Digital BW, The Print

I agree on a viable alternative to Epson....I just downloaded a 
report from FLAAR, a non-profit digital photography group based, I 
think, at a couple of universities. The link is below if anyone is 
interested. They have several different pages on scanners, printers, 
etc. and offer free e-mail reports. The world they operate in is not 
exactly fine art quadtones but some of their stuff is interesting.

http://www.wide-format-printers.org/index.html.

These guys aren't keen on any desktop printers. They mainly like the 
high-end wide format printers. However, in the priner report I 
received they do mention the Canon as being pretty nice and have 
harsh words for the Epson, calling them disposable printers. Here's 
an excerpt:


"We get so many complaints on the Epson 1270, Epson 2000p, Epson 
1520, and Epson 3000 that we do not recommend them. However many 
users do not experience problems and/or learn how to survive with 
these printers. Other users actually like these models, after all, 
they are so low-priced they are disposable....Nonetheless, many 
people love their desktop Epson printers, so if you want a disposable 
printer, if you don't mind spending the money and then later 
realizing you need a better printer that does a satisfactory job, 
then by all means go for the Epson. These printers are great for 
practice with digital imaging. However it seems strange to buy 
something knowing in advance that after a while you may want to throw 
it away and buy something that more effectively satisfies your needs.

If you wish a really nice desktop color inkjet printer, try out the 
Canon 8500 (can't remember whether it is called the 8500 or 8550, but 
it is tabloid sized)." 

Everyone should remember what Epson did for "photo quality" printing 
but these are also the folks that brought the world the infamous 
killer chips - not exactly supportive of the fine art crowd.

Also, does an Epson, or anything else that matter, retain its 
resolution? You have to have pretty fine movements in the rail and 
print head mechanism to give the kind of results fine art photography 
demands . Does "slop" and "creep" occur in older, worn Epsons? Or is 
technology going to change fast enough that we'll all keep a printer 
for a year and toss it?

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "Paul Roark" 
<paul.roark@v...> wrote:
> Has anyone had any experiences with the Canon printers?
> 
>