3 ms·

Why Inkjet Photo Printers Are So Bad

17 points by mikece 5y ago

Finnucane 5y ago
If I want a nice color photo print, I use a service. Owning a color printer just seems not worth the hassle. And I still have darkroom stuff. These inkjet printers, esp. the cheap ones, are of less value than that.
avalys 5y ago
Does anyone know what kind of printers are used by professional photo services?
- YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago
  Most use Epson and if you go into really large format HP. Proof printers (best color reproduction) in agencies are 90% Epson machines. If you stray away from inkjet and go into wax based printers most are from a company called chromaline.
  - avalys 5y ago
    How do "professional" inkjet printers avoid these problems, and what's the transition point (in price, or whatever) at which this happens?
    - YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago
      The big difference is maintenance the bigger proof printers are just build with exchangeable parts and guides how to keep the machine in working order. They also have color calibration build in. You can clean printheads with ease and you can flush the color lines easily with washing fluid. They basically have the same problems as desktop machines but instead of sending them in or do an RMA you can just mend it yourself. Proof Printers start, if you go for used ones, at 1500$ and go up to 100k$ with the larger formats going even more expensive. We are one of the biggest agency in germany and use printers priced around the 4-7k$ range. The last one we bought for smaller jobs is this one https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/Large-Format/SureColor-P7570-24%22-Wide-Format-Inkjet-Printer/p/SCP7570SE https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/Large-Format/SureColor-P...
- curt15 5y ago
  Our local Walmart photo centre uses a Epson SureColor P8000.
avalys 5y ago
Inkjet printers have always been a dumpster fire. It is easy to blame devious and rapacious practices by their manufacturers - but these same manufacturers also make laser printers at similar price points that are much more reliable and do not have the same frustrating failure modes seemingly designed to keep you buying consumables. Is it possible to make a good inkjet printer? Or is inkjet printing just an inherently bad technology?
- FDSGSG 5y ago
  > Is it possible to make a good inkjet printer? I think so, in my experience Epson makes very good inkjet printers. >Or is inkjet printing just an inherently bad technology? I don't really know anything about the work that goes into developing and manufacturing these printers, but I'll never cease to be amazed by the precision and reliability at which a $700 inkjet printer can deposit 1.5 picoliter ink droplets onto the print medium. Bad technology? I don't think so. What you can accomplish with modern inkjet printers for chump change is downright incredible. > but these same manufacturers also make laser printers at similar price points that are much more reliable and do not have the same frustrating failure modes seemingly designed to keep you buying consumables It's downright ridiculous to compare laser printers and inkjets, these have completely different use cases. Although these days laser printers generally do not offer advantages beyond speed and cost of operation, nice inkjets can produce crisper text at far smaller font sizes than laser printers.
  - balsam 5y ago
    I agree that Epson is among the best of the bunch, probably due to its precision piezoelectric inkheads. Brother has that too, though, and is reputedly even more precise. My epson suffers occasionally from the banding issue highlighted in the article. Dont know a good fix other than putting it through the wasteful clean cycle. Usually I just bear with it.
    - FDSGSG 5y ago
      Of course the tremendous precision comes at some cost, but I think the fact that these machines are as reliable as they are is already incredible. The engineering challenges involved in managing the fluid dynamics of inks in order to reliably shoot out picoliter sized droplets with incredible precision must be massive. > Brother has that too, though, and is reputedly even more precise Really? I don't think Brother really offers products in this space. They have the Innobella line that can do 1.5pl droplets, the same as the Epson unit but with far less colors. However, none of the Brother printers supporting those cartridges seem to offer a very high DPI. The smaller drop size will primarily manifest as improved color reproduction, as blending becomes easier.
FDSGSG 5y ago
Inkjet Photo printers are bad because you buy bad inkjet photo printers. Even for casual home users, there are great inkjet printers available at excellent prices prices such as the Epson SC-P700.

17 points by mikece 5y ago

If I want a nice color photo print, I use a service. Owning a color printer just seems not worth the hassle. And I still have darkroom stuff. These inkjet printers, esp. the cheap ones, are of less value than that.

avalys 5y ago

Does anyone know what kind of printers are used by professional photo services?

YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago
Most use Epson and if you go into really large format HP. Proof printers (best color reproduction) in agencies are 90% Epson machines. If you stray away from inkjet and go into wax based printers most are from a company called chromaline.
- avalys 5y ago
  How do "professional" inkjet printers avoid these problems, and what's the transition point (in price, or whatever) at which this happens?
  - YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo 5y ago
    The big difference is maintenance the bigger proof printers are just build with exchangeable parts and guides how to keep the machine in working order. They also have color calibration build in. You can clean printheads with ease and you can flush the color lines easily with washing fluid. They basically have the same problems as desktop machines but instead of sending them in or do an RMA you can just mend it yourself. Proof Printers start, if you go for used ones, at 1500$ and go up to 100k$ with the larger formats going even more expensive. We are one of the biggest agency in germany and use printers priced around the 4-7k$ range. The last one we bought for smaller jobs is this one https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/Large-Format/SureColor-P7570-24%22-Wide-Format-Inkjet-Printer/p/SCP7570SE https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/Large-Format/SureColor-P...
curt15 5y ago
Our local Walmart photo centre uses a Epson SureColor P8000.

avalys 5y ago

Inkjet printers have always been a dumpster fire. It is easy to blame devious and rapacious practices by their manufacturers - but these same manufacturers also make laser printers at similar price points that are much more reliable and do not have the same frustrating failure modes seemingly designed to keep you buying consumables. Is it possible to make a good inkjet printer? Or is inkjet printing just an inherently bad technology?

FDSGSG 5y ago
> Is it possible to make a good inkjet printer? I think so, in my experience Epson makes very good inkjet printers. >Or is inkjet printing just an inherently bad technology? I don't really know anything about the work that goes into developing and manufacturing these printers, but I'll never cease to be amazed by the precision and reliability at which a $700 inkjet printer can deposit 1.5 picoliter ink droplets onto the print medium. Bad technology? I don't think so. What you can accomplish with modern inkjet printers for chump change is downright incredible. > but these same manufacturers also make laser printers at similar price points that are much more reliable and do not have the same frustrating failure modes seemingly designed to keep you buying consumables It's downright ridiculous to compare laser printers and inkjets, these have completely different use cases. Although these days laser printers generally do not offer advantages beyond speed and cost of operation, nice inkjets can produce crisper text at far smaller font sizes than laser printers.
- balsam 5y ago
  I agree that Epson is among the best of the bunch, probably due to its precision piezoelectric inkheads. Brother has that too, though, and is reputedly even more precise. My epson suffers occasionally from the banding issue highlighted in the article. Dont know a good fix other than putting it through the wasteful clean cycle. Usually I just bear with it.
  - FDSGSG 5y ago
    Of course the tremendous precision comes at some cost, but I think the fact that these machines are as reliable as they are is already incredible. The engineering challenges involved in managing the fluid dynamics of inks in order to reliably shoot out picoliter sized droplets with incredible precision must be massive. > Brother has that too, though, and is reputedly even more precise Really? I don't think Brother really offers products in this space. They have the Innobella line that can do 1.5pl droplets, the same as the Epson unit but with far less colors. However, none of the Brother printers supporting those cartridges seem to offer a very high DPI. The smaller drop size will primarily manifest as improved color reproduction, as blending becomes easier.

FDSGSG 5y ago

Inkjet Photo printers are bad because you buy bad inkjet photo printers. Even for casual home users, there are great inkjet printers available at excellent prices prices such as the Epson SC-P700.