Digital BW, The Print

In a message dated 10/17/2005 8:06:03 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com writes:

That's a  heck of a deal. Makes you wonder what's up...

Brad
Simple. The printer is a near Zero profit item for Epson. It's merely an  
evolving enabler to SELL their INK for $500/liter. What part of this don't we  
get. Give e'm the razors and sell 'em the blades.
 
Considering the cleaning cycles and how much a waste tank weighs when you  
change it, I'm inclined to believe that REAL ink costs (what actually gets on  
the PAPER) is closer to $1,000 per liter, based on using about 1-2 milliliters  
on an 8x10. Assuming, of course that we are not using the ridiculous  
"bicycle image" on Epson's web site as a cost basis.
 
That is all good business for Epson, it's dealers, and us. It fuels  the 
progress and creates a trickle down situation here.
 
As photographers, assuming a finished 8x10 costs us $2-3, it probably  
contains, at most, 2 milliliters of ink. This is $1 to $3/ml. depending on  whether 
the carts are 220ml, 110ml, or 10ml. This compares favorably with the  
cheapest of RA-4 lab costs AND assuming that we get, say $20 to $100 for an 8x10  
(depending on which market we are in). So with the assumption that the "average"  
ink cost for an 8x10 is $1.50, we can do a little more math.
 
Following this to it's logical conclusion, we can get anywhere from  $13,000 
to $66,000 per liter of ink in the retail market.
 
So, for those who like to complain about the cost of ink, this should  serve 
to keep things in proper perspective for a short while.
 
Claude






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