Making money from your printer. Choosing a printer for a business - do you really know your business
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- Опубліковано 12 тра 2024
- You want a printer for your business idea? Picking a printer is much easier if you know what you want from it. Print quality and volumes for cards, artwork and photos to sell.
How do the features and characteristics of a printer fit with wanting to sell prints and cards of artwork and photos? Why you need to consider the business aspects as well as the printer capabilities.
The cards shown are from Paper Spectrum in the UK
www.paperspectrum.co.uk
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The first thing many people lose sight of is the objective.
Or even having one...
Great video, thanks very much. I bought an ET8550 after doing loads of research, including lots of your videos.
Then, I went to The Photography Show to see the short listed ones in action and checking up on special offers.
So pleased with the ET8550 it literally does everything I need
Thanks - Glad I could help!
I was waiting for the analysis of the Canon TC-20 to print technical documents such as Plans, in fact I sent him some PDFs of architectural project plans that he asked me to do the tests to his email, in the end I bought the plotter and it worked wonderfully for me For technical printing such as plans and photographic paper, it has also given me very good results with good ink yields. The maintenance cartridge is the one that fills up very quickly in my opinion.
Not a bad printer at all...
What PDFs?
I scan and print my wife's watercolours on a P800, it does a lovely job ... the hassle has always been the scanning! It honestly has taken a *lot* of learning to get it consistent ... there are some colours my scanner literally turns a blund eye to ;-)
Interesting -
As an aside... Have you considered profiling the scanner? Scan software such as Vuescan can work with available targets.
@KeithCooper yes, I used i1Studio and a large target ... I'd tried just VueScan and a target (IT8?), but didn't get great results.
As it is I still had to slide the red in lightroom's calibration panel about 10 or so towards orange, as otherwise the reds could be too 'fuchsia' (I leave the English descriptions of colour to my wife ;).
Ah... Why Lightroom?
Scan correction is something I'd do in Photoshop absolutely every time.
Art repro is one of the most technical bits of photography/print I do - and that's before you have to deal with artists ;-) :-) [partly why I don't offer it as a commercial service]
Vuescan and an IT8 is almost the gold standard - if this isn't working, you're doing something wrong in the process [using Lightroom yells out at me ;-) ]
From assigning profiles, to specific adjustment layers - most of the adjustments I need are either not in LR there or dressed up as some simple 'slider' with no finesse or precision.
@KeithCooper well, I have to admit I use lightroom as a defense against being expected to do all of that layer work!
Suffice to say, the artist is happy with the results- which thankfully don't include botanicals or any other such specialised subjects. I only do it as I've reached the required level of compromise so that it's not a huge burden, as there can be multiple new works each week and I don't get paid for it!!!
And, I wouldn't take it on lightly for anyone else, there are too many potential gotchas. As it is I use cheap A3 scanners, as a proper one would be in the region of 4000 euro!!! (Which would include luxuries such as the option of using an additional bulb to bring out 3D textures of the works, which can be essential with mixed media ... instead of having to change scanner!!)
@@garyrowe58 Oh, I can see why Lightroom might seem inviting in such 'work' ;-)
Personally I'd rather swim through wet concrete than use Lightroom for anything - but I've 25+ years of Photoshop experience ;-)
Thank you Keith!! After a couple of weeks of research and doing my diligence, I'm going to go with the 8550 for my printing business. I will keep you updated with my work on the Facebook group. Thank you again. I appreciate it
Excellent - it's a good printer
thank you. always pleasant to start the day with one of your talks.
Thanks!
Thanks for having a go at this. Easy questions are seldom easy to answer..............I'd like a cheap one that requires zero maintenance and everyone likes the results from after I drop in my SD card straight from my camera. I need to sell 100 prints a day at $50 profit a pop.....which one please...............Seriously though your thoughts are appreciated, You are answering relevant things that some of us have not thought about the questions to, and must....
Thanks - I know some do prefer more concrete answers [aka Buy This!!] but I don't sell printers ;-)
Exagerrating a bit - uou don't need quality then. Buy one that allows cheapest ink per ml. But printing just off card, without even rough correcting let's say lightness by eye/hand, would give you less than acceptable results. I was printing for clients in random labs or even non-photo printing services, but always had to correct something in order to get a print that is not what a client can't do himself by just clicki g Ctrl+P.
