WHY?

I see this quite often and I have to scratch my bald head and ask myself,,

Why do people insist on buying expensive photographic printers and then they say,

"I need a printer that doesn't clog too much as I only print photos once a month or less."

Please use the local Photo Lab. No worries about clogging there!

And I scratch my head wondering why people care. Like sometimes I don't print a photo for months, no biggie to print a nozzle check once a week or two with my canon pro 9000 II. Nary a clog yet. I guess you print so much you have tons of albums, photos in folders and stuff that never see the light of day but... I don't care so why should you about others printing habits?
--

Well, maybe people want to have more control over their prints? Maybe they do not have decent Labs in area where they live? Maybe just for fun of printing - but not being aware that certain printers' manufacturer(s) are unable to solve clogging problems?

I wish I had a decent lab around - one thet would offer me let's say PhotoRag paper in 13x19" size. None found so far, but after scratching my (also) bald head I decided not to buy printer - since it would be sitting idle and clogging every second month for 4 weeks.

EPSON - please give us non-clogging printer, with number of heads matching number of inks!

Common, really guys, If I buy a $500 / $800 printer, does it really make sense to use it so seldom that it does develop a clog? There are great labs on line that I would use if I only needed a print every couple of months. I do print a lot. Pretty much on a daily basis. Some pro and some for my pleasure. My point is, Printers are for printing, not to have then sit till they inevitably clog, then complain that they clogged.

Sorry guys I am just ranting!!

jtoolman said:

I see this quite often and I have to scratch my bald head and ask myself,,

Why do people insist on buying expensive photographic printers and then they say,

"I need a printer that doesn't clog too much as I only print photos once a month or less."

Please use the local Photo Lab. No worries about clogging there!

Click to expand...

If you buy a good printer it does not clog after not being used for a couple of months.

--
Kind regards
Kaj
http://www.pbase.com/kaj_e
WSSA member

It's about time we started to take photography seriously and treat it as a hobby.- Elliott Erwitt

Really??? Look up the word clogging in this forum!

Kaj E said:

If you buy a good printer it does not clog after not being used for a couple of months.

--

Click to expand...

And what printer would that be?
Al

jtoolman said:

Really??? Look up the word clogging in this forum!

Click to expand...

Really! I don't need to look it up anywhere. I have personal experience, have had my R2880 unused for up to six months due to long travels and have never experienced clogging.

--
Kind regards
Kaj
http://www.pbase.com/kaj_e
WSSA member

It's about time we started to take photography seriously and treat it as a hobby.- Elliott Erwitt

Big_Al4 said:

Big_Al4 said:

If you buy a good printer it does not clog after not being used for a couple of months.

--

Click to expand...

And what printer would that be?
Al

Click to expand...

Monochromatic Laser printer

More seriously - I continue using Canon MP 640, dye based + my wife gives it a run from time to time while I am away thus no clogging experienced so far.
I'd love to have Epson R3000, but:
a) it would be very occasionaly used

b)since pigment printers tend to clog much easier than dye based + I wouldn't be able to explain to my wife how to print let's say one 4x6" photo every few days while I stay away for a month

Good for you!!! That's great and goes to show you that Epsons aren't as horrible as others have stated. My only point and I will still stick to it, is why buy a state of the art printer and then let it sit just because it won't clog! I've never ever have had a clgging issue. Not because my printers are great, but because they are used daily!

I don't stare at my printers, I use my printers. I don't stare at my huge flat screen. I feed it the best HD signal and I enjoy it by using it.

I have a good photographer friend who gets clogs on his 2880 so go figure!

In Germany this summer, I purchased a pair of Birkensock clogs and since then my Epson 4000 printer had no clogs. No seriously, clogging can also depend on the micro climate the printer is in. If you keep you humidity in the house above 50% there is a less chance that the printer clogs. My Epson 4000 had only one serious clog in 7 years and that was after 6 months of on use.

Hartmut

The Epson R2880 is a great printer for low volume printing. I bought it expressly for it's small ink tanks, which guarantees fresh ink (and perhaps less clogging) than printers with large ink tanks.

I typically print in spurs of 1-3 days once per month (my best shots). I travel for a couple of months, sometimes longer, about twice a year . The R2880 has been an ideal printer for me.

Printing gives great control of the output compared to third party printing. Third party printing would be unacceptable to me. No matter how well calibrated the monitor is one needs proofs to get the exact print one aims for. It's a question of a lower resolution back-lit monitor vs. reflective papers with individual "personalities". Sometimes I do additional creative tweaks to the print when I see what it really looks like.
--
Kind regards
Kaj
http://www.pbase.com/kaj_e
WSSA member

It's about time we started to take photography seriously and treat it as a hobby.- Elliott Erwitt

jtoolman said:

Good for you!!! That's great and goes to show you that Epsons aren't as horrible as others have stated. My only point and I will still stick to it, is why buy a state of the art printer and then let it sit just because it won't clog!

