Bought myself a printer for Christmas

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ssheipel

ssheipel

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Picked up the Epson P900 yesterday. Last time I printed a photo myself was in a wet darkroom using an enlarger! I've stood by many times watching photos (not mine) printed on ink jets since then, mystified by the set up before hitting 'print.' Gotta say taking all the tape and packing materials off of the printer was profoundly more complicated than actually using it. I've only printed a couple of photos as 'tests' and other than selecting for which paper I was using, a simple tap on a touch screen, I did no print specific prep on the photos (I simply used Epson's own print set up software vs PS or ON1 which I expect I'll use in the future) and the results are incredible -- and I didn't even use one of the top two quality settings. The darn thing even found my wi fi network automatically as it was done through my computer. Gotta also say, had forgotten just how great it is to produce a hard copy photograph; truly feels like photography! I keep picking the photos up to test they're real LOL

Happy Holidays to this fine group of people. Wherever you are may you find peace, love (and of course for this crowd!!) light.
 
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Hut2 said:
I agree it’s very satisfying feeling to print your own photos. It’s been over 30 years since I was in a dark room and I don’t miss that at all.
I have a few papers I really like which I have icc profiles for. I also like to use a spray varnish for durability.

have fun printing and a Merry Christmas
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Merry Christmas! And I'm with you, I have no nostalgia for a return to a dark room at all; photography without jugs marked with the skull and crossbones is a bonus :) Which varnish spray do you use?
 
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Merry Christmas, Steven! I hope you also get some ink cartridges as a present. And some really good paper, too!

How big do you plan on printing with the new printer?
 
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Whiskeyman said:
Merry Christmas, Steven! I hope you also get some ink cartridges as a present. And some really good paper, too!

How big do you plan on printing with the new printer?
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Merry Christmas! Yes, the printer comes with only a small 'set up' and test a few amount of ink! Did grab some very nice art lustre paper to play with until the limited amount of ink runs dry.

Oh, and size. Max width on the printer is 17" (and it can handle with an optional roll feeder banner lengths of up to almost 11 feet). My favourite photo print size is 16x24 so that I'll be doing mostly I suspect when I capture a shot I decide is a keeper. I do especially love canvas prints so will almost certainly be adding the roll feeder at some point.
 
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ssheipel said:
Picked up the Epson P900 yesterday. Last time I printed a photo myself was in a wet darkroom using an enlarger! I've stood by many times watching photos (not mine) printed on ink jets since then, mystified by the set up before hitting 'print.' Gotta say taking all the tape and packing materials off of the printer was profoundly more complicated than actually using it. I've only printed a couple of photos as 'tests' and other than selecting for which paper I was using, a simple tap on a touch screen, I did no print specific prep on the photos (I simply used Epson's own print set up software vs PS or ON1 which I expect I'll use in the future) and the results are incredible -- and I didn't even use one of the top two quality settings. The darn thing even found my wi fi network automatically as it was done through my computer. Gotta also say, had forgotten just how great it is to produce a hard copy photograph; truly feels like photography! I keep picking the photos up to test they're real LOL

Happy Holidays to this fine group of people. Wherever you are may you find peace, love (and of course for this crowd!!) light.
Click to expand...

Congrats, Steven. I like mine a lot. I want to get out more next year, to get photos to print some panoramas. Keep an eye out; Epson put that packing tape everywhere!
 
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ssheipel said:
Merry Christmas! Yes, the printer comes with only a small 'set up' and test a few amount of ink! Did grab some very nice art lustre paper to play with until the limited amount of ink runs dry.

Oh, and size. Max width on the printer is 17" (and it can handle with an optional roll feeder banner lengths of up to almost 11 feet). My favourite photo print size is 16x24 so that I'll be doing mostly I suspect when I capture a shot I decide is a keeper. I do especially love canvas prints so will almost certainly be adding the roll feeder at some point.
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Please let us know how often you print at >13". I currently have an Artisan 1430 (max print size of 13x19) that seems to be in great order (darn it!) but have been eyeing several that can print much longer/wider in order to print panoramas. I've been thinking that 13" is wide enough, but it would be better to have the option for up to 17" as well. Then again, if I wouldn't print very 17" prints or panoramas frequently, or at all, I could just send those out to a "lab".

I'd love to find a photo printer like these with a bulk ink option. I don't like having to spend nearly one-half the cost of the printer to completely replenish the ink!
 
