Canon versus Epson large format photographic printers? A3+

philstanbridge · 24 Mar 2022 at 12:10

I've been doing quite a bit of research on the A3+ printers from both manufacturers. I will probably have to invest in one fairly soon, due to the increasing costs of print labs for larger format prints.

I produce fine art/Giclee style stuff on high quality papers, ranging from A5 right up to A1, but generally, A3 is the sweet spot in terms of value for money and affordability. So I'd like to be able to produce my own in house eventually. I currently produce lots of A4 on an antiquated Epson photo printer, and although long in the tooth its actually excellent quality, apart from a fussiness with paper and some occasional colour matching issues. It's also very affordable. But I definitely need to take the next step in larger format printing.

Now the printer I have in mind is the Canon ProGraf 300. Has anyone got one, or has any experience with them?

And · 24 Mar 2022 at 13:08

I'll keep an eye on this as I've been looking at the prograf 1000 (borderless A2).

philstanbridge · 24 Mar 2022 at 15:52

ah the big brother to the 300. That looks like a mighty fine large format, but it's too rich for me. The 300 is not exactly cheap

I'm also concerned about the coverage from the small ink cartridges. I've heard they are pretty decent, and value for money, but £140 for a set of 10 isnt exactly VFM in my books. My Epson's are £9 a set

And · 24 Mar 2022 at 20:41

The 1000 is a bit too rich for me too, especially cartridge prices, but if I were doing my own I'd like that A2 option. Still, I'm interested to see what you go for and how you fare.

Buddy · 10 Apr 2022 at 19:03

I looked at the 1000 but I would struggle to fit it into my office. It's huge. I was speaking to a canon rep and the 300 was the right balance.

After walking away from them I was sweet talked into speaking with a lab. And so far the free test prints they've sent have been 95% accurate when they've done the print profiling for me. Next steps are to tweak the profiling and try something like gigapixel to see how some images fare when blown up.

philstanbridge · 12 Apr 2022 at 16:12

Well we decided to buy, and have the 300 plus two sets of ink and some different media. The first A3 colour was absolutely amazing. I used the Canon ICC along with it's proprietary software, and it's worked well out of the box. I definitely need to experiment though as there are a lot of different settings.

And · 12 Apr 2022 at 16:53

Great stuff, glad you settled on one and are pleased with the results. Keep this thread updated though, I'll be interested to hear how you go