Ratskinner Loc: Copalis Beach WA

Canon, even the cheapest one prints good photos. I have printed several hundreds using off brand ink with no problems, none in nearly 18 years. I have tried other brands and have had varied experience, none excellent. I have friends who love other brands and I wish them well. My only caution with the cheaper Canon machines is get one with individual ink tanks.

chevman Loc: Matthews, North Carolina

I have a Pixma Pro 100 and yes it is pretty big I also have 2 Epson workforce printers for general use. The ink refills are pretty expensive but if ordered from Canon they usually send some photo paper with the order. The thing I like about the Pixma pro is you can print 16 bit color space photos and mine always turn out exactly looking just like what I see on my monitor. I looked into Epson before I got the Canon and the reason I passed up Epson is because of the Print head clogging up. I have never had any problem with the Canon and we have been frequently gone for several weeks and the Canon keeps on printing beautiful photos.

Photomac Loc: The Dalles, Or

Great discussion on the Epson/cannon. In the lower end printers, you can certainly buy a new cannon for the price of replacing a very expensive print head unit. There is no question, the Epson has difficulty with that. I have had both the 3800 and now the P7000 24 inch. To keep the big boy clean between prints, I just turn it on once a week. I print about every 3 to 4 weeks. But, it is a lot cheaper to clean/fix than the larger cannon printers. Both companies are great, just different strong/weak points. The thing is, you need to print to learn and enjoy.

nikonbrain Loc: Crystal River Florida

I have a 44 inch canon printer and I print a 3 inch x 44inch test strip every 3 days even if I have no jobs to print...just to lubricate the heads .Remember on most Canon printers the heads have heaters the ink is actually the coolant, so if a nozzle is clogged there is no coolant with continuous back to back power cleanings you can burn out a nozzle set . It is better to do cleanings spaced apart . My friends 60 inch Epson clogged a blue nozzle set he did to many power cleanings and ruined the head he had it only 3 years they wanted to much to replace the head . One thing about canon the heads are user replaceable the 2 heads on my printer are $450.00 each. I replaced them once and they are in there going on 3 years . The new pro 4000 has only one head at $550.00 not bad on $3800.00 printer head change about 15 minutes ...

Photomac Loc: The Dalles, Or

I have a Epson 7000. On the week after the warranty expired, it thought it died when it spayed ink all over the place and ran down on the floor. Turns out that it was a fluke (maybe malware in an internet image) and nothing was found. What I learned was that since I had purchased it with American Express, they added a year to the warranty. If you buy the Epson extended warranty, it costs about $1,000 a year. So, original 1 year by Epson, another year by Amx and from then on, its cheaper to just buy another printer if repairs are too expensive. Running a nozzle check once a week also keeps it from clogging as well.

MDBracey

I use the Pro-100 and love it I do have an all in one for documents, but the Pro-100 is used exclusively for photo prints with great results.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

For me, Epson printers have always had a problem with ink drying out and then not being able to clean it up so having to toss it and that was with Epson ink. I've had canon inkjet printers for years now and that never happens.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

on this subject, both Canon and Epson are selling printers with tanks rather than cartridges. They are claiming the cost of ink is much less. One (I don’t remember which) says the ink that comes with the printer will print as much as 17 cartridges. I don’t think I've seen one that had more than 4 colors though. Any thoughts or better yet experiences? And yes I know there are systems out there replacing the cartridges with tanks.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

The Canon PIXMA PRO-100 should do the job. Often found on sale for as little as $100-200. List price much more. The similar Canon models 10 and 1 have progressively better quality prints, more features, and higher prices. There are similar Epson Inkjet Photo Printers. Printers that also have many color and b&w heads and print up to 13 inches wide. Both brands are probably tops for photo inkjet printing. Brother makes good office Laser Jet printers (not for photo printing ever). I'd avoid HP like the plague. I've found their products horrible since 1995.