Click to expand...

Just for fun of having one - I am kind of a gear freak:

I like having good stuff - though when brain kicks-in I realize that for my purpose and (lack-of-) skills I do not need D700+24-70/2.8+70-200/2.8+ calibrated EIZO SX.

It's just me... as I said I'd love to have R3000 and be able to print 13"x19" (see reason above), but heck, I'd end up printing tons of pics nobody (including myself) would like to hang on a wall.

Good question. Could have been phrased in a nicer way though

I am just now asking me this. I own an HP printer that does not feel well - probably because of lack of usage. And now I plan to buy another printer

Go figure!

Hmmmmm ... your advice is sound. But ... having your own printer is tempting. Its just that it shall be reliable ... even if it gets not so frequently used.

--
Roland

support http://www.openraw.org/
(Sleeping - so the need to support it is even higher)

X3F tools : http://www.proxel.se/x3f.html

The sad un-escapable fact is that printers have to be used. The more the betters. More printers die prematurely from LACK of use than TOO much use. What's used to be only a tool for the professional photographer due to the high costs in the past, is now available at a reasonable cost to just about everyone. So a bunch of people now own printers that were only pipe dreams for the serious photographers just a few years ago. The result? They do not get used enough so they will clog. Dye ink printers less than EPson but they ALL will eventually clog. It's the nature of the beast.

I remember when I worked in a biological research institute, we purchased a very sophisticated X-Ray film processing machine. Rather than buy the manual tanks and develop by hand, we bought the motorized one and within a year was dead for lack of use. It was meant to be on and used 24 7

Maybe an extreme example but nevertheless it applies. Use you printers. A nozzle check even daily uses an insignificant amount of ink but will let you know of problems creeping up.

I have a small program that send a a nozzle check "JOB" to all my printer at whatever frequency I require. I can not remember when the last time I had a bad nozzle check.

Hi Joe

I've got to agree with you to a point but I'll have to admit I have a vested interest in people not doing their own printing as I run a digital print studio and imaging company so the more they themselves the less business we get.

Now having made it clear where I'm coming from I admit that it's nice to have a printer conveniently sat on your desk - or stood next to it in the case of my 24" 7880 - and to be able to print out your images whenever and however you feel like it but...

I've seen so many people, semi- and pro-photographers included - rush out and buy a large format printer that costs a couple of thousand pounds or dollars, get it all calibrated and setup and then not use it so often as they thought they might due to running costs and lack of time available to learn how to use it properly.

I have clients who have their own printers and keep coming back to me for prints as I also provide a final retouching and colour adjustment service even to a point that a client can come in and sit with me while I adjust their prints so that they look the best when printed. Ok so I cost a little more than Tesco or Costco but when you're having prints made for competitions or to hang on your wall then surely it makes sense to have them done properly. I'll even advise on mounting styles, laminating and framing if they need help with that.

So yes, I can totally see where you're coming from and I'd love to ban everyone but the trade users from owning a printer but that's never going to happen, so for the future I can just hope that those photographers who still want a quality print making by someone who really cares about the final print quality will keep coming to me and if they don't at least I can make a living offering workflow and print training!

--
Regards
Jason
Replica Imaging Limited
Derbyshire UK

And there's a lot of truth in the comment that more printers die from lack of use rather than over use. I've had Epson's for over 15 years now and been running them as part of my business for over 7 years. I can honestly say that a well maintained Epson (or Canon for that matter) that is used regularly with quality media and inks will very very rarely clog. In fact, I've just checked my maintenance log and the last time I had a clog on one of my Epson's was over three years ago - and that was when I was printing on some experimental media with quite a high rag content that caused a lot of dust when printing. Needless to say I'm not using that stuff now
--
Regards
Jason
Replica Imaging Limited
Derbyshire UK

It's not that difficult folks! Go ahead, get those state of the art printers but remember to use them regularly. If you cannot afford to use them regularly, then maybe you cannot afford to print at home. Use a good printing service like maybe the person that just posted behind me.

jtoolman said:

I see this quite often and I have to scratch my bald head and ask myself,,

Why do people insist on buying expensive photographic printers and then they say,

"I need a printer that doesn't clog too much as I only print photos once a month or less."

Please use the local Photo Lab. No worries about clogging there!

Click to expand...

I agree, I use a printing service from this website whenever I need something printing - http://www.wideformatwarehouse.co.uk/ .

Peter McNeill said:

And I scratch my head wondering why people care. Like sometimes I don't print a photo for months, no biggie to print a nozzle check once a week or two with my canon pro 9000 II. Nary a clog yet. I guess you print so much you have tons of albums, photos in folders and stuff that never see the light of day but... I don't care so why should you about others printing habits?
--

Click to expand...

My understanding the OP didn't 'care' if people bought expensive printers and didn't use them, only why would they then complain of their printers clogging. Kind of like buying a car but seldom driving it and complaining of the battery dying.
--
Dave
Canon A80, A620