Professional Quality Ink Jet Prints Save Time & Money

Technology Assessment

I found the Epson 3800 had a good price, good quality, and low cost/print. I had been watching printer technologies and reading reviews from professional photographers for years, but until now I didn"t feel the technology met the quality level with a less than 2 year return-on-investment. The under $1000 units didn"t have the archival quality and/or were too costly to operate. These units had low volume cartridges that doubled the cost per print and some printers didn"t offer individual color cartridges. In addition, these units didn"t have acceptable black and white images because they didn"t offer specific cartridges to produce a true black, which is important with client"s ever-increasing interest in black and white prints. The units above $2000 were geared for a higher volume with roll stock and no option for sheet feeding. Since my clients request many paper types and textures, I need to keep a small inventory of different paper; buying a roll of each different type would not be cost effective. The Epson printer fit in the $1000 to $1500 range with sheet feed and 9 individual archival inks.

Results

Printing only twice a month, I had concerns about frequent color calibration and wasted time and materials setting up the printer before each print job. Even with my erratic usage, the printer stays calibrated and the jets do not clog, so I can start a print job without requiring a test page. I found that the printer"s cost of operation offered a 35% to 64% savings over the online photofinisher. I recorded the ink level percentage for each cartridge and the paper square footage that I was printing on after each print job. I had produced about 25% of my prints as black and white and the color prints were portraits, so the black & white and magenta cartridges depleted 50% faster than the others. A full set of cartridges for the printer can cost about $450 (9 cartridges x $50/cartridge), but with the ability to replace individual cartridges, it"s not a high cost per print. On Epson Ultra Premium Luster paper, it is costing $0.0083 per sq inch or $1.27 in ink, $1.20 in paper, and $2.48 total per 11 x 14 print. Other sizes are proportional (ex. $0.56 for a 5x7 and $1.29 for an 8x10 print for paper and ink). Compared to the photofinisher"s costs, my return-on-investment was less than a year. I was pleasantly surprised to find a labor savings as well. With an Internet photofinisher, I needed to follow a serial workflow with strict image sizing and naming standards, I needed to upload the images after finishing all of the retouching and work through the online ordering process in order to ensure the order was correct. With the in-house ink jet printer, I can print as I finish retouching each image. With the use of Adobe Lightroom"s Print module, this requires no additional time to print. An added benefit is seeing the results as you go and if you need to adjust an image (ex. Missing a spot in retouching), you can do it on-the-fly.

Summary

I don"t print all jobs on the ink jet printer. It is excellent for proofs and keeping my portfolios up-to-date. When it comes to wedding prints and premium priced jobs, I still use the high-end photofinisher, which prints on traditional Kodak E-Surface with the luster finish. Thus, 80% of my printing is now accomplished on the Epson 3800 with archival quality Epson K3 ink jet technology






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