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Dan291 said:
Congrats, Steven. I like mine a lot. I want to get out more next year, to get photos to print some panoramas. Keep an eye out; Epson put that packing tape everywhere!
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I found a piece of that tape (and hard to miss with its neon colour) AFTER I printed a couple of shots LOL
 
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ssheipel said:
Picked up the Epson P900 yesterday. Last time I printed a photo myself was in a wet darkroom using an enlarger! I've stood by many times watching photos (not mine) printed on ink jets since then, mystified by the set up before hitting 'print.' Gotta say taking all the tape and packing materials off of the printer was profoundly more complicated than actually using it. I've only printed a couple of photos as 'tests' and other than selecting for which paper I was using, a simple tap on a touch screen, I did no print specific prep on the photos (I simply used Epson's own print set up software vs PS or ON1 which I expect I'll use in the future) and the results are incredible -- and I didn't even use one of the top two quality settings. The darn thing even found my wi fi network automatically as it was done through my computer. Gotta also say, had forgotten just how great it is to produce a hard copy photograph; truly feels like photography! I keep picking the photos up to test they're real LOL

Happy Holidays to this fine group of people. Wherever you are may you find peace, love (and of course for this crowd!!) light.
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Great decision! I love my printer. Happy holidays!
 
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Whiskeyman said:
Please let us know how often you print at >13". I currently have an Artisan 1430 (max print size of 13x19) that seems to be in great order (darn it!) but have been eyeing several that can print much longer/wider in order to print panoramas. I've been thinking that 13" is wide enough, but it would be better to have the option for up to 17" as well. Then again, if I wouldn't print very 17" prints or panoramas frequently, or at all, I could just send those out to a "lab".

I'd love to find a photo printer like these with a bulk ink option. I don't like having to spend nearly one-half the cost of the printer to completely replenish the ink!
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Merry Christmas. My test shots were at letter size and friends were fighting over who can have the shots, and asking for more, so for others maybe I'll print A4 or letter, but for me I think few shots I'll want to print in the first place and for those 'keepers' worthy of printing I'm guessing large as I can get will be the choice :) And yah, the price of ink. I worked for Xerox decades ago and the chemists and engineers in the research centre convinced me that you get what you pay for when it comes to ink, especially when you care about achieving accurate colour, let alone getting it on the paper, properly not having it screw up the printer in applying, it's longevity, etc. But yes, it would great if engineers over at Epson would figure out a way (or convince sales and marketing to allow :D ) technology that allowed bulk buys (cheaper price) of ink and cartridge refilling!!
 
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Dan291 said:
Me too, but I won’t mention how long it was when I finally discovered it.
Let’s just say it wasn’t as quickly as you. 😂
Merry Christmas.
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Well no word yet whether the piece I found is actually the last piece remaining.... Have a great holiday!
 
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ssheipel said:
Picked up the Epson P900 yesterday. Last time I printed a photo myself was in a wet darkroom using an enlarger!


I have debated about a printer, weighing the ink costs vs the few I would have professionally printed. A Plus of a printer would be is control of the output colors and ease of redo so I get them as I see them on my computer / LR. It would be costly to have professionally re printed otherwise. The metal prints look interesting ( frameless and bright colors)... haven't had anything I deemed printable ... yet certainly not my Happy Holiday card today!. I have old slides I still like but I have had a 15 yr break from actively taking pictures, other than family vacations, till this summer when started doing wildlife. I need to get a library of keepers before I consider a printer. The epson would be my choice too from what I have read. Then I would have decide on a paper. I do love the fact you said it was pretty much plug and play. Enjoy your new printer. I'll go back and try to figure out that photoshop I tried today. Did you figure what the cost of print ink paper for a 16x 20?
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No idea the cost per photo e.g. figuring out the total 'square footage' of photos the ink cartridges will produce -- the number of variables such as which colours are used and what colours show up in any given, etc., etc., are surely myriad and I don't care enough about the economics of the printing to figure it out :) I had a photo printed a month ago by a fine art printing shop 16x24 on cotton canvas and it was a couple hundred dollars, which is a third of the way to replacing all the ink cartridges, so that's one measure. Of course the media cost is factored into that, as well, of course. The letter size art lustre paper I picked up is about $1 cdn per sheet. But I was looking at fine art linen textured paper and it was for A3+ (13x19) $15 a sheet.
 
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KurtT said:
if you don't mind, I'll check back on your printer after 6 mos or so and see what your likes or dislikes after you spent time with it. Thanks. Have fun.
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No problem! Hopefully by then I'll have taken some human portrait shots and printed them; though about to dig out some pre COVID work of two legged wildlife and play with printing portraits. But again it's been totally plug and play, and choose photo, choose paper and hit print. Cheers!
 
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My first digital printer (that worked well) reopened my appreciation of photography. Amortized out, the costs aren't extreme, either. The cartridges seem expensive but the replacements seem to last forever, and the new printers (mine's a P800) seem to have solved the nozzle clogging problems. I really appreciate the ability to do multiple proofs of sections of a print before committing to printing full-size, or to experiment with different papers and different sizes.

