Reading mode: Light Dark

Curious about home printing? I encourage you to give it a go!

Go to last post
M

Moose in Oz

Member
Messages
35
Reaction score
124
Amateur/hobby photographer here.

I had been intrigued for some time about home printing but was dissuaded:

1) by online commentary where the majority opinion seems to be that it is more prudent from financial and quality standpoints to simply pay a lab to produce your prints; and

2) a chat with a professional photographer I admire at an in-person event who quite strongly (but well-meaningly) expressed the same view.

But after a weekend of consuming content by Keith Cooper (https://www.youtube.com/@KeithCooper; https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/) I finally caved and purchased an Epson ET-8550 printer, Calibrite Display 123 monitor calibrator and some Ilford papers to go along with my existing (gaming-focused) monitor and computer.

After only a couple of prints I knew I was not going to regret my decision, and I whole-heartedly concur with the people (including some in this forum) who say that there is a satisfaction which comes from printing that you do not get from viewing a photograph on a screen.

So, I wanted to make a post for anyone who is on the fence, to encourage them to (make an informed decision) and take the plunge.

Two initial tips based on my own experience:

1. If you investigate home printing online you will find plenty of warnings about ink costs but far fewer about paper costs - high-quality papers are not cheap either. So make sure that you are informed about paper costs before you invest.

2. Every printing article and video I watched said to get a monitor calibrator. While this is no doubt best practice, the colour changes after calibrating my own (gaming-focused but good quality) monitor were almost imperceptible. I did later find a video by one photographer who likewise said that while ideally you should calibrate, his experience is that modern, good-quality monitors tend to be very colour accurate out-of-the-box, and so he doesn't worry much about calibrating anymore. I would say if you have a good-quality monitor don't assume you absolutely need a calibrator to get good prints.

Happy printing!
 
Last edited:
Moose in Oz said:
Amateur/hobby photographer here.

I had been intrigued for some time about home printing but was dissuaded:

1) by online commentary where the majority opinion seems to be that it is more prudent from financial and quality standpoints to simply pay a lab to produce your prints; and

2) a chat with a professional photographer I admire at an in-person event who quite strongly (but well-meaningly) expressed the same view.

But after a weekend of consuming content by Keith Cooper (https://www.youtube.com/@KeithCooper; https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/) I finally caved and purchased an Epson ET-8550 printer, Calibrite Display 123 monitor calibrator and some Ilford papers to go along with my existing (gaming-focused) monitor and computer.

After only a couple of prints I knew I was not going to regret my decision, and I whole-heartedly concur with the people (including some in this forum) who say that there is a satisfaction which comes from printing that you do not get from viewing a photograph on a screen.

So, I wanted to make a post for anyone who is on the fence, to encourage them to (make an informed decision) and take the plunge.

Two initial tips based on my own experience:

1. If you investigate home printing online you will find plenty of warnings about ink costs but far fewer about paper costs - high-quality papers are not cheap either. So make sure that you are informed about paper costs before you invest.

2. Every printing article and video I watched said to get a monitor calibrator. While this is no doubt best practice, the colour changes after calibrating my own (gaming-focused but good quality) monitor were almost imperceptible. I did later find a video by one photographer who likewise said that while ideally you should calibrate, his experience is that modern, good-quality monitors tend to be very colour accurate out-of-the-box, and so he doesn't worry much about calibrating anymore. I would say if you have a good-quality monitor don't assume you absolutely need a calibrator to get good prints.

Happy printing!
Click to expand...
This post is probably in the wrong forum?
 
JNK 100 said:
Moose in Oz said:
Amateur/hobby photographer here.

I had been intrigued for some time about home printing but was dissuaded:

1) by online commentary where the majority opinion seems to be that it is more prudent from financial and quality standpoints to simply pay a lab to produce your prints; and

2) a chat with a professional photographer I admire at an in-person event who quite strongly (but well-meaningly) expressed the same view.

