Thursday, May 29, 2008

Cost Per Print - A Look at Real World Inkjet Costs

A new study by Red River Paper investigates the cost of ink per print for two popular Epson printers, the R1900 and the R2400. With debate continuing to rage regarding the cost of ink, cost of prints, and even cost per gallon, we undertook this 600 print experiment to see if our guidance about ink costs over the years was accurate.

What we found is that the ink cost per 8x10 print is actually lower than our estimates. Adding a margin of error back into the estimates still allows for what we consider very affordable cost given the alternatives for obtaining 8x10 and larger prints.

Here is a summary (amounts are cost of ink by printer and print size):

Printer

4x6

5x7

8x10

11x14

13x19
R2400 PK

$0.27

$0.40

$0.90

$1.75

$2.80

R2400 MK

$0.23

$0.33

$0.76

$1.45

$2.33

R1900 PK

$0.19

$0.28

$0.63

$1.22

$1.96


Adding in the cost of our most popular paper, UltraPro Satin, you arrive at a full bleed 8x10 price of $1.22 for the Epson R2400. Compared to a custom photo lab, and given the long print life of Epson UltraChrome inks, we feel there is a compelling argument for inkjet printing.

Again, and we stress this a much as possible in writing, the choice to use an inkjet printer is personal and based purely on economics. Your time, your level of quality control needs, and your desire for on-demand photo output are the deciding factors in how and if you use an inkjet printer.

Read the whole on the cost of inkjet printing here

posted by Red River Paper @ 11:58 AM   2 comments

2 Comments:

At 5:11 PM, Blogger Joe Holmes said...

I'd like to see you include a larger format printer for comparison -- the 80ml ink tanks on the Epson 3800, for example, should lead to some savings. If you do a lot of printing, there would come a point where you'd pay less in the long run for the 3800 than for a "cheaper" printer like the 2400.

 
At 6:41 AM, Blogger Red River Paper said...

That's a good point. We need to update the report to note that the Epson "Pro" printers all have functions for reporting ink use by volume for each print. Everything we have seen to date shows that given the big difference in per mililiter price, the 3800 for example is a much better deal in the long run.

 

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