As I mentioned in this post, I recently picked up a Canon Selphy CP1500. It had been more than a decade since I had made any of my own prints. With the Selphy, I came to realize that I really do miss making prints, and while the Selphy does a great job, it's limited to 4x6. The last printer I had was an Epson, which I got second-hand. Don't recall the model, but once I got it set up, it printed great. But then I let it sit for a while, and when I came back, the print heads were all clogged and I literally ate up almost all the ink to get them clean again. Same thing happened the next time I came to print. This was so frustrating--and costly--that I ended up selling the printer at a loss. After that, I relied primarily upon Costco for any printing I needed; always thought their product was sufficient. But then, as we all know, they too got rid of their in-store photography departments, and again recently got out of the photo business altogether. And while there is still a photo print shop near me, it's always a hassle getting there and they aren't exactly cheap: $15 for 11x14 and $20 for 12x12 (their largest offerings). I've also come to the realization that my darkroom printing goals are simply going to have to be put on an indefinite hold. I've got a backlog of photos I'd like to print, so I've come to the conclusion that I'd like to get a new printer.
Majority (but definitely not all) of my prints will be black/white. I've sort of set my sights on Canon, with either the Pixma Pro 200 or Prograf 300, or possibly the Pro-1000. I have Affinity Photo on my machine, so won't be able to use the Canon print plug-in for Photoshop, which I understand is really helpful for the Pro-200 printer (though, if absolutely necessary, my wife's machine does have Photoshop, so could potentially use that). But then I see all the inkwells, and their pricing, and then get put off again by my clogged printer head nightmare I had previously, and wonder if in the end it will be worth it.
In that regard, I was wondering what experiences others have had with these printers, if they've ever encountered print head clogging after idle periods, how long do the inks last and what is the relative cost for photos.
I've come across several comparisons between the Pro 200 and 300, which has me leading towards the 300, but still haven't seen what one should expect regarding amount of average output before changing ink tanks.
Majority (but definitely not all) of my prints will be black/white. I've sort of set my sights on Canon, with either the Pixma Pro 200 or Prograf 300, or possibly the Pro-1000. I have Affinity Photo on my machine, so won't be able to use the Canon print plug-in for Photoshop, which I understand is really helpful for the Pro-200 printer (though, if absolutely necessary, my wife's machine does have Photoshop, so could potentially use that). But then I see all the inkwells, and their pricing, and then get put off again by my clogged printer head nightmare I had previously, and wonder if in the end it will be worth it.
In that regard, I was wondering what experiences others have had with these printers, if they've ever encountered print head clogging after idle periods, how long do the inks last and what is the relative cost for photos.
I've come across several comparisons between the Pro 200 and 300, which has me leading towards the 300, but still haven't seen what one should expect regarding amount of average output before changing ink tanks.
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I have heard the Canons' B&W is pretty good.
