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G'day, I am debating about whether to go for the R800 (appears to be about $550) or double the price and go for the A3 size R1800.

Does anyone have any views on whether it is worthwhile spending the extra cash on the bigger printer or save the difference? I know it will depend on how many A3 size prints I plan to do and to be honest, I am not sure if I would be doing that many. (The other point is that, with the capacity to print larger, I wonder if I would end up printing at A3 unnecessarily and wasting paper/ink).

Anyway, I would be interested in the feedback from hobbyists who have used either or both.

Cheers

P

Patrick I have the R1800 because I like the impact of bigger prints. It depends on what size you want to do, otherwise they are identical.

One point worth noting is that the R1800 actually does A3+ which is 329 X 483 mm and A3 is 297 X 420 mm. Just that little bit bigger


Also saw that a dealer has the R1800 at Homebush on Ebay for $965 so only $400 more

Patrick, how I decided was I cut out a piece of newspaper A3+, then put an A4 piece of paper on it and thought for a minute what size prints I would like to give people.

They take the same inks so running costs are the same if you use the bigger machine with A4 paper.

Thanks for the comments Glen, I would like to go for the R1800, but I need to be able to justify it to the CFO. I guess I can always get one of her favourate photos we have taken and get it printed at A3 size and show her

Cheers

Patrick

Reschsmooth wrote:Thanks for the comments Glen, I would like to go for the R1800, but I need to be able to justify it to the CFO. I guess I can always get one of her favourate photos we have taken and get it printed at A3 size and show her

Cheers

Patrick

Patrick, sounds like an excellent idea, certainly a good way to try to convince her, just make sure it isn't a shot of here, but rather one of her favourite photos of anything else.

Patrick - I too own the beautiful R1800, you are more than welcome to come over at a mutually convenient time and print one of your fave images out here to take home to the CFO

Geoff wrote:Patrick - I too own the beautiful R1800, you are more than welcome to come over at a mutually convenient time and print one of your fave images out here to take home to the CFO

Thanks for the offer Geoff - I may take you up on that. Perhaps we can do a trade - you give me your printer and I make you a home roasted coffee? Sound fair?

P

Reschsmooth wrote:

Geoff wrote:Patrick - I too own the beautiful R1800, you are more than welcome to come over at a mutually convenient time and print one of your fave images out here to take home to the CFO

Thanks for the offer Geoff - I may take you up on that. Perhaps we can do a trade - you give me your printer and I make you a home roasted coffee? Sound fair?

P

Ummm - no
Wanna come over on Sunday?

No harm in asking - you could have said yes!

I will check re Sunday as I have cricket training smack in the middle of the day. But I could swing by before, perhaps as I may smell quite a bit after.

I will send a PM when I find out what my plans are - I should point out that the CFO is not really against the idea, we just have to work out whether the cost is worth it ($500 extra is 'only' $500 extra but is also an 85 1.8 or 50 1.4!)

Cheers

P

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Patrick - I'm fairly sure that when you see the print results from the R1800 on ? Sunday u will opt for the A3+ option of a fine printer

Hi there

I have the 1800 and concur that it is an excellent printer. Makes normal shots look great. I dont know what others have experienced but mine certainly uses a lot of juice (ink). Sometimes I get the feeling that everytime I use it I need to replace at least one cartridge. This may be a factor you want to consider. Other than that it is fine.

Peter Mc

Patrick - I'm probably the one person replying here who has 'only' the R800, courtesy of Birdy through the last Challenge.
It's bloody fantastic and I can only assume the R1800 would be even more so. I guess the only thing to consider is how often you would print to A3+ and whether that usage pattern would be sufficient to negate the inclusion of another lens in your bag. A tough call, indeed, and one I'm pleased I'm not making.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I guess, in a way, this is like my situation last year when I was considering buying an expensive coffee machine - I did and today I don't think I feel poorer for not having that cash.

Cheers

P

Patrick, drinking instant every morning would make you feel down and out by comparison

Glen wrote:

Also saw that a dealer has the R1800 at Homebush on Ebay for $965 so only $400 more

buy it, rrp is 1375, cheapest online i've found it 1029 and wholesale cheapest i can find it is 1015.

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VK4CP wrote:To date, I haven't had the need (or desire) to print A3 as yet.

Adam,

Since when has need been an issue in this?

Patrick,

I was probably one of the first in here to get the R1800. You need to use the correct paper too, and with the Ilford paper loaded, the quality of the prints you will produce is just astounding.

I had no hesitiation in deciding upon the A3; I already had a whole communiy of A4 printers, but I wanted the ability to go bigger, and this printer permits you to do this for a minimal investment.

With class.

Glen wrote:Patrick, drinking instant every morning would make you feel down and out by comparison

I had a cup of instant coffee last year.......

The weight of opinion here suggests that having the option to print A3+ with the convenience of doing so at home is a good thing. Just have to save up the $$.

P

Sounds like a good choice Patrick. I'm certainly happy with the 800 but had I actually been buying one I reckon I'd have gone for it's bigger sibling.
Enjoy it when you get it and that great coffee while you're saving!!

I started off on the R800 as they R1800 had not been released at that stage. I was very happy with the quality of the output from the R800 but after a while you just wish for prints that are slightly larger. I later purchased the R1800 and I haven't done an A4 print since.

I would recommend the R1800 if it sits within your budget.

So, wifey and I picked up an r1800 on the weekend and have been very happy with the results thus far (having used only average paper - Canon & Kodak).

I have ordered some Ilford Smooth Pearl paper so hopefully will get that soon.

I did print off one photo which was B&W, but with large black areas which had a number of banding issues. I will try again when I get the Ilford paper and see how it goes.

A big thank you to all of you who helped us spend more money!

P

Congratulations on your new arrival!

Congrats on the new tool!! You'll soon run out of wall space now


Where did you buy the Epson, and for how much may I ask?

Hi everyone,

just another thought about A3 versus A4 capability:

you can do TWO A4 on a A3 sheet
then cut in half

Cheers,
CD

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Yi-P wrote:Congrats on the new tool!! You'll soon run out of wall space now


Where did you buy the Epson, and for how much may I ask?

YiP, we ended up getting it from Hardly Normal for about $1200 despite seeing it cheaper elsewhere. The reason being is that we bought it on an interest free program to better manage cashflow.

P

And thanks to everyone else as well

So far, the prints haven't come out too dark, but I will do a search.

I am going to a drive day tomorrow at Oran Park so hopefully I will be able to take some great shots (thanks to the invaluable info on panning, etc on this forum) and print them out - perhaps I can even sell some of the shots to the company running the day!

P

just for others info.

the R800 has a $100 cashback from epson and the R1800 a $200 if you buy between 1st september and 30th november.

Thanks Simon for bringing that to our attention, those Epson offers are good

just a quick note, the cashback offer has now changed to a drop in rrp

R800 rrp is 580 ex

R1800 rrp is 1070ex

shop around and you will get them cheaper.

The guy at Homebush has got these advertised at $860! This includes a set of cartridges. Do a search on eBay if interested.

I too tossed up between R800 & R1800, but didn't have the desk space for the R1800. Very happy with R800 but when I want to print something bigger, I use Digital Works here in Melbourne. Service is excellent and costs are very comparable to my estimate of printing A3 type sizes at home. What I saved on printer cost let me buy another bit of glass!!!