UKC

I need to replace my A3+ photo printer, which is no longer supported by current operation systems

I don't print masses of photos but like t have a colour A3 printer for general use too, eg drawings etc. I have a black and white A4 laser for general use

Are pigment printers suitable for general use as well as photos?
I'm aware of the longevity benefits of pigmet printers over inkjets but is the picture quality significantly better?
eg Canon ip8750 inkjet vs Canon pro 100S Pigment

In reply to kevin stephens:


My ip8750 makes just as good (if not nicer) prints than my Epson 7800 (older pigment printer).

The ip8750 uses dye-based that claim the following:

"The ChromaLife100+ inks offer enhancements in colour reproduction and deeper blacks for more vivid photos. Prints can last over 200 years in the photo album, approx. 40-years on display behind glass (light fastness) and 10-years without the glass (gas fastness)."

The Canon pigment inks claim the following:

"The professional LUCIA pigment inks offer accurate colour reproduction and enhanced print longevity. Prints can last approx. 200 years in the photo album, 80-years on display behind glass (light fastness) and 50-years without the glass (gas fastness."

50 years without glass versus 10 years (via accelerated standard test conditions....), Cheaper to print out every 10 years I reckon!

Though, I've got a few laminated Epson pigment images up on the wall now for 10 years - still looking good.

In reply to ChrisJD:

Thanks Chris, very helpful

In reply to kevin stephens:

Happy to send you an ip8750 test print of one of your shots if you want

In reply to ChrisJD:

that's very kind of you but i'm sure it's going to be far better than my obsolete HP photosmart 8750 was; I may take you up on that when I'm closer to buying. Would you say the print quality is good enough for selling and do you get any problems with clogged nozzles?

In reply to kevin stephens:


The print quality is easily good enough to sell, but I personally wouldn't want to sell a dye based print, I'd only sell a pigment based print from my 7800. If you do go for the Ip8750, then just get a pro lab to do any prints you sell.

No problems yet with clogged nozzles on the Canon.

In reply to kevin stephens:

I've recently got a canon pixma pro 100s,
I had recently received some prints from a pro lab, with a bit of tinkering the prints from the canon were better (in my opinion) this is partly due to being able to do test prints screen/printer calibration was an ongoing thing.
I did consider moving up to the 10s for the pigment as I do intend to sell and exhibit prints, apart from budget one thing that seemed to be a problem with some of the more expensive pigment printers was the cleaning cycle could be quite wasteful if the printer wasn't in regular use. As someone who batch prints this could be quite expensive.
I will however go for pigment in my next printer more for the archival nature rather than actual print quality, however I am at an age now that the dye based inks are going to outlast me anyway :-/

In reply to jethro kiernan:


That is the fun of home printing


If I let it (you can override the cleaning function), the Epson 7800 would gobble up ink self cleaning as it doesn't get used much. You could be led to believe it was a ploy by Epson to up ink sales!

In reply to ChrisJD:

There are some workarounds for this if you delve around the Internet, a complete set of canon pigment inks are around £200+ I'd hate to find half my inks gone on a couple of cleaning Cycle's because I had forgotten to apply the workaround 😕

In reply to jethro kiernan:

Would be interesting to do side by test prints (no optimising!) of the ip8750 versus Pro100s.

Same dye inks (ChromaLife100+), but a six ink system versus an 8 ink system.

Interestingly, looking at the specs, the ip8750 has a 'claimed' minimum 1 pl droplet size versus the 100s 3pl droplet size. Smaller in theory gives higher resolution. Whether claimed minimum translates in actual small working droplet size is another matter.

In reply to jethro kiernan:
Do you ever use the 100s for the occasional colour document on ordinary paper? How does it fare?

In reply to kevin stephens:

Big price difference 8750-100s-Pro-1

£200-£450-£650 !

Also bear in mind The 8750 only came with a 'starter' ink pack; soon runs out. Not sure what the others come with

Standard size Canon ip8750 ink set ~£50
They also do an 'XL' ink set

There are plenty of third party inks. You pays your money...

In reply to kevin stephens:
If it's still a good printer you may be able to keep it running by installing linux on an old PC and transferring the files to the linux box for printing.

Linux often has drivers for printers no longer supported by Windows.

It's a bit inconvenient and you need the space & old pc but it's ok for occasional printing.

Unfortunately it's not a networked printer because that means your PC needs a current windows driver. That makes no sense to me but seems to be the case.

Ubuntu is a user friendly option.

Only relevant if you don't mind messing about with Linux.

In reply to kevin stephens:

I have a Epsom all in one printer with generic inks for day to day stuff, and I've locked the missus and kids out of access to the canon printer
Just got a calibration unit so I need to mess around with that. Ink usage has been reasonable so far, set up and a large number of Christmas present prints and the ink is still half full