Is the Epson L3250 good for printing at home?

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

CallieRhino

CallieRhino

Active member
Member's gallery
Hi everyone,

I live in a rural area and finding a printing service here is not easy, I saw this Epson L3250 and it looks like it will do the job in my home office, my question is, will it be good for printing my photos on glossy photo paper also? I am not a professional who sells photos, but I would like to print my photos to give to friends and family as gifts and make calendars , those type of things.

Thanks,

Callie
 
Member's gallery
That printer is 4 color. You may want to look at the SureColor P700 or P900 which are 9 color Pigment printers. They say 10 color but you can't use both blacks at once. One is gloss, one mat. I have the P-800 8 color and am very satisfied. A good used P600 or P800 is a good choice too.

I use a Brother Laser/scanner for business.
 
Member's gallery
I don’t know this particular printer but judging from what I see on line it has I think four cartridges and is a less expensive model.

Inkjet printers print color photos better than laser and Epson is a quality photo print manufacturer.

That being said if you are critical about your photo printing you need to match the print to the paper and the printer. To do this effectively your monitor needs to be calibrated so the image on your screen matches what it will look like after printing. Monitor quality also matters.

In addition higher quality photo printers tend to have a larger number of cartridges.

I have the Epson P9000 and I think it is an excellent photo printer for use at home. They cost a little more than $1k but I found a reconditioned one for about $850. Epson makes a smaller unit capable of printing up to 13 inches wide but I think the P9000 size makes more sense if you are going to get serious about printing at home.

This unit has something like ten cartridges and a full supply will run about $450. These have to be used regularly to keep the ink from drying out and clogging the jets.

The P9000 is fully capable of producing professional quality archival images up to 17 inches wide. I have been thoroughly satisfied by what this printer can do.

Quality printing is not cheap. Even after you have paid for the printer, paper and ink, you still have to deal with framing. I spent close to $400 to have a particular favorite image framed with museum quality glass.

Printing pro quality images at home is rewarding but not cheap. If you just want to produce pleasing images for friends and family you might look at the EcoTank printers by Epson. I would look at reviews on line for those printers.
 
Member's gallery
CallieRhino said:
Hi everyone,

I live in a rural area and finding a printing service here is not easy, I saw this Epson L3250 and it looks like it will do the job in my home office, my question is, will it be good for printing my photos on glossy photo paper also? I am not a professional who sells photos, but I would like to print my photos to give to friends and family as gifts and make calendars , those type of things.

Thanks,

Callie
Click to expand...
If you will not be printer regularly, it’s not worth it in my option. As mentioned above , you will have issue with clogging print heads. If you will be using it on a weekly basis than go for it.
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
CallieRhino said:
Hi everyone,

I live in a rural area and finding a printing service here is not easy, I saw this Epson L3250 and it looks like it will do the job in my home office, my question is, will it be good for printing my photos on glossy photo paper also? I am not a professional who sells photos, but I would like to print my photos to give to friends and family as gifts and make calendars , those type of things.

Thanks,

Callie
Click to expand...
Hi Callie, the Epson L3250 is more suitable for business printing needs such as flyers. You may get away with printing photos up to 4x6, if viewed from two feet away.

For printing photos, perhaps something like Epson ET-8550, a 6-ink printer, would handle the photo prints much better.

Oliver
 
Member's gallery
I prefer to use a lab as the cost is less and print durability is better and they can mount the print on a variety of media depending on the size of the print. I can upload image files on Sunday and have the prints delivered to my door on Tuesday. With a lab I also have the option of having prints on metal or canvas.
 
Member's gallery
Ralph said:
If you will not be printer regularly, it’s not worth it in my option. As mentioned above , you will have issue with clogging print heads. If you will be using it on a weekly basis than go for it.
Click to expand...
Not my experience with the P800. Didn't print for three Summer months and had to run a few maintenance cycles but no damage.
 
Member's gallery
BlackRockArt said:
Hi Callie, the Epson L3250 is more suitable for business printing needs such as flyers. You may get away with printing photos up to 4x6, if viewed from two feet away.

For printing photos, perhaps something like Epson ET-8550, a 6-ink printer, would handle the photo prints much better.

Oliver
Click to expand...
I'll second the above reccomendation for the ET-8550. Although if you are absolutely sure you won't need or want to print 13-inches wide photos, you could save a bit (about $100 US) and get the ET-8500, which prints up to 8.5-inches wide. I use the ET-8500 for regular office printing (documents) and a small bit of my photo printing. When I get to more serious printing, I use my Epson SC-P900 and am more careful about matching my paper to the image. (If I were able to do it over, I'd purchase the ET-8550 instead of the ET-8500!)

I got my ET-8500 last year when they were on sale, and saved about $200 US from the regular price of the model.
 
Member's gallery
Ralph said:
But it did clog. Sometimes the self cleaning works and sometimes it doesn’t. In your case it worked. 👍
Click to expand...
I had been neglecting my P900 for probably six months or more. Out of fear that I damaged something through neglect I fired it up today and I tested it out. I did a check of the print heads and had one out of the ten that was not running correctly. I did a single maintenance run and it cleared right up. A couple of the initial prints I ran had a black smear on one corner but that quickly cleared up after a couple prints.

Thereafter I got really excellent quality. This printer once set up correctly prints gorgeous images.

If you have never worked with one of these quality photo printers you are missing something. Good images look better in print than they do on any computer screen.

My biggest problem with printing is that matting and framing can get expensive. If you are not selling images you soon run out of space at home and wit becomes too expensive to frame things up as gifts for friends and family.

I retired about a year and a half ago and since then I have accumulated a boatload of images and I have some interesting shots in there. I need to get my catalog in order, start a web site and start showing.
 
Member's gallery
Basic first - what do you mean by "print".

The UK is a small densely populated country with 24-48 delivery from a reasonable lab within 50 miles radius relatively inexpensive.
Probably the opposite of your challenge.

First decisions I consider are what quality printing and how much to spend.

A very wide range of colours is not possible without at least 8 or 9 inks.
This puts the cost of the printer up - unless you are happy with "cheap and cheerful second rate" colour - regardless of what your camera can produce.

Small ink cartridge - 10/12 ml - regularly want changing - and a lot of ink is wasted during the changing process.
Cartridges with 50 ml or more cost less per ml, need changing less often - and can work out at about half the cost in ink per print.
The downside is to get 50-80 ml cartridges you generally need an A3 + size printer that is relatively big - and expensive up front - though they can come with £/$250 more ink than a 10-12ml cartridge printer.

I estimate high quality A4/10x8 inch prints on good paper done at home cost in the region of £1.50 each - distinctly more expensive than an average jpg print lab - though with the potential for much higher print quality with a wide colour gamut.

There are much more expensive dramatically bigger floor standing printers with 120 ml plus cartridges costing much less in ink per print.
I do not consider them practical for "medium output" home printing.

Summing up - printing to a high quality standard at home is expensive - and takes time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top