Printing digital images - does the ink make a difference?

[bridezillah]

I have Epson Stylus Scan 2000 home printer. I have printed photos in the past with success but am preparing to print some images from my wedding and this came to mind. Are there different inks that are better for photographs? When I say better - I mean in both color saturation and longevity. What about photo paper. I have found reviews on here for that but just wonder if there is any input or advice anyone can give me on that.

Would it be better to get my images cropped, fixed, etc and take them to a professional to have printed? THANKS!!!!!

[Asylum Steve]

...products manufactured specifically for a given printer tend to give the best results.

Regarding inks (and you're bound to get some dissention here), PIGMENT based inks have generally been shown to be more archival then DYE based inks, perhaps at a slight tradeoff of color gamut and saturation.

I use the pigment based ink Epson 2200, and love the results so far...

Glossy and semi-gloss (satin) paper finishes will look more like "conventional" darkroom photos, with more detail and better color saturation than matte paper. Still, matte and art paper finishes (watercolor, rag) often give very interesting results with more of a "gallery" feel. You should experiment to see what you like best...

Third party inks and paper will almost always be lower quality and your results will reflect that. The only exception would be VERY pricey high end third party art papers and specialty inks. In these cases the manufacturer will have data to show how and why their products are better than the original manufacturer's...

I have Epson Stylus Scan 2000 home printer. I have printed photos in the past with success but am preparing to print some images from my wedding and this came to mind. Are there different inks that are better for photographs? When I say better - I mean in both color saturation and longevity. What about photo paper. I have found reviews on here for that but just wonder if there is any input or advice anyone can give me on that.

Would it be better to get my images cropped, fixed, etc and take them to a professional to have printed? THANKS!!!!!

[Sebastian]

You can use third-party inks as long as you are really careful about getting the best quality, and profile religiously. Otherwise all you're doing is saving money in exchange for wrong colors and potential damage to your printer. The nozzles are microscopic on these things, a wrong formulation of fluids can destroy the heads. Get the manufacturer's stuff.

[Peter_AUS]

http://www.mediastreet.com/cgi-bin/t...ed_by=flashram

Have a look at this page and there is a link there to explain "Different versions of Ink", I use there inks in a continuous inking system and haven't had any problems at all.

[Sebastian]

Pete,

Don't get me wrong, I am not reffering to expensive ink replacement systems along the lines ofPiezography or your continuous inking setup. I am reffering to third-party ink manufacturers who present them as a cheaper alternative to manufacturer inks. THOSE are the ones I recommend people stay away from for the reasons listed. Your setup manufacturer provides rpofiles I'm sure, and they stand behind their product. Plus, once you choose to do something like that you are taking the calculated risk of voiding your warranty, but with good reason.

[Peter_AUS]

True Seb, but I was only referring to the explaination of the differences in inks there, which I think is pretty well explained in language that most people will understand, as long as there isn't any language barriers.

Yes I opted to go with the continuous inking system for my benefit and long term printing cost reductions. When setting up the system, after the printer warranty had expired, I had a choice of inks and the sytem I purchased could be supplied as a dry system and I could purchase inks here in Australia, but couldn't find cheaper than importing myself personally, which is basically why I did it.

Inks in the States cost a 1/3 the price they do in places like Australia mainly because of the population being a lot smaller than in the US and that is another reason why I did it as well. For me to purchase ink cartridges was just too cost restrictive and made me not use the printer because of it. Now I can fill the bottles at the side and purchase ink in bulk, about 8oz bottles for me should be fine for 6-12 months which is the length of time the manufacture recommends to have ink stored unused. Cartridges for me to purchase here, Black is $40 and Colour is around $65.

I tried reinking kits, but too messy. This is a no mess situation.

Hence why I put the link into Mediastreet.com, I also am not taking your wrong, you make good valid points as always.

[Sebastian]

True Seb, but I was only referring to the explaination of the differences in inks there, which I think is pretty well explained in language that most people will understand, as long as there isn't any language barriers.

Yes I opted to go with the continuous inking system for my benefit and long term printing cost reductions. When setting up the system, after the printer warranty had expired, I had a choice of inks and the sytem I purchased could be supplied as a dry system and I could purchase inks here in Australia, but couldn't find cheaper than importing myself personally, which is basically why I did it.

Inks in the States cost a 1/3 the price they do in places like Australia mainly because of the population being a lot smaller than in the US and that is another reason why I did it as well. For me to purchase ink cartridges was just too cost restrictive and made me not use the printer because of it. Now I can fill the bottles at the side and purchase ink in bulk, about 8oz bottles for me should be fine for 6-12 months which is the length of time the manufacture recommends to have ink stored unused. Cartridges for me to purchase here, Black is $40 and Colour is around $65.

I tried reinking kits, but too messy. This is a no mess situation.

Hence why I put the link into Mediastreet.com, I also am not taking your wrong, you make good valid points as always.

Pete,

I understand. I only wanted to make sure that because you had no ill effects from high-quality inks, that it doesn't mean that the low-quality replacements are similar. Basically just clarification for the original poster. High-end dedicated inking = good, cheap rpelacement cartridges = bad.