Original or Compatible Inks?
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Personally speaking I wouldn't risk anything but manufacturer's ink on prints for sale unless the ink/paper/printer combo had been properly independently tested for longevity and fade resistance in the same way as say, some of the Epson ink+paper combos have - it's just not worth the potential damage to reputation.
Printing for personal use is a different issue of course but it's worth bearing in mind too that more expensive printers often have a lower total cost of ownership. For instance a few years back the Epson 3800 (which shipped with 720ml ink) was actually cheaper to buy than an Epson 2400 + equivalent volume of ink at Epson 2400 cartridge prices - if you do enough printing to use it.
Printing for personal use is a different issue of course but it's worth bearing in mind too that more expensive printers often have a lower total cost of ownership. For instance a few years back the Epson 3800 (which shipped with 720ml ink) was actually cheaper to buy than an Epson 2400 + equivalent volume of ink at Epson 2400 cartridge prices - if you do enough printing to use it.
While most of my printing goes to a commercial printer, I do print single prints on my Epson R2400. For prints I sell I would always use genuine inks and paper. I feel I would be cheating the customer.
The contributer printing greetings cards probably could get away with compatible as fading would not be a problem as most cards are destroyed within a few days or weeks.
The contributer printing greetings cards probably could get away with compatible as fading would not be a problem as most cards are destroyed within a few days or weeks.
Yes I've come to the conclusion that I should use the original inks for prints using Canon 9000Mk2 and use another printer with compatibles for the cards.
There does still seem to be a gap in comments about the continous ink systems though and how light fast particular makes have proved to be. I presume these inks could be usefull if longs runs are ever needed. Anyway looks like I need to check the bank account...
There does still seem to be a gap in comments about the continous ink systems though and how light fast particular makes have proved to be. I presume these inks could be usefull if longs runs are ever needed. Anyway looks like I need to check the bank account...
if you want a quality print then use quality ink and quality paper - which for me means the manufacturer's products. Others will disagree but read the science why they work together.
For greetings cards I wouldn't need the same quality output as a "photo" print, but of course I only have one printer! And the receipients of my greetings cards are not as critical as I am of photos on my wall (not that there's many on my wall yet)
For greetings cards I wouldn't need the same quality output as a "photo" print, but of course I only have one printer! And the receipients of my greetings cards are not as critical as I am of photos on my wall (not that there's many on my wall yet)
I think it's wise to treat Epson and HP printers very differently.
Replacement heads for Epson printers are so expensive that it's generally better to replace the machine. For this reason, our wide-format Epson has only ever used genuine inks. The cheapie Epson that we have for printing on CD or stiff media does have a CISS but in the full knowledge that it'll go in the skip when it suffers a serious problem with the nozzles.
HP printers have user-replaceable print-heads that are much the same cost as an ink cartridge so I'd risk third-party inks.
One friend with inside knowledge did warn me never to mix ink types so if you want to use CISS do it from when the printer is new.
Replacement heads for Epson printers are so expensive that it's generally better to replace the machine. For this reason, our wide-format Epson has only ever used genuine inks. The cheapie Epson that we have for printing on CD or stiff media does have a CISS but in the full knowledge that it'll go in the skip when it suffers a serious problem with the nozzles.
HP printers have user-replaceable print-heads that are much the same cost as an ink cartridge so I'd risk third-party inks.
One friend with inside knowledge did warn me never to mix ink types so if you want to use CISS do it from when the printer is new.