Of course the downside for friends and family is them getting prints as gifts :)
 
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ssheipel said:
Picked up the Epson P900 yesterday. Last time I printed a photo myself was in a wet darkroom using an enlarger! I've stood by many times watching photos (not mine) printed on ink jets since then, mystified by the set up before hitting 'print.' Gotta say taking all the tape and packing materials off of the printer was profoundly more complicated than actually using it. I've only printed a couple of photos as 'tests' and other than selecting for which paper I was using, a simple tap on a touch screen, I did no print specific prep on the photos (I simply used Epson's own print set up software vs PS or ON1 which I expect I'll use in the future) and the results are incredible -- and I didn't even use one of the top two quality settings. The darn thing even found my wi fi network automatically as it was done through my computer. Gotta also say, had forgotten just how great it is to produce a hard copy photograph; truly feels like photography! I keep picking the photos up to test they're real LOL

Happy Holidays to this fine group of people. Wherever you are may you find peace, love (and of course for this crowd!!) light.
Click to expand...
I have been printing for years and love it. There is nothing like holding a print in your hand - plus prints make an excellent gift
 
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eaj101 said:
My first digital printer (that worked well) reopened my appreciation of photography. Amortized out, the costs aren't extreme, either. The cartridges seem expensive but the replacements seem to last forever, and the new printers (mine's a P800) seem to have solved the nozzle clogging problems. I really appreciate the ability to do multiple proofs of sections of a print before committing to printing full-size, or to experiment with different papers and different sizes.

Of course the downside for friends and family is them getting prints as gifts :)
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HA! I've already gifted a couple of people with the test prints :)
 
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RichF said:
I have been printing for years and love it. There is nothing like holding a print in your hand - plus prints make an excellent gift
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Agreed, about prints. There's no doubt, digital images with their backlighting are great, but.... No, one's better than the other, for me, just different, each better in their own ways. Happy New Year!
 
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Congrats on the purchase, and glad you brought up this topic. I would love to know - how are you mounting and displaying the prints you make? I've never really printed at home because it's expensive to take the print to a frame store and have them mount it and frame it. I used to have prints mounted on gatorboard at the lab to make framing easier, but that's not something I can do at home. So I've never really known what to do with a print I made myself. I'd love to hear what others do.
 
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Friends and family really appreciate prints. Old prints are a treasure and memories of times past that should not be forgotten. I feel most of the cell phone photos will most likely be lost forever. I photograph groups at church (we have a small church), all of the ladies on Mothers Day or the whole congregation in their Easter finest, and other events like the local VFW honor guard at the local cemetery on Memorial Day. I give these photos away, and they are greatly appreciated. Years from now someone look at one of my photos and good memories will be stirred up. Makes me feel good too.

Jim
 
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ssheipel said:
No idea the cost per photo e.g. figuring out the total 'square footage' of photos the ink cartridges will produce -- the number of variables such as which colours are used and what colours show up in any given, etc., etc., are surely myriad and I don't care enough about the economics of the printing to figure it out :) I had a photo printed a month ago by a fine art printing shop 16x24 on cotton canvas and it was a couple hundred dollars, which is a third of the way to replacing all the ink cartridges, so that's one measure. Of course the media cost is factored into that, as well, of course. The letter size art lustre paper I picked up is about $1 cdn per sheet. But I was looking at fine art linen textured paper and it was for A3+ (13x19) $15 a sheet.
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Try Red River Paper in addition to others. I'm about to order from them and know a couple of photographers who have highly reccomended them in the past. They sell extensive sample packs (others also available from the link) that are an affordable way to get introduced to their paper. If you patronize them, please let us know your impressions compared to others.
 
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Congrats on your new printer. I got my P900 for xmas last year and I love it. I moved up from a P800 and not having to swap between Photo and Matte black inks is great. The carts that come with the printer have the same amount of ink as the replacements. I know this because I weigh them before I put them in and after they are empty. A full new cartridge (starter or replacement) weighs 121-122 grams and an empty one weighs 69-70 grams. A full set costs $410. I print mainly landscape photos and two things I have noticed-you use a lot of Light Grey ( I would order an extra cartridge when you reorder as I had trouble finding them last summer) If you run out of one color the printer shuts down until that cartridge is replaced. The good thing is that you can print up until the printer stops, replace the cartridge and continue on with your printing.
You use Matte Black ink even if your not printing on Matte paper.
Check out Red River paper, in addition to having great paper they have a lot of info on printing and on printing costs.

Al
 
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