Inkjet printer ink costs?

[tomhongkong]

Does anyone have a recommendation for getting information on ink costs for printing on home inkjet printers. I am going to buy a new A3+ printer, but details of number of pages from a set of inks is vague and misleading, everwhere I look. The quoted number of pages is often for 4x6 prints (I guess I could divide by about 10 to get A3 prints) and often just 'number of colour sheets' whatever that means.

Thanks

tom

 

[FRGorga]

Best data I know of... https://www.redrivercatalog.com/rr/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html

 

[tomhongkong]

Best data I know of... https://www.redrivercatalog.com/rr/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html

Thanks, that's a great article but the printers are mostly not current models. An up to date version of that would be great, if it exists

thanks again

tom

 

[tomhongkong]

Best data I know of... https://www.redrivercatalog.com/rr/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html

Thanks, that's a great article but the printers are mostly not current models. An up to date version of that would be great, if it exists

thanks again

tom

Sorry I was partly wrong, some of the Canon's are available in Hong Kong, but I was hoping for comparison with current Epson Ecotank models

tom

 

[Fazal Majid]

Sorry I was partly wrong, some of the Canon's are available in Hong Kong, but I was hoping for comparison with current Epson Ecotank models

There's no comparison, the EcoTanks are two orders of magnitude cheaper than the fine art printers, but they are also 4-ink CMYK vs 10/12-ink fine-art printers.

The exception is the Epson ET-8550, which has 6 (5 usable for photo prints), but those are dye inks and thus unsuitable for professional use. Here's hoping Epson will make an EcoTank Photo pigment ink printer similar to the EcoTank Pro 16600/16650/16680, but likely they won't because that would completely cannibalize SureColor P700/P900 sales. Any disruption would have to come from Canon, but they are retrenching their fine-art range, not expanding it.

--
Fazal Majid (www.majid.info)

 

[olyflyer]

Best data I know of... https://www.redrivercatalog.com/rr/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html

Thanks, that's a great article but the printers are mostly not current models. An up to date version of that would be great, if it exists

thanks again

tom

Sorry I was partly wrong, some of the Canon's are available in Hong Kong, but I was hoping for comparison with current Epson Ecotank models

tom

That comparison is difficult to do because it would require the same image printed on the same paper in the same size. Everything else is based on assumptions. You can calculate a theoretical cost through comparing ink cartridge sizes and their prices, but I think, regardless if you chose Epson or Canon, the EcoTank type of printers win. I have the ET-8550 and it is definitely very economic, but maybe if I had a Canon it would be just as economic. Anyway, I am very happy with the printer, and after 10 months of use I have no regrets for not buying the Canon Pro-200, which was my second choice.

 

[tomhongkong]

Best data I know of... https://www.redrivercatalog.com/rr/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html

Thanks, that's a great article but the printers are mostly not current models. An up to date version of that would be great, if it exists

thanks again

tom

Sorry I was partly wrong, some of the Canon's are available in Hong Kong, but I was hoping for comparison with current Epson Ecotank models

tom

That comparison is difficult to do because it would require the same image printed on the same paper in the same size. Everything else is based on assumptions. You can calculate a theoretical cost through comparing ink cartridge sizes and their prices, but I think, regardless if you chose Epson or Canon, the EcoTank type of printers win. I have the ET-8550 and it is definitely very economic, but maybe if I had a Canon it would be just as economic. Anyway, I am very happy with the printer, and after 10 months of use I have no regrets for not buying the Canon Pro-200, which was my second choice.

Thanks

Any idea of how many photos you get from one set of inks? I guess I can always adjust for size if you don't have A3+ figures

Thanks

Tom

 

[nickbatz]

Without wanting to sound cavalier, If the relatively small differences in ink costs are a significant factor, I'd suggest looking for a printer that can use generic cartridges.

I personally only use the official, expensive ink in my Canon Pro-1000 for serious pictures, but for everyday office printing I use cheap ink from ebay in my Canon Pro-100.

On that scale it makes a difference: $15 for a set vs. $130 or something. Whether a big print costs $10 or $11... I personally don't care.

Again, I do recognize that not everyone is a billionaire and don't wan't to be an ass.

 

[wilberforce_1]

I have one of the EcoTank printers (not the 8550), and based on my usage it is running in the order of 5 to 10 U.S. cents per photo page (8x10). The 8550 may be more.

