Optimising Printing Efficiency

Although home-based inkjet printing is far more efficient and cost-effective than the silver halide-based darkroom systems used by photographers in the past, many photo enthusiasts still complain about the high costs of printing their photographs. Fortunately, there are ways of reducing many of these costs and getting more ‘bang for your buck’ from your printer. In this feature we outline some of the strategies you can adopt.

1. Choose an efficient printer.
When buying a printer for A3 and larger output, look for a model that uses large, individually-replaceable ink cartridges. The greatest part of the cost of an ink cartridge is the cost of the ink delivery system; not the cost of the inks. Although you may outlay more money initially, if you make lots of prints, you’ll save money in the long run.

For serious enthusiasts, Epson’s Stylus Pro 3800 printer, which uses 80ml cartridges will deliver greater economy than most A3+ models. The cartridges hold roughly a third as much ink as other models.

Find out how long you can expect the print head to last. All print heads have limited life spans – but some last longer than others. Thermal inkjets, which use heat to force the ink droplet out of the nozzles generally wear out sooner than print heads that use piezo-electric technology. User-replaceable print heads are available for some brands of thermal inkjets.
If possible, check the printer’s power management system – or at least consider its power usage rating for both printing and standby modes. Most printers include a power-down routine that ‘parks’ the print head and ‘caps’ the cartridge or clears the ink nozzles when the connected computer is switched off. But if you switch the power off at the mains, the printer may skip the power-down sequence. Clarify this issue (if you can) before buying a new printer.

Some printers will run a maintenance cycle each time the printer is switched on. Others (typically higher-priced models) contain built-in, battery-powered clocks and processors that track printer usage and only run maintenance cycles if it’s been a long time since the last print.

Manufacturers’ claims about the number of prints per cartridge should be treated skeptically. Always check the type of image used for the tests. In many cases, so-called ‘photo print’ tests include large areas where no ink is applied. Such images are not a true example of real-life photo printing. (Don’t apply results for document printing to photo print outputs.)

2. Use your printer regularly.
Infrequent use can reduce print head life so make sure the printer is used at least once a week. Unused ink can build up in the tips of the jets and cause them to clog. Clearing these blockages uses additional ink.

Most printers require occasional maintenance – but, since most maintenance processes use ink, they should only be used when necessary. If you see tramlines, gaps or uneven colours in prints, perform a nozzle check, using the interface in your printer’s driver. The result will indicate whether further head cleaning is required. (This uses more ink than a nozzle check.)

Most printers include a Maintenance page that allows nozzles to be checked and heads cleaned.

3. Use the most appropriate driver settings
Setting your printer to the highest output resolution will cause it to use more ink without necessarily producing a noticeable improvement in output quality. Most printers deliver the best results – and most conservative ink usage – when set at resolutions between 240 and 300 dots/inch (dpi).

Printing shortcuts make it easy to select optimal output settings.

Your printer’s driver may provide several quality options, such as Photo and Best Photo. Try them out with one of your best images and, if you can’t see any difference in the output, use the lower quality setting. For A3+ and greater enlargements, output resolution may be reduced to as low as 150 dpi before any loss of quality becomes noticeable at the correct viewing distance.

Choosing the lower quality setting could reduce ink usage without compromising print quality.

Make sure you select the correct paper type in the driver’s menu. Printing with the wrong paper settings can waste paper and ink and produce poor quality results.

Ensuring you select the correct paper type will minimise waste and produce better results.
4. Make test strips
Avoid paper wastage by printing small segments of several images on a single sheet of paper, following the steps outlined in the feature titled Money-Saving Strategies for Digital Printing which can be located by typing Test Strips into the Search box in the Guides section of the Photo Review website.

Avoid paper wastage by printing small segments of several images on a single sheet of paper.

5. Avoid cheap ‘third party’ inks.
Printing with cheap ‘third party’ inks and papers can cause you waste time and money and will generally produce inferior results. Your printer’s ink requirements are closely linked to the way it deposits the ink on the paper. If the ink formulation isn’t perfect, the nozzles in the print head are likely to become blocked. In a worst case scenario, the print head may need to be replaced.

Each printer manufacturer formulates inks for specific printers in their range. Sometimes different inks are developed for each printer but more often one ink set can be used with several models in a range. Manufacturer’s inks are colour accurate and the cartridges are assembled to meet rigorous quality controls.

Many cheap inks are also too acidic and can etch the nozzles in the print head. Furthermore, if you combine different ink types and formulations by buying from different manufacturers, the chemicals in the inks may react and coagulate. This will clog and damage print heads and may cause internal damage to the printer.

Nobody can guarantee the performance of third-party inks and many are produced with little or no quality control. The cartridges may leak, allowing inks to spread inside the printer’s electronics and mechanical components. This can damage cables, circuit boards and associated mechanical parts. Ink viscosity and heat tolerance may also be inadequate.

The colour accuracy and print durability of third-party inks are also likely to be relatively low. It’s also easier to print with the manufacturer’s inks and papers because the printer drivers have been set up to match the image file to the ink and paper.