Today I bought an A3 printer

[dullbird]

Thats right peeps

bought myself a second hand A3 printer

And I was lucky enough to get what I consider a very good deal!!:)

The Printer is a Canon Pixma Pro 10S:twisted:

Had to share as I feel pretty happy about it:cool:

[JDNSW]

I've wanted to get an A3 printer for years, but every time I look at one I look at the price and tell myself "don't be ridiculous, you will never use it enough to justify the cost!".

Good on you!

John

[dmdigital]

I've wanted to get an A3 printer for years, but every time I look at one I look at the price and tell myself "don't be ridiculous, you will never use it enough to justify the cost!".

Good on you!

John

I did the sums and with paper stocks and ink supplies it was cheaper to get photos printed by a lab.

That said if you need a printer a bargain is always good.:cool:

[dullbird]

Yes that's the thing Derek it is cheaper but now I'm in a photography exhibition group and having to print more than I have ever done. I figured why not and at least this way I can learn a lot more and have complete control over my images. Plus Time is the issue with me. As I often have to produce stuff to a deadline sometimes getting out to print stuff or send stuff away is not always practical because I might have only had the time a day or two before to actually get the photos I was actually after.

This is a 4mth old printer that has only printed 4 that's right 4 photographs on 6x4 and the 4th one was printed of me the day I picked it up so I could see it working.

I got it for $500 and it still has 18mths warranty have the original purchase receipt it's a $900 printer :)

Also inks are all 3/4 full as they were the factory shipped ones.

[Bytemrk]

Nice find Lou :D

[dullbird]

So I haven't used it yet because of course none of the leads where long enough! So had to buy extensions leads for power can printer cables to fit. Let's hope it works as I understand that some printers won't work with a lead over a certain length.

[dmdigital]

If the power from you USB port is insufficient or borderline you might get issues with a really long cable. Easiest way to fix is to put a powered USB hub near the printer.

In general terms you should be fine unless it's a ridiculous length.

[dullbird]

So printed my first picture tonight and considering I have limited knowledge I was quite happy with what came out [emoji4]

One picture came out a touch dark but I hadn't put the correct paper setting in and did not find the turn off switch to the colour management in the printer to turn off until afterwards.

Now I bought some cheap arse Kodak gloss photo paper to just do a bit of practice printing.

However there is a slight wrinkle in the paper. Can anyone who know about printing confirm is this because of the weight of the paper is too low? Or is it just the quality of paper full stop.

On one A4 print I did have some small marks as if the printer nozzle was blocked he rest of the print was perfect. It was not quite at the beginning of the print but shortly after and was in a line about 1cm wide and doesn't quite extend the length of the picture if you look closely. But there are two areas that are noticeable and it effectively ruined the print.

Did a nozzle clean just in case and a pattern check, all seemed okay so I'm also wondering if this might also relate to the cheaper paper and perhaps the paper was beginning to wrinkle effecting the print or the roll maybe.

[s7000]

I used to own an EPSON 4800. It was certainly a nice piece of kit! As with what other's have said... Expensive to run. A set of inks cost about $800 the last time I bought some.

That said... Paper stock makes a big difference in the final print. I found quality paper was always a must. I never had paper get wrinkled during print though, that shouldn't happen even with a thinner stock...

You may also need to calibrate your monitor (If you haven't already - I used Spyder pro). This will give you a much more accurate colour representation from screen to print.

All printers are different, so there's always a bit of trial and error involved too...

Good luck!

[DAMINK]

I was a printing machinist for a little over 20 years.
Was actually a trade back then.
There actually used to be a skill to it.
Until technology overtook the industry anyway.

Oh how days have past. Everyone has there own home printer now.
3D printers are the norm!
What a horrible choice of trade that was!

[dullbird]

I used to own an EPSON 4800. It was certainly a nice piece of kit! As with what other's have said... Expensive to run. A set of inks cost about $800 the last time I bought some.

That said... Paper stock makes a big difference in the final print. I found quality paper was always a must. I never had paper get wrinkled during print though, that shouldn't happen even with a thinner stock...

