Printers for prints.

Equipment Processing
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Himanshu Pandey avatar
Himanshu Pandey avatar
Hi there, I hope you are well.  I have some questions about printing astro images.  

Do consumer laser or ink jet printers do a good job on these images?   Could you recommend any brands and models?  I realize that what's good is subjective but in this case uniform dark sections and faint detail without streaking are what I am looking for.

Are there any paper types that work better for this type of heavy printing?

I can purchase prints from a photo lab or similar service but would love to have the capability to do so on my own for easy mailings to friends and family.

Thanks for your time. Take care.
Well Written Respectful Engaging
Peter avatar
Peter avatar
Hi Himanshu.

I use an Epson Eco ET18100 printer. it's known as an L18050 in other countries. which will print up to an A3+ . It's brilliant for my printing needs.
I made a post about it with some scans of prints i did. So check it out.

Epson eco tank ET 18100 6 ink printer - AstroBin

In my opinion it is a very cost effective printer due to it having 6 ink tanks instead of cartridges and it holds 70ml in each tank. Black Cyan Magenta Yellow LCyan LMagenta. Refills are also cheap £9.99 each.
The inks are top quality Epson original. I don't use 3rd party inks.

Paper types are vast. I stick to weights between 275gsm to 310 gsm. I use Lustre. Metallic. Satin. Gloss and Baryta for Narrowband and LRGB. Each paper has different surfaces so i use A5 to do test prints first. Also Fine art for some LRGB images. Each one has it's own ICC profile from my paper supplier which is made from a target i print on that particular paper and send in for scanning by them to create the ICC profile which is then emailed to me.

You will also need to calibrate you monitor so what you see on screen matches as closely as possible what prints. It will never be a perfect match. That also means getting your room light set as well. I use a 5000k (kelvin) bulb.
My monitors are BenQ PD2700Q designer Srgb so not expensive models.

It sounds complicated but it isn't really.

Hope this helps
Peter
Helpful
Himanshu Pandey avatar
Himanshu Pandey avatar
Thanks Peter, I have an epson printer but not an eco tank unit and not capable of the larger print types.   The quality is so so but I've not looked into paper types or calibration at all.   Thanks for the helpful tips.
Warren Payne avatar
Warren Payne avatar
What about fading over time? In my experience (with a Canon printer) consumer printed photos are not as durable as commercially printed ones. That said, to date I haven't protected any of mine under UV glass or whatever.
Dale Bush avatar
Dale Bush avatar
Check out the Epson  ET8550 Eco Tank.  You Tube has some good unbiased videos on the product.  I was always disappointed in my Astro photo prints until I bought the 8550, and now my prints really pop and, in some cases, actually look better than they do on my monitor. Not cheap though at approximately  $600 but capable of printing large formats and even banners.
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Peter avatar
Peter avatar
Hi Himanshu
The quality of modern inks in a multi ink printer is stunning. Doesn't matter if it's Epson or Canon.

The question of fading over time is moot for our needs and uses as we can always print it again.
Any print if kept in direct sunlight will fade. With a good paper and good ink even Dye ink, a print will last for many years and more if not abused.

Pigment inks are the defacto archival inks to use or so were always told by the printer manufacturer. I'm not saying they are biased 

The ET8550 is a brilliant printer, the pigment black plus dye black and Cyan Magenta Yellow do give amazing results and again refill bottles are cost effective.
I seriously thought about that one but coming from the XP 960 I was used to 5 colours plus black.

An alternative could be this from Canon.. Canon Pixma G650 wireless 3 in 1- 6 dye ink eco tank. A4 and well worth a look. £265 on Amazon. It has a Grey and a proper Red ink.
Canon PIXMA G650 Wireless 3-in-1 Refillable MegaTank Inkjet Photo Printer - A4, Print, Copy, Scan - Wi-Fi, Cloud connectivity, LCD Screen - Suitable for large volume printing photos : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories 

At the end of the day Amazon gives you a 30 day return if your not happy. I will say no more 
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