But after a weekend of consuming content by Keith Cooper (https://www.youtube.com/@KeithCooper; https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/) I finally caved and purchased an Epson ET-8550 printer, Calibrite Display 123 monitor calibrator and some Ilford papers to go along with my existing (gaming-focused) monitor and computer.

After only a couple of prints I knew I was not going to regret my decision, and I whole-heartedly concur with the people (including some in this forum) who say that there is a satisfaction which comes from printing that you do not get from viewing a photograph on a screen.

So, I wanted to make a post for anyone who is on the fence, to encourage them to (make an informed decision) and take the plunge.

Two initial tips based on my own experience:

1. If you investigate home printing online you will find plenty of warnings about ink costs but far fewer about paper costs - high-quality papers are not cheap either. So make sure that you are informed about paper costs before you invest.

2. Every printing article and video I watched said to get a monitor calibrator. While this is no doubt best practice, the colour changes after calibrating my own (gaming-focused but good quality) monitor were almost imperceptible. I did later find a video by one photographer who likewise said that while ideally you should calibrate, his experience is that modern, good-quality monitors tend to be very colour accurate out-of-the-box, and so he doesn't worry much about calibrating anymore. I would say if you have a good-quality monitor don't assume you absolutely need a calibrator to get good prints.

Happy printing!
Click to expand...
This post is probably in the wrong forum?
Click to expand...
Perhaps, but what first sparked my interest was reading the occasional printing-related post or comment on the m4/3 forum.
 
Last edited:
I agree with the OP. While technically it belongs in a different forum, I would not have seen this post if it was not in one of the camera forums I peruse. Posting it on this and on a more appropriate forum is an option too i suppose.
 
Thanks for the nice post. I appreicate it's in the MFT section. I would have never seen it in the printing section.
 
up_north32 said:
I bought the same printer also based on Keith Cooper’s comments. Couldn’t be happier with it. I also dropped Keith a donation for his profiles. It’s also good to see many of the big paper manufacturers providing profiles for the ET8550.
Click to expand...
Ha, I also asked for his ICC profiles and gave a donation in exchange. He certainly deserves it for the effort he puts in to sharing his knowledge and profiles.
 
Thanks for posting this here in this forum. I put off getting into printing for many years, but finally bought an Epson 8500 last year. It's been wonderful. We have four very active grand kids, ages 5-10, we shoot tons of photos and post them on SmugMug for the family to view.

But, when I test printed a few shots of the kids, my wife requested that I provide three shots of each of the four, for a total of twelve, in black and white. She had the frames in hand before I finished choosing and printing the photos.

The twelve 8-1/2x11 photos are hanging in the house entrance way on one wall, prominently displayed for everyone to see, whether they want to or not! And I have a very happy and proud grandmother.

I've made a lot of prints since then, and bought a second 8500 for another location. (The 8500 is the smaller version of the 8550.) Fantastic printer with great software. Not cheap but worth every penny. I'm loving adding ink from a bottle rather than replacing cartridges, too.

Joe L
 
I have been a big proponent of home printing, and a user of the Epson 1270 then 1280 color injet printer for over 20 years. I probably printed over 500 13x17 and framed for various home and school displays. In the end, just two years ago, I gave up because of nasty clogged print head. This was due to the printer sitting unused for three or four weeks. When you turn it on, the printer would go through 1 minute cleaning cycles two to three times to clean the print head, flushing about 5%-10% of its four cartridge capacity. One day, the 1280 printer went through the entire $80 cartridge set and was unable to produce a clean test strip, so I just junk the 1280 and never bothered to buy a replacement.

I see that your new printer came with an echo tank that may reduce some ink cost. I hope Epson has resolved the print head clogging problem that made me do away with home printing.
 
