Invest in Canon Pro or Epson SureColor P-series. Borrow from your friend, share bills, financing, and whatever it takes. If you run an art business, you must afford proper tools. Even the entry-level still produces better results than Ecotank or other CIS printers.
I would personally recommend Canon over Epson, due to the user-friendly maintenance and replacement. I've used the Canon Pro-1000, Pro-1100, and Epson P800 and P5000 Commercial Edition in my career.
Stop buying low-tier Epson EcoTank printers just because they're cheap. Should stop spreading false information about recommending artists buy EcoTank printers with thick, incompatible cardstock to reproduce art. It just costs artists more in different ways, and the print quality is less appealing to the audience.
I upgraded from the Pro 100 (early ancestor to the Pro 200) to the Pro 1100. Both produce beautiful color prints, but I never really liked the B&W from the dye-based 100--maybe the 200 has improved on that? Love the B&W out of the pigment-based 1100. Of course, the biggest difference is max print size. I've done a bunch of 16x24 (1/2" border all the way around) prints, and they are awesome.
I've had the 1100 for just under a year and have so far pumped out the equivalent of 275 A4 prints. If the Canon accounting software is to be believed (more on that later), I've spent $US 1.80 worth of ink per A4 equivalent print. That number includes 2 major cleaning cycles which used \~100mL each. However, I think the costs are significantly less than that as the accounting manager thinks I'm using 20-30% more ink than the carts actually hold.
Remember, the ink isn't really "wasted". With any inkjet printer, the ink does double duty as a lubricant to keep the printer in good working order. I love being able to print at home for the same reasons you describe, and for large prints, it's proving to be very economical--ink and paper for a 16x24 is costing me about 1/3 what a lab would. Note that the pro 1100 comes with a full set of ink. That accounts for nearly 60% of the initial cost. I'm not sure if the 200 and 300 do the same or if they just have "starter" inks.
My dye based printer ran cleaning cycles, too. I didn’t bother tracking how much. Make sure you have some extra cartridges on hand. I had several instances where after not using the Pro 100 for some time it would empty whatever was left in some of the low volume carts.
I estimate my pro 1100 burns $75 every time it deep cleans. I’ve seen some reports that this can happen every 3 months. I’ve had 2 in about 11 months. Perhaps I’m seeing fewer cleans because it gets used fairly regularly.
Anyway, you’ll love the 200. I had my 100 for about 10 years, and it was still pumping out beautiful prints when I donated to my church.
Top Photo Printers on Reddit
1
Canon
SELPHY CP1500
82% positive of 169 users
Simple, archival dye-sub prints; portability and costs divide users.
AromaticSpread
