lab for printing or Big Ol' honkin printer?

[Ltdave]

so those of you who dont know who Fro knows Photo is, he's a y-t guy who also is a photographer although i dont know what he shoots to make money because he doesnt seem to talk about anything that he shoots however... he does get to Phillies baseball and hes been to Canaverel for some space shoots and he does a bunch of reviews on gear...

anyway, he has a Canon PROGRAF Pro 1000 printer and i think it does something like 17x22 or similar.

i dont have the money for one of those, plus paper, plus ink etc... who's the recommended lab for printing big archival/excellent prints like that size (16x20 or larger)?

back in the old film days, Kodak did 'poster prints' that were pretty good quality at 20x30 for really cheap $$.

my local department store quit doing them in house (actually quit doing ALL printing in house) so now im kind of lost

 

[paddler4]

I print almost all of my own, but I have had good luck with Bay Photo, which you can find online.

 

[dhlewis21]

I print my own, just as challenging as photography itself plus you have the satisfaction of immediate satisfaction. Once you commit to a big printer you can't stop because you are too afraid that it will clog or stop working.

 

[theAngryMarmot]

I own a Canon Pro300 and it has been great. I print something at least once a week to avoid the inkcentric cleaning cycle.

I find the ink to be fairly long lasting. I read reviews before purchasing on and people complained about ink life - but I don't know what they were expecting as I have been quite happy with it and I don't consider the ink cost to be ridiculous (122$ for the 9 cartridges.) I look forward to me weekly print / paper testing.

I also bought a "DigitalDeckCovers" cover for it to keep the pet hair / dust out.

Also, Canon puts these on sale a few times a year - $699 instead of the $899 normal price and that is when I bought mine. It is a big machine though, so it with my Epson V550 take up 50% of my large desk (36" x 96")

 

[paddler4]

people complained about ink life

maybe they are confusing it with the Pro 200, which uses dye inks. My understanding is that the Pro 300 uses Lucia Pro inks, which are pigment-based and archival. I print with the Pro 1000, which uses the Lucia Pro inks. The fact that they are pigment based partly accounts for the long cleaning cycles, I think.

 

[Wilt]

Self print if single 8x10" on dye-based ink is OK, send out if multiple copies on photochemical paper needed, such as to give away, send out for anything larger or on other surfaces.
I do not want burden of keeping pigment-based printer operating well, dye-based Canons are so maintenance free. I love glossy prints on Fuji Crystal paper, but want the flexibility of surface choice for large prints.

 

[Arbby]

I find the ink to be fairly long lasting. I read reviews before purchasing on and people complained about ink life - but I don't know what they were expecting as I have been quite happy with it and I don't consider the ink cost to be ridiculous (122$ for the 9 cartridges.) I look forward to me weekly print / paper testing.

Redriver thinks you need 12.6 cartridges to print 200 8x10s on lustre paper and 10.4 cartridges for matte paper. Canon price is currently $13 per cartridge.

That doesn't take into account ink that ends up in the maintenance tank which can be substantial. I have seen people who don't use their Pro 1000 often complain that only half the ink they buy ends up on the paper.

I was recently tempted to buy a pro 1000 with a double cashback deal and some free paper which made the printer cost about £100 more than the set of ink cartridges it comes with - lol. I decided I don't have enough to print to justify the ink it would end up wasting.

 

[theAngryMarmot]

While the Pro1000 was tempting I realized that was too much printer for my needs. The Pro300 uses the same pigment based ink and has the same print size capabilities - it just uses smaller/fewer cartridges and is more geared towards the enthusiasts / smaller business market. I was worried about ink life when I bought it - but after owning it for a few months and going through the initial phase of "print all the things , try all the papers" I am quite impressed with the ink life given the quality of the prints.

Every week I make sure I print something which has two benefits - it keeps wasted ink at a minimum and it makes sure I revisit past photos. I have found quite a few I wrote off years ago, that I was able to save with more modern software. The prints that come out really nice, I frame and add to a pile I keep in rotation - or give as gifts so it is a "win-win."

 

[Cliff Hilbert]

Full Color Inc.

Full Color, Inc. | Professional Photo Lab Printing, Metal Prints & more

Full Color is a full-service professional photo lab. We create photo prints, metal prints, canvas wraps, canvas prints, gifts, and more. We also provide photography studios with volume service for sports, school, and event photography, and have specially created software for this workflow...

www.fullcolor.com

 

[Kuma5]

Agree to send it out. It is on the lab to produce the final approved print so let them use up paper. Of course this is built into the price yet it works out nicer for you. I find printing the 13x19" fun enough but at larger sizes, that suck ink cartridges dry I prefer to not have that wallet hit. Depends on what your sales support relative to DIY or outsourced.

I've been going to this lab since college days so about 36+ years though only a few of the OG crew remains now. They use a ZBE Chromira and if larger is needed they also have that capability available. They have a Canon ipf 9400 for the canvas prints I recall. Call to verify.

Pro Photo Connection — Home

Orange County's premier film photo lab, equipment rental and camera store since 1988. Digital Prints, Gicleé Canvas Prints, Film Developing, Scanning, Retouching and more. Shop for Digital Cameras, Film Cameras, Photography Equipment, Darkroom equipment, etc. Authorized Canon, Nikon, and FujiFilm de

prophotoconnection.com

 

[olykam]

Been a while, but M-pix has been very good.

 

[paddler4]

The Prograf Pro 300 isn't quite a smaller version of the Prograf Pro 1000. The 300 uses 9 inks, while the 1000 uses 12 inks. I don't know how often it matters.

I do not want burden of keeping pigment-based printer operating well, dye-based Canons are so maintenance free. I love glossy prints on Fuji Crystal paper, but want the flexibility of surface choice for large prints.

Even though I print with a Pro 1000, I agree that for many people, a Canon dye printer is a better choice than a pigment-ink printer. I used Canon dye printers for years, most recently the Pro 100, and they were capable of producing gorgeous prints. When I got my Pro 1000, I did an A/B comparison of the same print made with both printers, and they were extremely similar. And in my experience, maintenance is much easier with dye printers because there are no pigment particles to contribute to clogs. I used to leave my Pro 100 idle for long periods of time with no major effects. If I leave my pro 1000 idle for too long, it does a long self-cleaning that consumes a fair amount of expensive ink.

Also, while some papers are listed by their manufacturers as designed for pigment inks, I never found a paper that didn't work fine with the Pro 100. There may be some, but I never found any.

IMHO, there are two main reasons to go with pigment, despite the disadvantages:
1. Pigment inks are archival. They last MUCH longer before fading.
2. At least in the Canon line-up, there are no dye based printers that will print larger than 13 x 19.

I switched for both reasons. I exhibit a modest amount and have sold a very small amount of what I've exhibited, and for that, I wanted to be able to assure buyers that I was using archival-grade papers and ink.

 

[Yno]

I have often lusted after a Pro 1000 to be able to do bigger prints, but I can't justify it. I have pretty much filled my entire wall space in my not too small home with 13 x 19 framed prints from my Pro 200, and I have a few in reserve to switch out occasionally. They are 18 x 24 when framed. A 17 x 25 would be 24 x 30 framed. I would have to start utilizing the ceiling for display!

And at my age, since I don't sell prints, archival printing is unimportant.