Emerald Slick said:
I have been a big proponent of home printing, and a user of the Epson 1270 then 1280 color injet printer for over 20 years. I probably printed over 500 13x17 and framed for various home and school displays. In the end, just two years ago, I gave up because of nasty clogged print head. This was due to the printer sitting unused for three or four weeks. When you turn it on, the printer would go through 1 minute cleaning cycles two to three times to clean the print head, flushing about 5%-10% of its four cartridge capacity. One day, the 1280 printer went through the entire $80 cartridge set and was unable to produce a clean test strip, so I just junk the 1280 and never bothered to buy a replacement.

I see that your new printer came with an echo tank that may reduce some ink cost. I hope Epson has resolved the print head clogging problem that made me do away with home printing.
Click to expand...
Also a victim of the cloggies, was doing lots of home printing in my camera club days maybe over 20 years back. First the Epson photo printer clogged badly with no fix, wasted lots of ink trying to clear. Next same happened with a Canon photo printer. Later again an Epson pigment postcard printer also failed.

If not used more or less every day then the darn things clog up.

Left the clubs so no more serious printing, now only using an office quality A3 printer/scanner and using its brand cartridges. Left it powered on all the time and it kept the heads clean but gosh it used up a lot of ink doing that. Later reverted to only powering on when needed and then forcing a clean cycle if cloggies were evident, cartridges last many months longer doing that.

The printer is the cheap bit, it's the ink and paper that breaks the budget and it is way advisable to use the expensive own brand inks to get reliable colour and maybe less cloggies.

Also recommended is suitable printing software to make life easy, I've long used Qimage for that.
 
My two ET-8500 printers are only a year old or so but they go weeks without use and work fine when needed, so maybe the clogging is not as bad now. It will take me a few years to know, but so far, so good.

Agree on the ink and paper costs. But I'm not a volume printer and half of what gets printed at our house is documents on plain paper so not much of a problem.

I've had cheaper versions of Canon and HP all-in-one printers and the setup and operation of those on a network with several Win 11 and iPhones was not pleasant. I'll stick with the late model Epson just on operational stability performance alone. The prints look good also.

Joe L
 
Having said all that, when things do go right and you get a spectacular result, then it is worth the pain.

With the Epson printers I was using glossy paper, then tried their ultra glossy and had a better result.

At one stage I was using TDK ultra glossy paper and that gave fantastic prints, but the catch was they faded fast so a few weeks later they were not the same as when printed.

Stick to OEM paper and ink and get reliable results.
 
Hey Moose,

Long time printer here……started with 2nd hand Epson 7600 A1 printer with 200ml cartridges but i finally killed the head trying to unblock once too often…..I replaced it with Epson p906 A2 printer…..carts are 50ml i think but 8 of them so expensive to replace all….

There is nothing quite as satisfying as seeing ones own pics come to life on paper….then frame and hang….only problem is i have way way more prints than wall space to hang them……i have started printing on removable self adhesive “wallpaper” so i can put them on doors and windows and bricks and the ceiling if i want and remove and relocate whenever i want to….print quality is pretty darn good and so far colour is lasting well.

I also agree with you re calibrating….biggest thing i have learnt is not have monitor too bright or the prints come out way too dark….so keep monitor turned down and get soem cheap paper to do test prints…..i use chromojet hires 180 for test prints

enjoy your printer :-D

Dav
Moose in Oz said:
Amateur/hobby photographer here.

I had been intrigued for some time about home printing but was dissuaded:

1) by online commentary where the majority opinion seems to be that it is more prudent from financial and quality standpoints to simply pay a lab to produce your prints; and

2) a chat with a professional photographer I admire at an in-person event who quite strongly (but well-meaningly) expressed the same view.

But after a weekend of consuming content by Keith Cooper (https://www.youtube.com/@KeithCooper; https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/) I finally caved and purchased an Epson ET-8550 printer, Calibrite Display 123 monitor calibrator and some Ilford papers to go along with my existing (gaming-focused) monitor and computer.

After only a couple of prints I knew I was not going to regret my decision, and I whole-heartedly concur with the people (including some in this forum) who say that there is a satisfaction which comes from printing that you do not get from viewing a photograph on a screen.

