully a lot longer if that's possible, then it'd stop me from having to buy a new iP8750 every 2 years - but then there's also the ink costs too as I mentioned above!

In terms of how long the print lasts before it fades - this is something I'm interested in. My greetings cards are all personalised which means a lot of them can be kept as special keepsakes - although most of them probably will be kept in a box, or on a windowsill for a week before they get chucked out. I do want to get more into creating A4 art prints though, specifically for children, which means the longevity would be important here if the print is sitting framed on a wall constantly in the light. It'd be nice if the prints would last for a few years without fading (they don't have to last 300 years + though like a lot of inks specify as I don't think they'd be around for that long!).

Just wondering what you decided about a new printer. I'm doing some research to get a new printer. I do greeting cards (up to 1,000 a week) and I currently run an Epson SC-P600 and an Epson ET-7550. This is the 3rd P600 and has been fine but I've now got issues with it picking up card. Initially the ET-7550 was great especially because the ink is so much cheaper but I now can't send more than 5 prints to it at a time or else it just grinds to a halt (been on to Epson but the techie call back has never happened). Epson did recommend the SC-P5000 but I'm not in that price bracket. So I'm looking at the ET-8550 and SC-P700. I'm keen on the former due to ink cost but I'm concerned that I'll have the same issue as with the ET-7550 (Epson couldn't/wouldn't say whether the ET-8550 might have the same issue). Any input would be really helpful?

 

[AlisonNorth80]

Thanks for the information! My printer is a must-have at my work, so I usually buy two, to have a spare one. I print a lot of tips that I found on the Internet from which can benefit my business (I like to read more on paper, so this is why I print them). Recently, I have found many good articles which present the information in detail and in simple words. And I have found out that in order to boost my marketing strategy will be good to organize some webinars,

Making a profit on sales is the primary goal of any business. But it is not enough to make a profit because it is necessary to keep records of the finances received, the process of transactions, and the payment of taxes and software. Without financial literacy, it is impossible to carry out any business operations. Sales are unbelievable without customers. In turn, customer data is fundamental.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Greetings cards - are they folded ? You are using an ET7550 and a P600 as I read your posting - the ET7550 uses dye inks and the P600 uses pigment inks. Are you printing on the same paper - alternatively here and/or there ? Print with dye inks have a higher risk to smearing when the user touches the prints with a wet finger - I don't know if that is a problem.

Do you need the A3 format ?

You mention a print volume of about 1000 cards/week; did you ever look to photostation/minilab printers like the Epson Surelab models of the Fuijlilm Drylab printers - they print volume, from roll paper, but both models use dye inks if that could cause a problem or a restriction.

There are various models like the Surelab SL-D700 or D800 or D1000 in various configurations

https://www.epson.eu/en_EU/search/allproducts?q=surelab:relevance:interfaces:ethernetshort:interfaces:usb&text=surelab#

These printers use large - like 300 ml - cartdidges - even much more than the 70ml tanks of an ET7550/8550

https://www.fujifilm.com/de/de/business/photofinishing/frontier-dry/dl650-pro

The drylab printers fit into a similar application range as the Surelab printers,

 

[The Hat]

I'm on the border with this one.. Is it or isn’t it spam too..

 

[springermichelleend]

Making a profit on sales is the primary goal of any business. But it is not enough to make a profit because it is necessary to keep records of the finances received, the process of transactions, and the payment of taxes and https://revenuegrid.com/blog/sales-forecast/ software. Without financial literacy, it is impossible to carry out any business operations. Sales are unbelievable without customers. In turn, customer data is fundamental.

Yes, it is.

The are many companies that help businesses to get potential clients. And they take money for each client that brings to you.

 

[roditch]

Hi Everyone, I have been looking at buying a photo printer to sell medium-quality prints. I used to do this on my Epson Stylus 2100, but then I couldn't acquire ink. I want a tank printer with at least 6 colors. This appears to be the Epson, depending on what country the model number changes. L18050 / ET18100, but I can't find anywhere what kind of inks they are. On the et-8550 Epson says Claria Premium. The inks on the L18100 are the same set as Claria HD but cannot find confirmation. I either need confirmation of the inks c, lc, m, lm, y, b as Claria HD which are pretty good or advice on another A3+ printer for printing photos not too expensive. Many thanks

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

'medium quality' - I'm not sure to understand the meaning of it really - what type of prints are you talking about - what is the customer likely to do with the print .

The R200 was a pigment ink printer - all Ecotank printers you mention are dye ink printers. The ET-18100 uses dye inks of the 107 series - there is no notice that these are Claria inks of any variation. You know the results of the tests I did with various Epson inks

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/fading-test-epson-106-vs-107-inks.16033/page-3#post-140215

 

[roditch]

HI Inkstainedfingers I am looking for an A3+ printer that will print copies of my wife's paintings and some of my art photos (medium quality). The cost of the ink is important because prints sold locally in Southeast Asia have an average price of $10 for an A3. I have sold prints overseas, which is a small dilemma, but not high-resolution images to collectors. So even though I am a professional photographer (ex. portrait studio, weddings, teacher, etc.), my photos need to have a low price point and reasonable longevity, based on this price point of 20 years under glass out of the sun. This is why I am hovering around chromalife 100+ and Claria HD inks. Am I wrong to do this? A set of inks for the Canon Pixima Pro 300 A3+ pigment printer is $300 where I live and will print 50–60 A3 prints. This is why I am looking at a good tank printer. Options I know about.

Canon Pixima Pro 200 Chromalife 100 inks $200 a set for 50 prints A3+
Canon Pixima Pro Lucia Inks: $300 for a set of inks for 60 prints A3+
CAnon Tc-20, a 24" pigment tank printer with only four colors, otherwise a good one
Epson Et-8550 Claria premium Inks This printer is not available in this country.
Epson L18100 is available and cheaper, 107 inks, but not use about its longevity
Finally, the Epson ET-16600 is an a3+ 4 pigment ink tank printer which some artists use to sell their art prints

Because my prints are not super high-rez or expensive, I am weighing up the longevity of dye ink tank printers, or the lack thereof (et-8550, EtL18100) with four-color ink tank pigment inks, which may not be sparkling prints but are good enough for my wife's paintings and my arty photographs (Et-1660, Canon TC-20) or the cost of the ink for good quality pigmentprinters like the Canon pixima pro - 300

Many thanks, as always. I feel you maybe able to guide me in the right direction

Rod

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Be aware that the good longevity performance of some Epson inks - Claria and similar - are only acheivable with some OEM glossy papers. the same applies to the Chromalife dye inks. I would rather recommend you to continue with pigment ink prints in your situation.
I assume that you have experience how pigment inks perform in combination with particular papers - it is very much the paper defining how colorful a print appears - this is the same with dye and pigment inks.
You are - or were - running an R2100 printer - with pigment inks - the successor would be the Epson P700, and refill with 3rd party pigment inks is possible - with refill cartridges, a resetter and the original chips. Refill for cost saving reasons does not appear that easy for me with the Canon P300 as an alternative.

I got an e-mail by Keith Cooper - northlight-images.co.uk - indicating to me that he is currently testing a Canon TC-20 printer as a megatank model. Or you look to the Epson business pigment ink combo for A3 - the ET-16150 - you know that model numbers vary by business region