Wide format printer users here? (Epson, Canon, etc?)

A friend of mine is an excellent photographer, and we've finally talked her
into selling her work. She's going to take the plunge into a wide format
printer (which is not something I know much about since I don't deal with
them), so I'm looking for feedback from users.

I know one person who owns an Epson 2200 who loves it, yet I've also read a
few semi-negative comments from users of that model online who complain
about "banding" on the 13x17 images. I've also read both great reviews on
Epson 1280, but a few banding issues on that as well. The last choice would
be the Canon i9100 printer, of which I've read stellar views but yet again,
a few banding issues as well! Driving me nuts.... usually you can get a
pretty consistent set of reviews when you look around enough on a product,
but on these three items I've found from one extreme to the other regarding
opinions of each one.

Obviously, if she's going to sell her work, "banding" is NOT tolerable at
all.

Forgetting the one extra ink in the 2200 (she won't be doing black and white
prints where this is supposed to be the biggest strength for that), who in
here is using which model (or more than one) of these wide format printers,
and what is your opinion of them regarding overall image quality and any
banding issues you've seen? Speed is not an issue for her, and the new
H.P. wide format printer is not an option as she's had horrible luck with
H.P. printers in the past.

Feedback is welcome on these. Thanks.

 

I've had really good luck with a 1280. But if she's going to sell her prints,
the 2200 is the only way to go (longevity.)

 

I've had excellent results with my 2200, but to be fair I've not had it
that long. I think one of the crucial things contributing to the banding
problem is enabling the bidirectional printing (the "high speed" checkbox
in the driver dialog). Disable this and accept the slower printing times
for maximum print quality.

 

So by doing this (turning off bi-directional printing), have you done any
large prints yet and can say they are "band-free"?

 

I haven't seen any banding, but then, I followed the mfr recommendations
and turned high speed printing off right at the start. It's on by default
and it's kind of easy to overlook. MHO is that given the cost of 2200 paper
and ink, and the desire for quality, there's never any reason to save a few
minutes per print by enabling this feature.

Perhaps someone has done back to back tests with this option enabled and
disabled. I haven't.

 

Epson does not consider the 2200 to be a wide format printer. True, it's a
little bit bigger than a standard inkjet but 13" is not very big.

To really do the kind of job a person would want she should not consider
anything smaller than the new Epson 4000.

 

I use the 1280 and am about to switch it to MIS archival ink. bought
and Epson 900 for the dye stuff (same cartridges as the 1280)

If you dont need archival or roll paper or long panos, look at the
Canon 9100, also. Faster than the Epsons.

Or, put $1800 in a special savings account and wait for the Epson 4000
**************************
Mark Herring, Pasadena, Calif.
Private e-mail: Just say no to "No".

 

If she expects to sell quite a lot of work, the Epson
7600 should be considered as it is cheaper to run
and faster than the 2200, and is a real bargain at 2000
UK pounds.
Its a big heavy industrial strength beast though.

Graham

 

I have a 1290 (basically the same printer as the 1280) and have no issues
with banding. The only real problem with this printer is the old Epson head
clogging issue. Switchinh the printer on and *knowing* that I'm going to
have to do 5-10 cleaning cycles before it will reliably fire all heads is
very tedious.

 

I have had a 1280 and now a 2200 & a 7600.

None are perfect.

1280 makes truely gorgeous prints that last (glossy paper) about 6-8
months UNprotected.

2200s have, reportedly, "Archival" inks and will last (for several
years?), so far (8 months+) fading is not evident. BUT the 3D effect
from pure white & pure black looks ... odd, to some viewrs.

The 7600 MAY be faster than the 2200 (I won't bother to test that-
should it really matter?) but prints the same as the 2200 (see
comments above) and throws out a 1" x 24" slug every time!

cvt

 

From: "GAH"

None of the 3 printers you mentioned have a banding problem, if used correctly.
Literally thousands of people are selling prints made with them, especially
the Epson 2200.

If she wants to sell prints the two main concerns should be print quality and
print longevity. You can buy sample prints from the Epsons and probably the
Canon as well and compare directly, and for longevity the 2200 is the clear
winner.

I have a 1280 and a 2200, and will be getting a 4000 soon, once they start
shipping in January. When I get the 4000 I'm giving away the 1280, which tells
you how I feel about the 2200 vs 1280. There are no banding issues, if you use
the printers correctly, I feel.

Bill

 

Speed matters if you're producing a lot of prints.

If you are getting 1 inch of waste from the 7600,
you have the old driver. The new driver is more
accurate and is reputed to use less ink. It can be
downloaded from the Epson site.

I find that 1290 and 7600 prints are indistinguishable
from each other on gloss, except for a very small
amount bronzing with the 7600. The 7600 is *much*
better than the 1290 with matte paper.

Graham

 

I recently bought the Canon 9000. If one can still find them, they are
real cheap as they are replaced by the 9100. I am well satisified with
mine, and have noticed no banding.

 

Thanks