11-04-2012, 07:33 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-04-2012, 10:17 AM by Radio Fixer.)
If your past Epson printers havent produced better prints than the 'village lab' (lab being a highly inflated term) than you must have bought cheap printers then David. I see the SX535 is only 4 colour. The 6 colour photo ones (see Epson Stylus Photo P50, 6 Colour) and even my very old R300 produce superb, really superb, results. I scoff a little at the word 'lab' as they are only as good as the people who service and calibrate the equipment. They may set the printer up to some standard occasionally (assuming they have the skill, which is getting more and more unlikely) but is your screen calibrated to any or essentially the same one?
I spend time calibrating my screen to the printer (and the scanner to prints) so I know what I see is about what I'm going to get. It may not be spot on to a national standard but its matched.
So I'm sure my 6 ink Epson can produce better prints for me than a 'village lab. I can even test on 6x4" first and make slight tweaks to sharp, bright, contrast, colour cast / balance etc etc before going for the final 6x4" or 10x8". But I only need to do this occasionally and for critical pics. Its being in control (control is everthing) that makes having a really good printer at home such a benefit. Will the 'lab' tweak pics for you as you stand behind the counter in a queue?
I bet the Staples Laser Printer wouldnt have crunched my decal paper if I had been doing it... but I doubt the nice, helpful lad took the trouble to flatten the paper or not bend a corner etc
For a small quantity of prints, ink cost doesnt matter. I bet most of us spend more on beer that we do on ink... for me, even with only a modest tipple, its certain. For the makers of printers its getting theirs in the offices and pre-press of companies. Every department will have one and use a lot of ink... so the corporates keep them in business and the home user benefits from being able to buy at dirt cheap prices amazing pieces of kit.
Joe: clippers and oil are light years apart in technology, from an an ink jet printer and its ink, so its a bad comparison. I have framed prints on the wall (Yes! makers ink and paper) that have been there for 10 years and maybe much more and the grass / sky / flesh colours still look natural ... they may have changed but not enough to notice. I have paint and toner (on cabinets I have refinished and now taken a knob off) and repro moulded knobs that have changed colour noticably and some dramatically in far less time ... the knobs in a couple of years. A repaired and sprayed in 30's Bakelite clock that was a perfect cream match about 10 years ago that is now a stark white. So you are getting something with the money you pay for good printer ink.
So when all the makers of fine printers are out of business are Cartridge World going to make us anything as good...
Anyway we are going over old ground here
PS: just seen one framed print in the Den that I know is about 18 years old (thats when the windsurfing holiday was), it faces the window but is still fine. Was it done on this printer? Not sure, this is my second Epson the first was a work chuck out that was badly broken (pushed off the desk). Glued back together by me and I had useful life from it.
Gary
I spend time calibrating my screen to the printer (and the scanner to prints) so I know what I see is about what I'm going to get. It may not be spot on to a national standard but its matched.
So I'm sure my 6 ink Epson can produce better prints for me than a 'village lab. I can even test on 6x4" first and make slight tweaks to sharp, bright, contrast, colour cast / balance etc etc before going for the final 6x4" or 10x8". But I only need to do this occasionally and for critical pics. Its being in control (control is everthing) that makes having a really good printer at home such a benefit. Will the 'lab' tweak pics for you as you stand behind the counter in a queue?
I bet the Staples Laser Printer wouldnt have crunched my decal paper if I had been doing it... but I doubt the nice, helpful lad took the trouble to flatten the paper or not bend a corner etc
For a small quantity of prints, ink cost doesnt matter. I bet most of us spend more on beer that we do on ink... for me, even with only a modest tipple, its certain. For the makers of printers its getting theirs in the offices and pre-press of companies. Every department will have one and use a lot of ink... so the corporates keep them in business and the home user benefits from being able to buy at dirt cheap prices amazing pieces of kit.
Joe: clippers and oil are light years apart in technology, from an an ink jet printer and its ink, so its a bad comparison. I have framed prints on the wall (Yes! makers ink and paper) that have been there for 10 years and maybe much more and the grass / sky / flesh colours still look natural ... they may have changed but not enough to notice. I have paint and toner (on cabinets I have refinished and now taken a knob off) and repro moulded knobs that have changed colour noticably and some dramatically in far less time ... the knobs in a couple of years. A repaired and sprayed in 30's Bakelite clock that was a perfect cream match about 10 years ago that is now a stark white. So you are getting something with the money you pay for good printer ink.
So when all the makers of fine printers are out of business are Cartridge World going to make us anything as good...
Anyway we are going over old ground here
PS: just seen one framed print in the Den that I know is about 18 years old (thats when the windsurfing holiday was), it faces the window but is still fine. Was it done on this printer? Not sure, this is my second Epson the first was a work chuck out that was badly broken (pushed off the desk). Glued back together by me and I had useful life from it.
Gary
