Interesting article on printer inks

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3812857/Has-Big-Brother-taken-printer-...

I'm not an HP printer user - it would be interesting to hear if other Forum users have encountered this issue.

Hi, I'm a Canon User and try to stick to printers old enough to not need expensive Canon inks (£80 a set) and happily pay around a pound for each of my 6 inks. HP have now apologised https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/29/hp-timebomb-software-update

I have just bought one of these for work, ignorant of the issue. I wondered why it was such a faff to set up. I was quite attracted to the HP contract whereby for a fixed monthly charge the printer tells some place in the US that it needs more ink and it gets posted out. However I haven't bothered working out my usage, and if you exceed your agreed rate there is an extra exorbitant charge per sheet (15p I think) so that got cancelled as one month I might print ten sheets and another a hundred. I was also surprised to find that all the colours are in a single cartridge, so presumably you throw the lot out if say cyan is used up but there is still plenty of the other colours. It is early days but the jury is out on this one.

Ps it has a small second tray for photos and they come out ok, but the software doesn't recognise a photo file and prints it on the copy paper; the only way it will print on photo paper is to manually select it on the printer panel. It is supposed to print directly from your phone and I bet most would use it for photos, so another misleading bit of promo.

People should 'vote with their feet' and boycott manufacturers who behave like this. 'Genuine Inks' are a huge rip-off and I personally never use them. I have an Epson printer which lives on ink supplied by 'Signal Inks' on ebay, with refillable cartridges that never get removed from my printer. These cost a tiny fraction of the Epson inks and are indistinguishable in terms of the printed output they produce. I have images on my walls at home which were printed several years ago using the Signal Inks and they have not faded or degraded at all.

Regards
David

I gave up on a photo printer. Bought a colour laser printer for home use. It can sit idle for months and then be used again without the concerns of clogged up ink. All my photo printing is done by http://dscolourlabs.co.uk/

I also use DS Colour Labs, but don't have the need for many images to be printed large, so my printer does get used. I must say I haven't really had many issues with inks clogging, despite the printer being idle sometimes for a month or more. It's an Epson PX720WD.

Regards
David

That was my last printer David. Lasted 6 months. I get quite a few large prints done for Camera Club competitions. Prices at DSCL are very competitive and quality is spot on. If I wanted some extra for myself, just as easy to add to the order in my case

An article in today's DM says HP will issue a new update that will reverse the 'update' that killed the third party cartridges. Supposed to happen within the next two weeks.

Wonder if any camera manufacturer will try to do an 'update' to prevent lenses not made by them working on their cameras.

The Guardian article I linked to above on the HP 'fix' inferred an extra download to fix the problem. Many users will have no idea about this. I selectively buy Canon printers a generation behind to avoid current cartridges yet to be cloned. I find multi use printers fine as they get used more in between gaps in photo use for photocopying, holiday tickets etc. My son's A3 Canon printer does little for months so has dried up and no amount of solvent on the head is clearing one colour! Canon tell you to use at least once a month and/or keep on standby to allow auto cleaning every week.

With our Pentax K mount camera lenses Sigma reverse engineer without permission, Tamron recently help make Pentax lenses and Tokina have done excellent joint designs. Samsung of course used to badge pentax lenses as Schneider-Kreuznach even though they were made by Pentax. What a con! Given everything is many makes/co productions today all a bit silly to try to stop. After all our Ricoh made Pentaxes are mostly Sony sensors with Fujitsu electronics. i bet a few more makes inside the circuit boards too.

I believe Epson make the EVF, for. Sony and Olympus.

I am surprised Sony have so much market share or is that a incorrect perception.

I assumed any company having more than 40% , was considered to have a monopoly and thus anti competition laws came into force.

Regards

Sorry my post above refers to Sony share of the "Sensor" market.

Nikon managed to do it with 3rd party batteries for the D500

Had mine approx 3 years Alan, no issues so far, touch wood. I do agree DSCL are very good for large prints and not expensive.

Regards
David

We've started using Costco, who provide very nicely done 18" x 12" prints for around £2.00 each.

interesting