Even 'cheapest ink' is but one consideration... Too many assume it's the only thing to consider ;-)
Cheap and straightforward to use effortlessly with "SD card straight from my camera". So just don't expect good results. I know many people wolud pay for such crappy (typically dark and oversaturated) prints in postcard size. But you would have to fight with many similar cheap services/labs and your only weapon will be the price. Probably nobody here can recommend a solution for you. Just wrong channel/author/viewers. I have recently bought second printer as a companion for my mid-size pigment ink photo printer - both were bought after careful lecture of mr Cooper's articles. It's relatively cheap A4 "photo-home-office" tank style with 4 dye-based ink tanks, just for purprose you have mentioned. BUT. It still requires some manipulation and effort to get decent results. And people come back for more because their holiday photos look bright, fresh and don't muddy. To achieve this you don't need anything more than "calibration by eye" and some intuition. This may be your goal. Get more for some quality that even untrained client can see. And such guy can afford paying for "just right" paper instead of cheapest one, for "just right" color and a minimal (but thought - not automated) cropping. You go "fairly cheap" instead of cheap but you avoid teeth pain looking at your result/product.
I believe the original 'request' was not a serious one ;-)
Keith thank you ☺️ great video
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you Keith :)
Thanks
Good tips Keith
Thanks
Just like with cameras and lenses: with printers, do research and get the right tool for the right job!
Very true...
That was exactly why I came here!
Love your channel. To the point and honest. I would like to see a comparison on any printer. Showing what a print looks like with an icc profile, without an icc profile, using the printer “auto” setting, and maybe using the “Color Controls”. I think this would be nice for your viewers to understand why ICC profiles are so important.
Thanks - I'll have a look at that next time I get a printer here to test.
It's something that will be tricky to show in a video. Video on YT is hopeless from a colour accuracy and management POV - I hear some people even watch it on phones... ;-) :-)
Most likely it would be a written article with a short video to 'promote' it
@@KeithCooper That’s very true. I guess if anything, a video will show some differences, but it will be 50/50 on which looks “better” in video format 😂. Keep up the good work. 👌🏼
Thanks for talking about this. Have you thought of making something with a little more editing? I was thinking about a start-to-finish guide on making your first print. Something that shows the end-to-end process so we can just turn it on and follow along!
Thanks, but that's just the stuff I won't make... ;-)
Why?
Well... I only use Macs, which rules out a chunk of my audience. I've no time for Lightroom - which rules out more
To make something detailed enough to be usable as a step by step guide, it would need to be very specific, and relevant to a tiny audience, and of course specific to an individual image.
Now, I have made quite a few 'from view to print' style videos, but they tend to discuss the principles of _why_ I'm doing things, more than the _how_ other than in relatively general details.
See here in my video index [created since YT is so awful at curating content]
www.northlight-images.co.uk/keith-cooper-photography-videos-index/#p3
My videos aim to give help in finding a direction and destination for making a print, not a step by step guide.
What you want is partly the sort of stuff I can cover in our bespoke [paid] one-to-one training business, where I'll work on individual images with people using whatever tools they want.
My other answer is that lots of people don't have my aversion to creating such detailed stuff, so there are a ton of on-line step by step guides for almost any editing setup.
@@KeithCooper I can appreciate your reluctance to summarize what is inherently a complicated process with many degrees of freedom! I was hoping a short disclaimer could squash any issues that might arise out of that ;) A video like that could still have some aesthetic value since I think your voice and demeanor fit the role of mentor very well!
Thanks, but that's covered by many of the ones in the list I noted.
Others will come, but in a similar vein... ;-)
Keith, new sub here just found your channel and the wealth information is amazing. Thank you. I’m looking to buy a printer for doing greeting cards, stickers and prints of my illustrations. I do a lot of pen and ink(crosshatching black and white) and some digitally colored art etc. Most prints are not large size but I do occasionally print landscapes at a local print shop that can run 10x30 or 12x36 and being able to print something that large at home would be a plus but not the priority. I know now from watching your videos that I want pigment based ink printer because for my prints in black and white and I want archival longevity for the ink as well as the paper. So the question I have is what pigment ink printers would be best for the usage I’m describing above?
