Inkjet Printer

I'm looking at getting a reasonable priced econimical A4 Inkjet Printer, not looking at paying silly money. Only want it for home use, not professional.
The last one I had was a Cannon Pixma which I only paid around £50, it did the job but that was many years ago. I have been looking on the web to get some ideas, but no luck really. So I thought why not ask those that are using one all the time.

Your thoughts will be most welcomed.

For what it's worth, I've been using Epson printers for a good 20 years or so - they do an excellent job.

As with other manufacturers, the machines are relatively cheap, they make their money on the ink. Also, it's more economic to use the printer regularly rather than "once in a blue moon", but if you don't have the need then there's not a lot you can do about that.

If your use is very infrequent, it might prove advantageous to use a business centre - take your work along on a USB stick and print at their facility.

I hear what you’re saying, I just like the involvement of the process from taking the picture to fine tuning in Photoshop Elements, then printing it off.

If A4 size is your max, then the epson et8500 is probably the best printer for inkjet photographs currently out since 2021, so very much the latest.
The OEM epson refillable inks are as cheap as chips for 70ml bottles and last forever unlike cartridge ink printers with less than half the ml, a tiny amount at 4 times the cost.
The results are superb image wise, despite the initial outlay for the printer itself.
I am delighted with my Epson et 8550 which is essentially the same but prints to A3 Plus size and a scanner and a SD card slot and touch screen which the et 8500 also gets, a really good package.
Deals come up now and again, thats when I got mine

I wouldn't bother printing your own. Head to DS Colour Labs.

Their prices are ridiculously cheap!! An A4 print on Fuji paper is 79p!!

Sounds like you’ve something that really suits your needs. Perhaps I should of made my outlay more clear. I’m only looking at spending up to £200.

I prefer to print my own, for me it’s all part of the photographic process.

Epson Expression Photo XP-55. About £120. Just an A4 printer, doesn't copy, fax or make the coffee. Got it when I had to replace a printer while there were still shortages due to Covid, so not much choice particularly if you wanted just a printer without added gizmos and didn't want to break the bank. However it hasn't disappointed. It uses the usual small ink cartidges, though, not bigger bottles so it's a trade-off between cost of printer and cost of ink. Which way to go depends on your expected usage.

Steve

Photography is my retirement hobby; I'm still very much an amateur, but I do enjoy making my own prints of some of my creations!

For over three years I've been using one of the Hewlett Packard Instant Ink A4 printers (the model I have has been discontinued) - which uses an ink subscription service. The printer was about £80 and the ink costs me £2.99 per month by direct debit, for which I can print up to 50 pages of anything* in each month, including full-size A4 photos. To put it into perspective, the cost is less than that of one monthly cappuccino in many cafés! (*But bear in mind that printing just one full-stop on a page counts as one of the 50 pages!)

The cartridges seem to have more ink in them than usual, but it isn't necessary to order or buy any more - the printer is connected to the Internet and HP send new cartridges by post before the ones in the printer run out of ink. For photo paper I use the own-brand packs from Photo Paper Direct. HP printers turn the sheets over as they run through the printer and sometimes the thicker sheets might get stuck, so I always order their 200g paper for no such problems. An A4 photo works out at about 30p, so I don't worry about making test prints and discarding them if necessary.

When printing less than 50 pages in a month, the spares are carried forward up to 150. If more than 50 sheets per month are required the subscription can be increased. (I've kept my old HP printer, using cheap third party cartridges or out-of-date eBay cartridges, for when I need to print pages of text that might take the monthly total over the 50.)

Philip

Do you used Epson ink cartridges or third party

Third party - most of what's printed is non-photographic and done by my wife so no need to go for perfect colour reproduction and 100 year colour stability! However, the printer comes with a set of cartridge caps so you can swap expensive and cheap cartridges back and forth depending on what you want to print. To be honest, though, I've not done that (yet...) because cheap, 3rd party cartridges are OK for my photographic needs. But I don't enter competitions or put prints on a wall in bright sunlight or harbour any illusions that anyone will want to see my photos in 50 years time .

Steve

[quote:3496ace15f="Ratcatcher"][quote:3496ace15f="Lubbyman"]Epson Expression Photo XP-55. About £120. Just an A4 printer, doesn't copy, fax or make the coffee. Got it when I had to replace a printer while there were still shortages due to Covid, so not much choice particularly if you wanted just a printer without added gizmos and didn't want to break the bank. However it hasn't disappointed. It uses the usual small ink cartidges, though, not bigger bottles so it's a trade-off between cost of printer and cost of ink. Which way to go depends on your expected usage.

I have a XP55 too - it produces superb prints especially if you use the (horrendously) expensive claria inks. If you use one of the loading trays for your paper it's OK but the rear/top loading slots are pretty awful especially if using smaller paper sizes or heavy weight papers. Unless you position the paper just so the machine will snatch it out of your hand and eject it from the front slot without a mark on the paper...I found that it was not how many prints per hour the printer did but how many per evening.
If using the front trays the paper is placed face down in tray. The paper is then passed backwards round a fairly small diameter roller - which does not like heavy weight paper!
I my view, not one of Epson's better designed printers....

Have a look at the Canon G5050, Canon includes a set of bottled inks with its refillable printers.

I’m drawn towards the Epson Expression Photo XP970, if I can get it at a decent price.
Mainly because of the A3 option, but as I’ve seen with all printers it’s the cost of the inks. Saying that I would probably use more initially with trial and error. I know there’s the refill option, but that sounds fiddly.
I’ve also looked at the Epson XP-55 and XP-8700.
Can’t seem to decide on a Canon model.
To be honest apart from the one mentioned I haven’t a clue

Ah, the joys of covering an A3 sheet with expensive ink then realising that it doesn't look at all like it did on the computer screen... .

I used to have a Canon printer until it wore out. Perfectly good at doing what I wanted. Looked for the current version of it, but Covid was rampant so hardly any around and none for sensible money. Hence getting the Epson XP-55.

Steve