Although the EcoTank inks are very inexpensive, just remember you are not getting something for nothing. IMO, the 8550 is essentially a $400 printer priced at $800, because the ink is inexpensive. You are basically paying for some amount of ink up front.

 

[Gesture]

Exactly right. Thus, Epson is in love with the EcoTank prnters.

 

[gscotten]

Any idea of how many photos you get from one set of inks? I guess I can always adjust for size if you don't have A3+ figures

This is very hard to quantify, because it depends so much on the photos you are printing. Also, the inks aren't used equally. On my Canon Pro-100, I use far more Photo Magenta than any other cartridge. Only Light Gray is close. On my previous Pro 9000, I don't think I ever replaced a Red or Green cart. (I think they were only used on certain art papers.) On the Pro-10, I replaced the Chroma Optimizer at least twice as often as any other cart.

 

[nickbatz]

Again:

It doesn't matter.

- If you need display quality/sellable prints, then you consider the different printers' strengths, and you know that the ink is going to cost a freaking fortune but just accept it and move on.

The differences between ink prices are too small to matter, whether or not you can figure them out.

- If you want decent quality photo prints but don't need anything deluxe, then as I said: find one that can use generic ink. There's no shame in that - it's not like you're buying a fake Rolex or something.

The differences between ink prices are too small to matter, whether or not you can figure them out.

 

[gscotten]

The differences between ink prices are too small to matter, whether or not you can figure them out.

I agree. Printing at home is all about getting the prints exactly how one wants them.

 

[tomhongkong]

Does anyone have a recommendation for getting information on ink costs for printing on home inkjet printers. I am going to buy a new A3+ printer, but details of number of pages from a set of inks is vague and misleading, everwhere I look. The quoted number of pages is often for 4x6 prints (I guess I could divide by about 10 to get A3 prints) and often just 'number of colour sheets' whatever that means.

Thanks

tom

Thank you to everyone for contributing answers. It would clog the forum up too much to thank everybody individually but all replies are much appreciated.

I understand that I am a beginner in the field of printing, and many of you are on a totally different planet in terms of expertise. Please bear with me.

With that in mind I have crystalised my thoughts a bit.

My objective is to print about 150 A3 prints a year (which I will form in to some sort of 'photobook' and around 12 larger prints for wall display. Available wall space restricts me to having more than about 3 showing at any one time, but 12 per year would allow for some rotation. Bigger ones would be at least A3+ but up to 50x70cm.

My interest is more the subject matter...e.g. wildlife or family...than print perfection.

I think something like an Epson 8550 would allow me to achieve what I want, but I am brand agnostic (although biased a bit by the good performance that I get from my Epson A4 Ecotank printer)

I assume that commercial prints of A3 cost around $8. I may be able to get these a bit cheaper in sale times or from my local printer in Hong Kong (I am not there so can't check for a few weeks) I assume that cost of home printing would be around $1.50 ($.50 for ink based on the figures quoted by Epson of 2300 4x6 per ink set at $88 per set...88/2300x8=0.306, plus contingency) and $1.00 for mid range paper.

My saving per print is therefore $6.50 x 150= $975. The cost of an 8550 is about $7,500, so it's more than paid for within a year. Next year $975 profit. I know these figures are optmistic and maybe I should factor in a wastage amount, currnetly quite high but I have to work on getting it down to around 5%.

I will use a commercial shop for the bigger prints although with 8550 I could print A3+

Sounds like printing at home is a no brainer for me.

Have I made any wrong assumptions, and would you recommend any other printers for me to look at?

thanks for your ongoing help

tom

 

[tomhongkong]

Does anyone have a recommendation for getting information on ink costs for printing on home inkjet printers. I am going to buy a new A3+ printer, but details of number of pages from a set of inks is vague and misleading, everwhere I look. The quoted number of pages is often for 4x6 prints (I guess I could divide by about 10 to get A3 prints) and often just 'number of colour sheets' whatever that means.

Thanks

tom

Thank you to everyone for contributing answers. It would clog the forum up too much to thank everybody individually but all replies are much appreciated.

I understand that I am a beginner in the field of printing, and many of you are on a totally different planet in terms of expertise. Please bear with me.

With that in mind I have crystalised my thoughts a bit.

