Printers For Big Landscapes

An Ansel Adams-esque landscape is up to being displayed big. We’ll show you the best of the best in inkjet printers and explain the technology of printing.

By Michael J. McNamara

Labels: Printing & Processing, Gear

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Ansel Adams was a legendary craftsman who labored over the creation of perfect prints. In his home darkroom, Adams had a conventional table-top enlarger for prints up to 11x14 inches or so, and he had a side-mounted model on a rail system to make large prints 16x20 inches and larger by projecting the image on the wall. Some images just call for a big print!

In the digital darkroom, large printers that had been beyond the means of most photographers have come down in price to the point where 17- and 24-inch models are within reach. But which printer has what you need at a price you can afford? A look at the technology and cost breakdowns will help you choose the model that will transform your desktop darkroom into one that a photographer like Ansel Adams would have craved.

Canon imagePROGRAF iPF5100

The first question: How big do you want to go? The term “large format” covers a wide variety of printer sizes. At one end of the scale are the 17-inch models, which are capable of producing up to 17x22-inch prints from cut-sheet media or longer prints (i.e., 17x40 inches) using up to 17-inch-wide rolls. Some of these can fit on a desktop, and popular models include the 17-inch Canon imagePROGRAF iPF5100 ($1,600 estimated street price, cut-sheet and roll media), the Epson Stylus Pro 3880 ($1,200 estimated street price, cut-sheet only) and the newer Epson Stylus Pro 4900 ($2,500 estimated street price, cut-sheet or roll media). Next in size, and considered the sweet spot in the large-format category, are 24-inch inkjet printers capable of printing on cut-sheet media and rolls up to 24 inches wide. Top choices include the 24-inch Canon imagePROGRAF iPF6300 ($2,600 estimated street price), the new Epson Stylus Pro 7890 ($3,000 estimated street price) and the HP Designjet Z3200 ($3,400 estimated street price). Moving up the scale, in both price and size, are the 44- to 64-inch printers, most of which feature printing technologies and ink sets similar to their 24-inch counterparts. Examples include the 44-inch Canon imagePROGRAF iPF8300 ($4,400 estimated street price), 64-inch Epson Stylus Pro 11880 ($9,000 estimated street price) and 60-inch HP Designjet Z6100 ($16,000 estimated street price).

With large-format printers starting at $1,200, you might be tempted to choose a more affordable ($500-$700) 13x19-inch desktop printer for the majority of your work and send the larger sizes out to a pro lab (the Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II, for example). But if you plan to make more than a few dozen 13x19-inch or larger prints per year, or if you want to take charge of the whole image-making process, you’ll want to invest in your own printer. Let’s take a closer look at these advantages and then compare the features, technologies and image quality available in state-of-the-art 24-inch models from Canon, Epson and HP.

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