So, I wanted to make a post for anyone who is on the fence, to encourage them to (make an informed decision) and take the plunge.

Two initial tips based on my own experience:

1. If you investigate home printing online you will find plenty of warnings about ink costs but far fewer about paper costs - high-quality papers are not cheap either. So make sure that you are informed about paper costs before you invest.

2. Every printing article and video I watched said to get a monitor calibrator. While this is no doubt best practice, the colour changes after calibrating my own (gaming-focused but good quality) monitor were almost imperceptible. I did later find a video by one photographer who likewise said that while ideally you should calibrate, his experience is that modern, good-quality monitors tend to be very colour accurate out-of-the-box, and so he doesn't worry much about calibrating anymore. I would say if you have a good-quality monitor don't assume you absolutely need a calibrator to get good prints.

Happy printing!
Click to expand...
 
Guy Parsons said:
Emerald Slick said:
I have been a big proponent of home printing, and a user of the Epson 1270 then 1280 color injet printer for over 20 years. I probably printed over 500 13x17 and framed for various home and school displays. In the end, just two years ago, I gave up because of nasty clogged print head. This was due to the printer sitting unused for three or four weeks. When you turn it on, the printer would go through 1 minute cleaning cycles two to three times to clean the print head, flushing about 5%-10% of its four cartridge capacity. One day, the 1280 printer went through the entire $80 cartridge set and was unable to produce a clean test strip, so I just junk the 1280 and never bothered to buy a replacement.

I see that your new printer came with an echo tank that may reduce some ink cost. I hope Epson has resolved the print head clogging problem that made me do away with home printing.
Click to expand...
Also a victim of the cloggies, was doing lots of home printing in my camera club days maybe over 20 years back. First the Epson photo printer clogged badly with no fix, wasted lots of ink trying to clear. Next same happened with a Canon photo printer. Later again an Epson pigment postcard printer also failed.

If not used more or less every day then the darn things clog up.
Click to expand...
Pigment ink printers need regular printing or they clog.

Dye ink printers are much more tolerant to extended down times.

I tend to print in batches when I get the printing bug. Then sometimes I do not feel like printing on my dye ink printer anything, not even a cleaning page, for as long as 3 months. No clogging problems in the past 8 years.

Downside is dye ink printers are best on glossy or semi glossy papers. Pigment ink printers excel at textured rough photo papers.
Guy Parsons said:
Left the clubs so no more serious printing, now only using an office quality A3 printer/scanner and using its brand cartridges. Left it powered on all the time and it kept the heads clean but gosh it used up a lot of ink doing that. Later reverted to only powering on when needed and then forcing a clean cycle if cloggies were evident, cartridges last many months longer doing that.

The printer is the cheap bit, it's the ink and paper that breaks the budget and it is way advisable to use the expensive own brand inks to get reliable colour and maybe less cloggies.
Click to expand...
Very true.

The most expensive ink is actually cheap aftermarket bulk ink. You save money by buying it, until you find out your expensive paper prints bleach out in a matter of a few months on a wall, and you reprint it. And one sheet good quality art paper costs 2x more than the expensive OEM ink you need to print it.


Guy Parsons said:
Also recommended is suitable printing software to make life easy, I've long used Qimage for that.
Click to expand...
 
I do my own printing as well, and it’s a great way to keep this in perspective, which I think is especially important as MFT photographers where we’re constantly feeling pressure to go to a higher resolution format. I have my work all over the house - typically 14x19” prints and I can’t say I look at any of the and think “Man, this would be such a better photo with twice the resolution”. 🤷‍♂️

P.S. - I too don’t bother with calibrating my monitor, but I’ve been printing for decades.
 
We used to do a lot of home printing. Stopped as if you don't print for a long time nozzles clog and you have to run a head cleaning process. This wastes a lot of ink.

My recommendation is if you know you will print often it is actually fun. If not you are better sending it out.
 
