After a lot of searching I finally got the ultimate printer. (I now have four printers, a samsung laserprinter with duplex, a canon ip4300 and a canon ix4000, I am selling the ix4000).

I wanted an inkjet printer which prints good b & w photos and prints A3. I was eying the epson r2400 for some time but it was a bit expensive. So a long time ago I just bought a canon ip4300 which was about 90 euros, and prints very very well and very very quickly. It also prints cds. I can recommend this printer. Of course, the b & w photos will have a bit of a colour hue, but on Hema paper it is not so bad.

But I wanted A3, so I got the ix4000. The ix4000 however is not as good as the 4300, it does print A3, but it does not have a photo black cartridge. Making colour prints it’s quite good at, but b&w is not usable.

I was looking at the epson r2880 and the canon pixma pro 9500 mII, but both are very expensive still, but they do have the special gray inks. The r2880 is also a lot more economic with ink than the r2400.

Then I saw the epson r2400 for cheap 2nd hand, and I immediately went and bought it, from a nice man who is also a Leica user (Secret handshake...). It took some time to find the right leopard drivers and the right settings. And officially the ilford classic glossy paper is not recommended for this printer. And it takes 17 minutes to print an A3 photo. It uses 8 cartridges and those are not cheap.

But the quality is awesome. Even on the unsupported Ilford paper and on Hema paper, the quality is amazing, especially on black & white photos.

Tags: photography