You may also need to calibrate your monitor (If you haven't already - I used Spyder pro). This will give you a much more accurate colour representation from screen to print.

All printers are different, so there's always a bit of trial and error involved too...

Good luck!


My monitor is calibrated with spyder pro4 when I say wrinkle I'm not sure whether I'm using the right terminology.

The paper occasionally gets a wave in it like it's been too saturated with moisture.

The paper is only 120/180 can't remember which GSM. So wasn't sure if this effected it at all. Especially as most canon papers seem to be at around 220

[WhiteD3]

I did the sums and with paper stocks and ink supplies it was cheaper to get photos printed by a lab.

That said if you need a printer a bargain is always good.:cool:

Derek, I agree with you on the economics but how do you get a lab print to turn out the way you visualise the end product? My tries so far have been disappointing. So much so I'm planning to do what Dullbird has done too so I can "tune" the printed product.

[DeanoH]

It's pretty normal to have the paper go wavy when using plain (thin) paper and with full page photo's. Try a bit of decent weight Canon paper and see how it goes.

One thing I found is that it's a lot easier to get good results using Canon paper with a Canon printer, HP paper with a HP printer and so on. The printer driver matches the chosen paper to its known 'calibration' for an optimal result.

It must be printer replacement time, I've just bought a HP Officejet Pro X551 dw high speed inkjet to replace the laser, up to 70 ppm according to the blurb.
It's been a major frustration to find a printer that prints good photos and crisp text on quality plain/presentation paper.

Kaye writes a journal of our trips which is probably 30% photos with the rest text. The laser does the text well but photos are a bit ordinary where as with the inkjet it's the other way round and slow. Each journal is approx. 200-300 pages (double sided).

The cost per page with the inkjet should be a lot cheaper too. I don't expect the HP text to be as good as the laser but hopefully will be 'good enough' with the photos much better.

Horses for courses.

Best of luck with the new printer, you might have got a bargain there. I was drooling over a new Canon photo printer yesterday whilst looking at the printer market, it had 12 ink cartridges :eek:.

Deano :)

[Bess]

Hope you get some real enjoyment from printing your own images. Let's not forget it's all part of the process & can be very satisfying to see your image printed from your own input. ( can also be very frustrating )

Should you start to use " nice " paper of which there are many , Ilford , Canson , etc etc. Try downloading the papers ICC print profile from there web site, it can really help with some fine tuning.

Just a thought.

Best regards Chris.

[dullbird]

Yeah I was reading that last night Chris.

Have to say even though I had a slight wave in the paper and a two small marks. I was happy with what I got and it was great to hold it in my hands and examine it closely.

It was great to look at the finer detail in the photo printed as they were Macro shots.

I really think all its going to do in the end is enhance my photography.

I'm sure I'm going to go through the frustrations of things not printing the way I want but those experiences are only going to help round me better as a photographer I reckon.

[Bess]

Yes mate I think your right about the printing process helping with your photography. It's one more step to that final image that gets you thinking about the whole pathway, composition, colour & or tone effects to the whole or each other. Print size & format ( got a thing for square format at the moment ) I blame Mr Bruce Percy. Even down to the Mat & framing you may choose.

The different paper textures also make a dramatic difference to the overall "feel"
Of an image form high contrast & sharpness to softer almost impressionist feel.

It's worth trying some sample packs of papers to get a " try before " you buy so to speak.

Any who, all good fun for the whole family, well more for you really.

Enjoy!

Regards Chris

[dullbird]

Didn't realise you could get sample packs. I think I would like to try printing an image I have on display currently on to a textured paper. The image I created (for a small amateur exhibition) was done to look like an oil painting rather than a photo so I would be interested to see how I could get this printed up on A3

[Bess]

101822
Screen shot from add just to show what's in the pack. Touch image to enlarge!

This might be worth a try, lots of paper options in 8 X 12 , cheap way to experiment befor printing large. Also handy because the different textures may require a little colour adjusting to get it just how you like it .

Regards Chris.

[dullbird]

Cool thanks Chris might get one of those when I back from my camping adventure