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I hope this does not turn out to be a Canon v's Epson thread

I might be in the market for a A3+ printer and was wondering if there were any obvious benefits from either company?

Do either printers produce better quality (consistently) than the other?
Do most professionals use Epson or Canon?
Do either company provide better service than the other?

Thoughts?

Hi Woody,

my response is probably not really going to assist regarding quality and service
of and for Canon or Epson printers because I hadn't had a chance to compare both.
However I have seen fantastic results from Epson - the ANU Arts section in Canberra is using Epson.
I felt abandoned by Canon when a few years ago they didn't release a Windos XP driver for their BJC 5100.
Was actually quite peeved and am very hesitant to buy any more Canon products.

Cheers,
CD

Andrew: Epson R1800.

Produces great images, good value, and heaps of us use one.

gstark wrote:Andrew: Epson R1800.

Produces great images, good value, and heaps of us use one.

That was very definite

Whilst I am an Epson fan, I have read excellent reports on a Hewlett Packard 9180. Said to be as good by those who tested it. (The Image Doctors on the Nikonians podcast).

Epson. The others just aren't quite there. Although, that said, the Top Canons are still pretty good.

Overall I think the following applies to inkjets, after reading A LOT of reviews:

1. Epson - best quality
2. Canon - cheapest to run (though not by much)
3. HP - rubbish

My personal experience with inkjets supports #1 and #3. I would NEVER buy a HP printer again after seeing the performance (or complete lack of) at home and in a corporate environment.

Looks like there is no chance of a Canon v's Epson debate (which is a good thing)... Epson is winning hands down

Has anyone seen/used the new Epson R1900???

Andrew, from the recesses of my memory I seem to remember your name and Mac. I believe you may want to do research on how well Epsons play with Mac if that is the case.

I'm also in the market for an A3 printer. Was looking around, and found a few Canon i9950's on ebay. What are they like? Reviews say great, but its a little older now. They're selling for around $300 used, which i can easily afford.

Glen wrote:Andrew, from the recesses of my memory I seem to remember your name and Mac. I believe you may want to do research on how well Epsons play with Mac if that is the case.

I have no issues printing from my MacBook onto the R1800.

gstark wrote:

Glen wrote:Andrew, from the recesses of my memory I seem to remember your name and Mac. I believe you may want to do research on how well Epsons play with Mac if that is the case.

I have no issues printing from my MacBook onto the R1800.

Probably means I am wrong, I just vaguely remember some Mac issues, but as I have no Mac didn't bother to properly remember them

Andrew
I run 4 Epson R800s and 2 Epson A3 2100 printers for my classes. I have only had one issue with a R800 which is currently being repaired and I suspect may simply be a fuse. The printers get rough handling and a lot of use during the courses. The quality of the output is excellent. I have not used Canon printers but have no doubt they are also excellent printers. I suspect that Epson might have an edge on overall quality at the higher resolutions.

I have an Epson Photo 830. It produces fantastic quality but a big drawback (at least with this model) is that as I don't use it regularly, I end up using about half the ink on cleaning the heads.

Glen wrote:

gstark wrote:

Glen wrote:Andrew, from the recesses of my memory I seem to remember your name and Mac. I believe you may want to do research on how well Epsons play with Mac if that is the case.

I have no issues printing from my MacBook onto the R1800.

Probably means I am wrong, I just vaguely remember some Mac issues, but as I have no Mac didn't bother to properly remember them

I did a google search and couldn't see any glaring issues

Matt. K wrote:Andrew
I run 4 Epson R800s and 2 Epson A3 2100 printers for my classes. I have only had one issue with a R800 which is currently being repaired and I suspect may simply be a fuse. The printers get rough handling and a lot of use during the courses. The quality of the output is excellent. I have not used Canon printers but have no doubt they are also excellent printers. I suspect that Epson might have an edge on overall quality at the higher resolutions.

Thanks Matt. Seems like Epson could be the way to go.

So I take it nobody has used the Epson R1900???

Just another thought:

If you don't print a lot of lets say A4 or A3 size prints, it may be more economical
to have someone like Hardly Normal, BigW or whoever print the odd one for you.
You wouldn't have to worry about maintenance, inks, problems, etc.
Have someone else have the problems with owning a printer

HTH,
CD

I did read on another forum of a member having difficulties printing for the r3800(I think) and an iMac. Could not work it out so returned it. Epson blames apple, apple blames epson..

Goodluck
MATT

I know that this is a bit of a jump, but I used an Epson Stylus Pro 7600 for about 2 years without any fuss until I physically broke a contact on the maintenance tank, which was quickly and easily fixed. I think it needed head cleaning only once, though it was constantly in use as a proofing machine. I used genuine ink cartridges and a third party photo paper from Anitech http://www.anitech.com.au/products.php? ... 1&rID=8041 - though i am unsure about this for commercial photographic purposes. I have to recommend epson based on this experience.

christiand wrote:Just another thought:

If you don't print a lot of lets say A4 or A3 size prints, it may be more economical
to have someone like Hardly Normal, BigW or whoever print the odd one for you.
You wouldn't have to worry about maintenance, inks, problems, etc.
Have someone else have the problems with owning a printer

HTH,
CD

Hi, I did a wedding Nov last year. did a couple of test prints at the local Big W, colour was washed out. ( heard later that they been having prob for a while.) Next went to a Photomart for same prints, same probs, Although they were more helpfull trying to correct the washed out colour. and HM was not much better. In the end used my colour laser printer, ( bought printfx to colour correct first) came out pretty good.

My suggestion is do a couple of test prints first, at where-ever your happy with.

Harry.

Epson work very well with Mac

Before the generation of the Epson R800, I would have suggested Canon's namely because older Epson models chewed through ink as if it was oxygen on a treeless planet, but these days I'd go for the Epson models. The Epson R1800 and now R1900 seem to best the Canon models they take on and the ink Epson use seems to be of a better quality. It's taken Canon a bit of extra time to take on the idea of long-lasting inks and while I think the Canon blue is better than the Epson blue, I think that unless you're buying A2 and above, the Epson's are an easy win over the Canon's.

At A2 and above, it gets into interesting territory.

I don't print, but recently found a Canon Pixma ip2200 lying around my house, still in the box. Would it be worth opening and hooking-up you think?

I use an Epson R1800 and very happy with it. Could have got the R2400 which is better with B/W but liked the CD printing capabilites of the R1800. I now use "QTR" with the R1800 wich is a free RIP that gives me perfectly neutral B/W prints.

http://www.quadtonerip.com

Just picked my R1900 up

Won't be setting it up for a few days though as we are moving house. Can't wait to run some test's through it, apparently with a new orange ink skin tones are much nicer on this model. Plus it supports roll paper and CD/DVD printing.

I could not justify the 4880 just yet

photograham wrote:Whilst I am an Epson fan, I have read excellent reports on a Hewlett Packard 9180.

Same here - I know a few very good photogs in the US who are using them with great results.

christiand wrote:If you don't print a lot of lets say A4 or A3 size prints, it may be more economical
to have someone like Hardly Normal, BigW or whoever print the odd one for you.

Yeah, seconded. I've got an Epson R230 that I use for A4, and am very happy with, but I'm debating an A3 printer. Several mates who are pro snappers suggest HN on the Fuji Frontier.