In reply to a post by billford:

Yeah, it's a pity because that Epson was basically a gorgeous piece of kit- 7 ink colours to play with, phenomenal resolution, borderless printing from photo-size to A3+ including continuous from a roll... but when that pigment-based ink clogged up it was like trying to get concrete out of a hypodermic needle

Never got along with Epsons, apart from an old 9 pin dot matrix that seemed to go on and on. One of the better machines I had was a Lexmark Z42, built like a tank and the quality was amazing. Sadly, it cost far too much to keep going and i gave it to a mate. i had some printers over the years, from the thermal ZX printer, right up to what I have now.

I was hoping the LEd printer was going to be the last, but as I said above, if I am going to get into this crafting stuff, I need a decent photo printer.

I had a Lexmark colour laser that was huge and never printed properly from new. I gave up on it and got £100 off my Epson EcoTank ET 4750 as a trade in.

In reply to a post by spile:

I had a Lexmark colour laser that was huge and never printed properly from new. I gave up on it and got £100 off my Epson EcoTank ET 4750 as a trade in.

Lexmark is not the same company now, so maybe not so good in quality, mine was built like a tank and amazing quality for the time. Ink prices were the problem, as the cartridges had the print head built in, like HP does. i did find a way to refill them, which worked, but it was messy.

I was going to buy a printer on Friday as I get 15% discount from work on Friday, I looked at the Brother MFC-J6540DWE and the Brother MFC-J5340DWE, both pretty pricey. But looking at reviews, while they make great office printers, they are not great for photos. so it is back to the drawing board. Not really much
Not really much else there. A Canon PIXMA iX6850, a Epson Expression Photo XP-970, not a fan of Epson, but my brother swears by them, then there is a HP OfficeJet Pro 7720, certainly would not have a HP, while their older laser printers were amazing and very reliable, their inkjet printers are not.

Need to be good at photos, have A3, don't cost stupid money and must have Ethernet connection, don't want to bother with naff wireless. I looked at the canon pro series, but the cheapest is around £400 I think .

I doubt I will get one from work, need to wait for another 4 weeks for the 15% discount,

Which is more important to you - the photo printing or the A3 capability?

I ask because wanting both in the same printer will narrow your choices markedly, but I do appreciate you are probably not in a position to have a good laser for general purpose printing up to A3 with some other type optimal for photo printing.

Dye sublimation printing was considered one of the best types for colour photo/graphics printing a few years back but I do not know if this is still the case.

I see now you mentioned that earlier in the context of loading a different ink type into a regular inkjet printer - do you still need to buy and use your own transfer paper if you didn't buy a printer originally marketed as a dye sub type?

Edited by prlzx (Sun 24-Sep-23 13:16:42)

In reply to a post by prlzx:

Which is more important to you - the photo printing or the A3 capability?

I ask because wanting both in the same printer will narrow your choices markedly, but I do appreciate you are probably not in a position to have a good laser for general purpose printing up to A3 with some other type optimal for photo printing.

Dye sublimation printing was considered one of the best types for colour photo/graphics printing a few years back but I do not know if this is still the case.

I see now you mentioned that earlier in the context of loading a different ink type into a regular inkjet printer - do you still need to buy and use your own transfer paper if you didn't buy a printer originally marketed as a dye sub type?

Both, I want good photo, not fantastic, but good and A3. I already have aLED printer for normal printing, well it does print photos, it is not great.

I have a Dye sublimation printer, but it only does small prints and yes the quality is amazing, but expensive. I am getting myself a cricut, so I have decided today to get a cricut first, practice with that and then when I get some good results then go for a printer. i can use the LED printer for test.

thanks for the reply anyway

I bought a Canon PIXMA iP8750 and cannot fault it.
It was a good few years old model when I bought it so I guess inkjet has reached its peak.

It always works on the occasion I turn it on, has airprint etc and the output is amazing on photo paper.

In reply to a post by smouty:

I bought a Canon PIXMA iP8750 and cannot fault it.
It was a good few years old model when I bought it so I guess inkjet has reached its peak.

It always works on the occasion I turn it on, has airprint etc and the output is amazing on photo paper.

Thanks, I will have a look at that at some point, been spending far too much money over the last few weeks, so need to cut down.