My objective is to print about 150 A3 prints a year (which I will form in to some sort of 'photobook' and around 12 larger prints for wall display. Available wall space restricts me to having more than about 3 showing at any one time, but 12 per year would allow for some rotation. Bigger ones would be at least A3+ but up to 50x70cm.

My interest is more the subject matter...e.g. wildlife or family...than print perfection.

I think something like an Epson 8550 would allow me to achieve what I want, but I am brand agnostic (although biased a bit by the good performance that I get from my Epson A4 Ecotank printer)

I assume that commercial prints of A3 cost around $8. I may be able to get these a bit cheaper in sale times or from my local printer in Hong Kong (I am not there so can't check for a few weeks) I assume that cost of home printing would be around $1.50 ($.50 for ink based on the figures quoted by Epson of 2300 4x6 per ink set at $88 per set...88/2300x8=0.306, plus contingency) and $1.00 for mid range paper.

My saving per print is therefore $6.50 x 150= $975. The cost of an 8550 is about $7,500, so it's more than paid for within a year. Next year $975 profit. I know these figures are optmistic and maybe I should factor in a wastage amount, currnetly quite high but I have to work on getting it down to around 5%.

I will use a commercial shop for the bigger prints although with 8550 I could print A3+

Sounds like printing at home is a no brainer for me.

Have I made any wrong assumptions, and would you recommend any other printers for me to look at?

thanks for your ongoing help

tom

Sorry, the gremlins got in. The cost of 8550 should be about US$750

tom

 

[wilberforce_1]

Yup, sounds like a 8550 will meet your needs.
You might find paper you like costs you a bit more than $1 per A3+ sheet. Paper that is too thin will often not give good results, and it can be hard to find ICC profiles for non-Epson paper for the 8550 (ICC profiles are needed for good color accuracy)

 

[olyflyer]

Best data I know of... https://www.redrivercatalog.com/rr/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html

Thanks, that's a great article but the printers are mostly not current models. An up to date version of that would be great, if it exists

thanks again

tom

Sorry I was partly wrong, some of the Canon's are available in Hong Kong, but I was hoping for comparison with current Epson Ecotank models

tom

That comparison is difficult to do because it would require the same image printed on the same paper in the same size. Everything else is based on assumptions. You can calculate a theoretical cost through comparing ink cartridge sizes and their prices, but I think, regardless if you chose Epson or Canon, the EcoTank type of printers win. I have the ET-8550 and it is definitely very economic, but maybe if I had a Canon it would be just as economic. Anyway, I am very happy with the printer, and after 10 months of use I have no regrets for not buying the Canon Pro-200, which was my second choice.

Thanks

Any idea of how many photos you get from one set of inks? I guess I can always adjust for size if you don't have A3+ figures

Thanks

Tom

I don't know exactly how many prints I will get from a full set of inks, and will never know because quite a lot of ink was wasted during the initial setup, but that needs to be done only once, not after refilling new inks.

So far I have printed 56 B&W and about a 80 colour A3+ images plus maybe a 100 A4 colour and perhaps 100-150 4x6, most in colour. I have also printed about 200 pages on office paper, most colour brochures but also ordinary B&W documents. I am running low on grey (1/3 full tank) but the other colours are still pretty high, used about 1/4 of a tank. Grey and photo black are the ones mostly used up. I think this printer is really very economical and it prints both excellent B&W and colour images. I have used up a lot of old papers (leftovers from my previous Canon printer which I had during the end of 90's) at the beginning, mostly for testing, but I have only bought Epson Premium Glossy and Ilford Gallery Smooth Pearl papers. I found these to be excellent for colour and B&W use, the glossy is used for colour and the half matte Ilford is used for B&W. The "left over" old papers gave mixed results, so I will not use those. The experience with this printer is only positive so far. It has a scanner also, but since I have a better scanner, I don't use it and never really done anything with it except tested the function after installation of the printer.

 

[tomhongkong]

Yup, sounds like a 8550 will meet your needs.
You might find paper you like costs you a bit more than $1 per A3+ sheet. Paper that is too thin will often not give good results, and it can be hard to find ICC profiles for non-Epson paper for the 8550 (ICC profiles are needed for good color accuracy)

Thanks for your advice. Can you give an example of an ecomony paper that you thik would be acceptable?