PRO-300 or P700 if you insist on full pigment
www.northlight-images.co.uk/canon-pro-300-printer-review/
www.northlight-images.co.uk/epson-sc-p700-printer-review/
Remember that my videos are generally only supplements to my written articles, rarely the other way round! ;-)
Hi! I just discovered your channel and saw a few videos of you about printers and I am so glad about that, I really like the way that you explain things. To be honest, I have a question for you. In the last days I am looking for a printer that can put on the paper all the grey shades/tone, but in a way that you can see it, do you have any recomandation ?More exactly when a tattoo artist is tattooing an portrait on black&gray technique he needs to see on the reference, the print image, the black and the white, but the shades of gray too in order "to copy" on the skin all the details that exist.
Glad to help, but I'm not sure what it is that you want to print?
"All the grey shades' ?
Sorry but I know absolutely nothing about tatoos
Agreed on every level! Ask a vague question, get a vague answer.
I have people coming in for (expensive art & photo ) prints and when asked what size image they want on what size paper, they don't know. So..... Are you framing it? Are you selling it? What size frame? What size mount?
Invariably I send them away to buy a frame and then print to size accordingly.
Yes - I get people asking for square versions of wide panoramic images sometimes...
@@KeithCooper hehe!! Classic.
Hi Keith,
I have a small business where I handcraft packaging for music editions, like vinyl records, CDs, tapes, and other stuff..
For the past four years, I’ve been using a Canon iP8750 and have been fairly satisfied with it. I primarily print on natural cardstock, both smooth and textured, with weights ranging from 80gsm to 350gsm. I rarely print on photo paper.
I have the opportunity to upgrade and am considering the Canon PRO-200 and the Epson ET8550. My main concern is the presence of pigment black ink. The Epson has pigment black but only 6 colors, while the Canon has 8 colors but no pigment black.
Which do you think would be better for my needs?
Thanks a lot for your help and for all the great videos!
Ciao
Giacomo
Thanks - PRO-300, all pigment
Mainly because if the media you use [pro-200 is all dye]
Hi, not so much a printer question but in the video you mention the use of 3rd party inks and a profile so my question is " Do you feel that when using these 3rd party inks if you have a profile there is that much difference in the quality of print to manufactures ink) Thankyou.
You just don't know, is my answer to that.
Personally, I'd not use them in any printer I owned.
Would the P300 be suitable for printing digital artwork
Yes...
However, you still need to pay attention to paper profiles and all the aspects of printing a photo such as paper choice.
In many ways, digital artworks have problems in their source technology - iPads are particularly problematic for example.
It comes down to the fundamental differences between screen and print - the print is a whole different thing.
Does that different thing still reflect your original in a way you are happy with?
@@KeithCooper Thank you kindly Keith
Hilarious.
Any relation to Alice? The resemblance and name both match!
Who?
@@KeithCooper Alice Cooper.
@@benelleliv Oh, I do hope not... :-)
Hi Keith, are there any printers which can tolerate not being used for ages?
No, not any inkjet printers that I know of.
Certainly none of the Epson/Canon ones i've tested in recent years
The PRO-300 I've got in the video was fine after a few months, but longer, I don't know.
Can I print 13" wide roll paper on my Canon pro200?
Yes, but on sheets cut from a roll, 39" max length]
See here - the section on pano printing [there is a video too]
www.northlight-images.co.uk/canon-pro-200-printer-review/
How about providing print services for local photographers? Which printer could be best option?
Ah, an optimistic wish for many over the years... Get someone else to pay for your printer/ink... ;-)
Printer choice is well down the list - best to ask about that once you think it's a viable and profitable business and have a business plan - otherwise any printer suggestions are meaningless at best.
Who are these local photographers? Where do they get their prints made? How much do they pay? What sizes/papers do they use.
Such printmaking is a very tight margin business...
@@KeithCooper The printer will be primarily for my own use but doesn’t heart making money in the side.
Then pick a printer you like...
Otherwise my default 'no other info supplied' recommendation is still the P20000 ;-)