Neilatolds said:
We used to do a lot of home printing. Stopped as if you don't print for a long time nozzles clog and you have to run a head cleaning process. This wastes a lot of ink.
Click to expand...
This isn’t true of all printers however. I used to battle clogged heads with my Epson all the time, I don’t have to do the same with my Canon.
Neilatolds said:
My recommendation is if you know you will print often it is actually fun. If not you are better sending it out.
Click to expand...
 
Sam Bennett said:
I do my own printing as well, and it’s a great way to keep this in perspective, which I think is especially important as MFT photographers where we’re constantly feeling pressure to go to a higher resolution format. I have my work all over the house - typically 14x19” prints and I can’t say I look at any of the and think “Man, this would be such a better photo with twice the resolution”. 🤷‍♂️

P.S. - I too don’t bother with calibrating my monitor, but I’ve been printing for decades.
Click to expand...
In my camera club days I was involved for a while in our State umbrella organisation that sets the rules and handles insurance for all the State clubs. In that time we oversaw many local and international competitions so I was seeing prints (mostly up to A3 size) from all over.

In the early digital days when a good camera had 6MP there was one local club member who presented really impressive A3 prints, asked what he used, it was some all-in-one 8MP MInolta new to the market.

That 6MP to 8MP change made the difference. Then in my own test printing from 3, 4, 5 MP cameras then from my own 8MP camera I felt that at last we had results like or better than 35mm slide film. Olympus used to tell us that 10-12MP equaled film but my own testing said it was 8MP, maybe not quite as much resolution as film but the cleaner result made the difference.

Now with 16MP and 20MP cameras I have no more worries about chasing pixels. Plus I don't print any more, so life is easy.
 
Last edited:
Sam Bennett said:
Neilatolds said:
We used to do a lot of home printing. Stopped as if you don't print for a long time nozzles clog and you have to run a head cleaning process. This wastes a lot of ink.
Click to expand...
This isn’t true of all printers however. I used to battle clogged heads with my Epson all the time, I don’t have to do the same with my Canon.
Sam Bennett said:
My recommendation is if you know you will print often it is actually fun. If not you are better sending it out.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Just to give Epson some support -- my P800 (pigment) has sat idle for months, but never clogged. I suspect humidity and temperature may be a factor. (I've had a Canon which also didn't clog ...)

The paper is perhaps the bigger cost, if you start to like expensive paper ...
 
Sam Bennett said:
Neilatolds said:
We used to do a lot of home printing. Stopped as if you don't print for a long time nozzles clog and you have to run a head cleaning process. This wastes a lot of ink.
Click to expand...
This isn’t true of all printers however. I used to battle clogged heads with my Epson all the time, I don’t have to do the same with my Canon.
Click to expand...
For the odd postcard print I use a Canon Selphy, it uses dye-sublimation and it can be left for years and still works the same.

Those prints can be left in the sunlight for ages and don't seem to fade at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ruby Rod
Color Management
2 3 4
Replies
64
Views
5K
Mark McCormick
M
A
Photo of painting to print out
Replies
13
Views
2K
jacekldn
J
R
Monitor calibration using xRite i1 Display Pro
Replies
5
Views
3K
md lucero
M
R
Which route would you go? ConeColor inks for P800 or RT-8550
Replies
8
Views
1K
RossN
R
DavidMillier
Comparison between 44x33mm 50MP Fuji GFX and m4/3 - prints
Replies
0
Views
3K
DavidMillier
DavidMillier

Keyboard shortcuts

f
Forum
m
My threads
Mobile site
About
Editorial content
Cameras & Lenses
Community
All content, design, and layout are Copyright © 1998–2025 Digital Photography Review All Rights Reserved.
Reproduction in whole or part in any form or medium without specific written permission is prohibited.
When you use DPReview links to buy products, the site may earn a commission.
©GPS Media - Guides, Products, Services.
Back
Top