I have read the positive comments re: Epson printers for photographs. I have also read here and elsewhere the concern about printhead clogging esp. with infrequent use. Does any one have experience with other printers (inkjet or otherwise like the ALPS system)?

I have a Canon BJC7004 Photo and while fairly good, I can still see dithering (even at the best settings with glossy photo paper)--it falls short of a really high quality photograph.

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

-- Andrew Atton (dermag@snet.net), March 02, 2000

Answers

The epson six colour printers are the printers to beat. As far as clogging is concerned, I have an Epson photo that was not used for several months. There was no problem when I reused it. (I have much more trouble with my HP plotter where the heads can be partially clogged right out of the box.) One thing to remember about the epson printer is that when the printer is turned off the heads are capped. So the trick is to shut the printer off when you are not using it. This definately helps

-- jonathan ratzlaff (jonathanr@clrtech.bc.ca), March 02, 2000.

Inkjet printers in general like to be used regularly, complain when they aren't. I've owned a string of Epsons (have three here now), and they do indeed do much better if they're used regularly. Per Jonathan's comment, the nozzles are indeed capped when the print head is parked, but *still*, the printers do much better if you at least print a page a week through them. (Randomly-chosen interval, YMMV.) Clogging from non- use isn't particular to the Epsons though, I don't think.

-- Dave Etchells (detchells@imaging-resource.com), March 05, 2000.