Hi Brendan, I am in the exactly same situation right now. I am looking at the Epson 4800 and the Canon IPF5000. The 5000 is pretty new so there is no long term information available yet (good source for information is the luminous-landscape forum).
What interests me mostly and what I have learned by reading the different discussion boards, in favour of the 5000 (not much?): - the 5000 has a wider color gamut (more ink colors to start from) - with the 5000 you don't need to swap ink tanks to get matte optimized black or photo black - the 4800 (like all Epsons) seems to clog often - the 5000 monitors the nozzles and will use the other nozzles to finish the job in case some of the nozzles clog while printing a job - I have not yet heard of a clogged 5000 but you can replace the heads yourself if the clog is permanent - the 5000 ink tanks do not seem to have a "use before" date like the Epson ones (maybe they forgot?) I have not red any firm comment which would suggest the 4800 is the way to go, other than these, mostly based on history: - I have used only Epson printers myself in the past with success (currently 2000P with CIS... which is right now clogging terminally) - Epson Pigment Inks are at a later generation (Gen 3 or 4 now?) while the 5000 is the first Canon Pigment ink printer (this is not necessarily a bad thing) My only concern with these bigger printers is the high price of the big ink carts. If I remember correctly, both manuf. recommend using installed ink carts within 6 months. That recommendation would mean a LOT of printing if followed while one full set of ink carts is about $600-700(?). I think a full set of carts should be ok for 1-2 years. I am leaning towards the 5000 pretty heavily. Early 2007 will also bring the Canon Pigment A3+ printer (Pixma Pro 9500) which would be a more economical choise. I have the older ColorVision PrintFIX PRO Suite and have been happy with it. It won't produce perfect profiles but still a lot better than any other approach I have tried (well, the best profile I have is a commercial profile from inkjetmall.com but the self made ColorVision profiles come very very close). Antti-Pekka ________________________________________ Antti-Pekka Virjonen Computec Oy R&D Turku Fiskarsinkatu 7 D FIN-20750 Turku Finland Puh. +358 10 264 070 GSM +358 500 789 753 Telefax +358 10 264 0777 Y-tunnus 1974184-5 Kotipaikka Helsinki www.computec.fi > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Brendan MacRae > Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 9:03 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Printer Recommendations? > > I'm going to be putting my digital darkroom together > soon and I've decided on everything but the printer at > this point. > > I want a large format ink jet and have been looking at > Canon and Epson. Both of the 17" wide $1800 printers > have gotten good reviews. I'm leaning toward the Epson > since I know a designer who owns an older model that > produces amazing prints. I've never seen anything from > a Canon. > > Also, does anyone else use the ColorVision Print Fix > Pro suite? +'s? -'s? > > Thanks. > > -Brendan > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
