Buying Printers....

Jeatley · Jul 24, 2011

I am going to be buying two printers soon and I was hoping for some thoughts and reviews....
I m looking at getting either

Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II - printer - color - ink-jet
Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II - printer - color - ink-jet - Compare prices, reviews, user opinions - Shopper.com
Or the older version

[h=1]Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Inkjet Printer[/h]http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/609356REG/Canon_3295B002_PIXMA_Pro9000_Mark_I.html

So I will be buying one of those too and the great part is they both have big MAIL IN REBATES. 9000 is a $200 rebate while the 9500 has a $300 rebate.

In addition to one of those I will be adding a portable 4X6 thermal printer. I really cant wait to get this one and play with it!

HITI P110S
HiTi PhotoPrinter P110S

Any thoughts and opinions would be apprieciated!

ramblingman · Jul 25, 2011

Epson

Derrel · Jul 25, 2011

EPSON. Yes. EPSON.

One reason is that EPSON uses gravity feeding for its paper supply, while other makers sometimes rely on a system where the paper lays flat, and then some mechanical system must grab the paper, lift it, and then feed it. Somehow, it seems that no matter how good the mechanism is, it's never quite as reliable as good old gravity.

johnh2005 · Jul 25, 2011

I have preferred Epson since WAY back in like 1998. They may (sometimes) be the loudest darn thing around, but they have always give beautiful princes. Heck even a non prograde Epson will make some really nice photos. I would look into them if I were you.

Gaerek · Jul 25, 2011

I have the Pixma Pro9000 mkii and it really is a great printer. Never had any issues with it and it's actually pretty good on ink. I was looking at Epson and would have bought one but my parents bought us the Canon so they could get prints of their grand daughter. It works well enough that I'm not going to bother getting anything else until something goes wrong with this one. Keep in mind, you need A LOT of space for that printer. It's footprint is pretty large.

WesternGuy · Jul 26, 2011

FYI, Practical Photography magazine did a comparison of the Canon Pixma Pro 9500 Mark II and the Epson Stylus Photo R3000 in their August issue. The Epson printer came out slightly ahead of the Canon, based primarily on their assessment of the Epson as having higher image quality and the resolution of the Epson printer. Thought you might like to know.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

Jeatley · Jul 26, 2011

I was talking to a friend in publications and he seemed to have problems with epson and their drivers. With a PC and with a mac? Is that something any of yall have seen. I am looking into the EPSONs right now. other than the R3000 any other suggestions. I will be doing a small amount of on location printing with these.

Jeatley · Jul 26, 2011

Let me ask this question. Is the Epson 3000 really worth almost double the price over the Epson 2000?

clanthar · Jul 26, 2011

I have been responsible for the purchase and maintenance of many dozens and dozens of each brand, Epson and Canon, for use in (abusive) college labs for decades. I've used most models from the 8.5 x 11 size right up through the large roll paper models. Right now I'm using the Canon 9xxx models and the Epson 4880s. Here's some observations:

Image quality between the two is competitive and neither is sufficiently better to tip the balance. IQ is all about the paper.
If you have any desire to print B&W you must get the model with the multiple black inks.
Canon costs less in ink to run. Purchase price of the printer is negligible relative to ink costs therefore Canon costs less.
I've used both brands in both MAC and Win environments printing through Photoshop -- no problems.
If you ever need service of any kind you will curse the day you bought Epson more than you will curse the day you bought Canon.

Take Care,
Joe

gsgary · Jul 26, 2011

Get the bigger Hiti so you can print bigger we never sell 4x6, most of ours are 8x6

Jeatley · Jul 26, 2011

I am getting the hiti just for candid shots. Looking for one for our booth to sell up to 13x19 shots. Can't get two hiti cause our budget is around 1300 total.

spacefuzz · Jul 26, 2011

I have the canon pixma 9000 and really like it. Its always worked well and puts out excellent quality work. I picked the canon over the epson because when I was doing research there were lots of complaints about the epson ink clogging and wasting a lot of ink (money) cleaning the print heads. Ive printed hundreds of shots on the canon and never had a problem.
Just know that when they recommend you should replace the ink, you can usually get a few more prints out of the cartridge.

Jeatley · Jul 26, 2011

My father worked in publication for a large company and the CEO had him buy a 9000 for printing him images. Mostly personnel stuff he did not want to ship out. I have printed two images on it and I was very happy. So that's got me leaning that way but wanted to research some others before I jump on that 200 mail in rebate.