The break even point on printing costs is at about at 8x10 inch size, in
the US at least. I compared the printer in question, (Canon Pro-100*
ink cost, Thanks for the tip Paul), vs the prices quoted at Shutterfly
an middle of the road on line printer, they charge $3.99 for an 8x10.
I've still got a couple of 100 sheet boxes of Ilford Galerie Smooth
Gloss, which is an unfair comparison I suppose, as I paid an incredibly
low price for it, (my paper cost is about 10¢ (USD) a sheet, until it
runs out), which with an ink cost of 87.5¢ (USD), makes it much more
economical.**
Heck if I use paper sold at normal retail, which usually works out to
about a $1.00 a sheet, (8 1/2 X 11 inch), for nothing special paper, up
to $2.00 or more for much better paper), it's still cheaper to print
large prints myself.
Plus I like having the control over the process. That's what I liked
about darkroom processing my own B&W. Not only was it less expensive,
(especially if you could borrow someone else' darkroom), but what was
produced was my work.
However I cannot beat the price of 4x6" or smaller prints done at a
commercial printer in bulk. The only time I print that size at home it
for hard proofing.***
*The site didn't have printing costs for my current printer but they did
have costs for one that used the same inkset, and those were within
fractions of a cent of the Pro-100.
**That's for Canon's "expensive" ink, if I were paying for third party
ink, which I had a very bad experience with on one of my HP printers,
say that Dollar a cart, you're using, the costs would be even lower.
***If I'm careful even 5x7" prints are so close to the cost of a
commercial Lab that it's worth it for the convenience, if I'm not
printing in bulk.
On 10/24/2015 1:13 PM, Bipin Gupta wrote:
For Folks owning Canon Printers help is on hand for good 3rd Party Ink
Suppliers at a fraction of the cost of Canon Ink Cartridges.
A full set of 5 or 6 Ink Tanks can cost approx half the cost of a new Printer.
I bought the Canon Pixma 6470 for INR 4499 ($ 70) in Bangalore. Bought
the Filled Ink Cartridges for $ 1 each from Ali Express (or Ali Baba
com the equvalent of eBay in China).
Also bought a set of (6) empty refillable Ink Cartridges with Auto
Reset Chips for $ 7. My Printer is a 5-cartridge one so I can use the
extra cartridge as a replacement in case one fails. So now I can go on
filling the cartridges. The ARC (auto reset chip) transmits Ink Levels
to my Laptop.
Note: My cartridges are for the Asian region - identified by the
Cartridge nos. So please specify your cartridge # correctly. North
America
will have the same cartridge with another #. The trick here
is the Chip Code used by Canon. Each Cartridge has a Chip on it.
I bought all the Cartridges while I was in Canada. Shipping was Free.
I tried one set of Cartridges as soon as I came to Bangalore. Works
beautifully. There could be a very slight color shift, but since I use
a Lab for all my prints, it does not bother me. The Lab gives me 13
glossy or mat prints size 6 x 4 inch for $ 1, which is far far cheaper
than the print from my Printer.
Here are the resources should you wish to try Ali Express:-
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0ihwo0bt7lcneuh/AAAgowMwc5s2ZpatJnXWFMyea?dl=0
Regards.
Bipin.
--
I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve
immortality through not dying.
-- Woody Allen
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