Thanks

 

[tomhongkong]

Best data I know of... https://www.redrivercatalog.com/rr/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html

Thanks, that's a great article but the printers are mostly not current models. An up to date version of that would be great, if it exists

thanks again

tom

Sorry I was partly wrong, some of the Canon's are available in Hong Kong, but I was hoping for comparison with current Epson Ecotank models

tom

That comparison is difficult to do because it would require the same image printed on the same paper in the same size. Everything else is based on assumptions. You can calculate a theoretical cost through comparing ink cartridge sizes and their prices, but I think, regardless if you chose Epson or Canon, the EcoTank type of printers win. I have the ET-8550 and it is definitely very economic, but maybe if I had a Canon it would be just as economic. Anyway, I am very happy with the printer, and after 10 months of use I have no regrets for not buying the Canon Pro-200, which was my second choice.

Thanks

Any idea of how many photos you get from one set of inks? I guess I can always adjust for size if you don't have A3+ figures

Thanks

Tom

I don't know exactly how many prints I will get from a full set of inks, and will never know because quite a lot of ink was wasted during the initial setup, but that needs to be done only once, not after refilling new inks.

So far I have printed 56 B&W and about a 80 colour A3+ images plus maybe a 100 A4 colour and perhaps 100-150 4x6, most in colour. I have also printed about 200 pages on office paper, most colour brochures but also ordinary B&W documents. I am running low on grey (1/3 full tank) but the other colours are still pretty high, used about 1/4 of a tank. Grey and photo black are the ones mostly used up. I think this printer is really very economical and it prints both excellent B&W and colour images. I have used up a lot of old papers (leftovers from my previous Canon printer which I had during the end of 90's) at the beginning, mostly for testing, but I have only bought Epson Premium Glossy and Ilford Gallery Smooth Pearl papers. I found these to be excellent for colour and B&W use, the glossy is used for colour and the half matte Ilford is used for B&W. The "left over" old papers gave mixed results, so I will not use those. The experience with this printer is only positive so far. It has a scanner also, but since I have a better scanner, I don't use it and never really done anything with it except tested the function after installation of the printer.

Thanks for that info. It sounds as though one set of Claria Inks will easily meet my target of 150 A3, perhaps with one or two colours needing a top up.

That's very ecouraging

tom

 

[olyflyer]

Without wanting to sound cavalier, If the relatively small differences in ink costs are a significant factor, I'd suggest looking for a printer that can use generic cartridges.

I personally only use the official, expensive ink in my Canon Pro-1000 for serious pictures, but for everyday office printing I use cheap ink from ebay in my Canon Pro-100.

On that scale it makes a difference: $15 for a set vs. $130 or something. Whether a big print costs $10 or $11... I personally don't care.

Again, I do recognize that not everyone is a billionaire and don't wan't to be an ass.

...then why did you write what you wrote without knowing anything about me...?

If the ink costs would ruin me then I'd find another hobby and would not buy expensive cameras, lenses, scanner, printers and cars. Yes, I just recently ordered two brand new EVs, both premium, and will pay cash on delivery. Sadly, we have to wait ten more months for both of them...

Anyway, regarding this printer, while I could fork out the ink cartridge costs of the Canon Pro 200 also (which was my alternative to this ET-8550), I'd find it extremely irritating to having to change cartridges all the time and constantly have them on order. That's one thing, the other is that it is more environment friendly because the large bottles use less plastic and needs less transport. I dismissed the Canon Pro 200 NOT because it is not an ekotank, but because it has no paper tray. I mean, seriously, how hard was it to design a paper tray in 2020 or whenever it was designed...? I know what the fans will say... it's a photo printer, and photo paper should be fed through as straight as possible from the back. Yes, that's true, but it can be used as an office printer for home office also, like you are using the Pro 100, though it is extremely impractical. So now you know it. If Canon would have had a Pro 250, with a paper tray for at least 50 sheets, I would have bought that printer and gladly paid for original inks when needed refilling, especially if it had larger cartridges also. As opposed to you, I would not buy a printer and use cheapo third party inks, not even for office paper printing.

Anyway, I answered the OP, gave him my opinion and don't care if you believe I am a cheapo and not a billionaire like you.

By the way, don't worry, you don't sound like a cavalier, quite the opposite actually...