Best Printer for giclee prints

[morty87]

Hello,

Looking to add a printer that can produce giclee prints. I have been considering both the epson p20000 64" an the canon 60" ipf 6000s. In your professional opinions what one would be the best overall buy considering ink costs, maintenance, media (canvas/posters), learning curve. Or in your opinions is there 1 better than both of these?

I currently have a mutoh 1624 and use flexi 12 sign and print edition. So it is mostly just going to be used for the high quality canvas prints.

Thank you for any and all help.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

We just went through a month of research and ordered the Canon Pro 6000.

• Ink price in on par, however the Epson uses more of it to print the same job and is slightly slower.

• Epson heads are not user replaceable, costing several thousand and a tech to do it for you. Canon takes 10 minutes to DIY and ~$600.

• Canon has 320GB HDD built in, Epson it's an option. We use the repeat print function a lot, so this is extremely useful not having to re-send jobs to the printer each time.

• Epson will print wider than the Canon, but can be difficult to source 64" aqueous media (at least in our area).

• Thankfully the 20070 doesn't have to do the ridiculous black ink swap between matte & gloss when you want to change printing type. A round trip uses ~10mL and up to 30 mins of time. Canon has dedicated matte and gloss black channels unlike the Epson P9070.

To be honest, we find our Epson 80600 far better for doing canvas prints, and will keep using it for those jobs. Gamut is brilliant and far less post print work required (none actually) before stretching onto bars. Aqueous will generally require lamination and drying, adding another 24-48h into the production line.
We're only moving posters/paper prints back to aqueous after trying to migrate them to solvent 12 months ago, but the range of papers just isn't wide enough for our client base.

 

[kevinpat]

If you're serious about making high-quality prints and can afford to drop that kind of money, that Epson SureColor P800 looks like a good way to go. One thing I would look into is whether or not there are archival inks available for the model you want. Also, make sure to check out some reviews online like these so that you pick the right printer for giclee prints.

 

[Humble PM]

If you're serious about making high-quality prints and can afford to drop that kind of money, that Epson SureColor P800 looks like a good way to go. One thing I would look into is whether or not there are archival inks available for the model you want. Also, make sure to check out some reviews online like these so that you pick the right printer for giclee prints.

1. The P800 is a 17" consumer printer.
2. Epson aqueuous printers get the best results from using Epson's own pigment inks.
3. Giclee is a meaningless marketing term, gernerally understood to mean pigment print onto an acid free paper.

It is an inkjet print using pigment inks (and I charge an extra 25% when pelople ask me for squirt (Giclee) prints). Epson, Canon, HP aqueuous pigmented inks are all decently long lasting.

I'm looking at both the new Canon ipf6100 60" (ten years ago an ipf6100 was a 24" printer - printer widths have gone up in line with belt sizes on jeans), and the new HP 64" Z9+pro. Primarily because I'm getting real tired of babysitting 2-3metre prints on a printer without a take up reel. The extra print width and speed will also be welcome.

 

[kevinpat]

1. The P800 is a 17" consumer printer.
2. Epson aqueuous printers get the best results from using Epson's own pigment inks.
3. Giclee is a meaningless marketing term, gernerally understood to mean pigment print onto an acid free paper.

It is an inkjet print using pigment inks (and I charge an extra 25% when pelople ask me for squirt (Giclee) prints). Epson, Canon, HP aqueuous pigmented inks are all decently long lasting.

I'm looking at both the new Canon ipf6100 60" (ten years ago an ipf6100 was a 24" printer - printer widths have gone up in line with belt sizes on jeans), and the new HP 64" Z9+pro. Primarily because I'm getting real tired of babysitting 2-3metre prints on a printer without a take up reel. The extra print width and speed will also be welcome.

I do agree with you!