Printing shops here are mainly small family companies "hole in the wall" type businesses, and they tend to cluster together on the same street, many shops in one place.
I had a walk about and asked what they do.
When it comes to the small machines, the ones we photographers use for printing drafts and contact sheets, they all tend to buy the Japanese "hacked" machines converted for bulk ink continuous supply, Epson is by far the most popular, and the price is about USD 100 for a typical machine. When the machine start to make trouble after a few years they simply throw it in the bin and buy a new one.
A local printer service shop is doing the conversions, it is a sort of building block system, they buy the tanks from one place, the ribbon hoses from another etc, and convert the printers.
Shop front banderols and signs and shop posters are very popular, and changed often and those are printed on larger ink jet machines which costs typically USD5,000 to 9,000. Those are all Chinese made, and of very high quality. Likewise, the ink is always Chinese made, but people pointed out that there is a huge difference in quality of ink depending on make. The bottom end is cheaper, but "rubbish".
Sorry to say, not a Xerox machine in sight. I asked why not. The reason was said to be that it is easy, fast and cheap to get the Chinese machines serviced, and to get local support and of course it is all in the local language. Also the local quality ink works well and it all turns out to be significantly cheaper and better to use local brands. The local ink is also better adapted to work on the locally made material they print on, commonly sort of sort of plastic canvas and cloth. That ink is not water based but oil and solvent based so the signs can be left out int he rain.
I guess you are right, we have to put up with what we got for the time being. The printers are cheap, the conversions kits to bulk ink costs here about USD 20 including installation, and I see them on the web for USD35 or around there.
I think the ink is the major expense for most photographers.
The ink I am using is called Morgon CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) and is made by Shenzhen Greencolor Technology Development Co., Ltd. in Guangdong, in South China. FOB price is advertised to 50 cents per unit (100 ml plastc bottles with a "squirt in" resealable top) and they sell minimum 100 bottles. and take payment by Western Union. TEL：0755－28638761 84042774 FAX：0755－84042529 E-Mail: zhouzhou166@126.com greencolor@inkciss.cn You can also buy it in one liter bottles I hear. I am quite satisfied with it and the manufacturer seems to be reliable to deal with.
I browsed around a bit on the web, and one company that selling the kits seems to have good reputation is http://www.inkrepublic.com/Index.asp in Singapore.
This ink is a big cost for us, so I hope this all helps a bit. Take care though, there is a of rubbish around too, and the suppliers of "genuine" products will take all chances to discredit the competition. I even hear that they use legal threats and threats to stop supply against shops who sell competitive products.
Maybe others have experiences they can share.
On 22-Dec-2010 12:09 AM, Brian Yarvin wrote:
> I never tried Xerox. I haven't even seen one here.
Rolf:
I'm surprised, they are a global company and their printers are considered a step up in build
quality from the typical ones we photographers talk about. Of course, that means that they're
heavy and hard to handle. If I bought a printer that weighed in at 80 kilos, I'd need new
furniture too.
> I didn't mean to say the head cost more than a new printer, just that
> the cost was so high that it wasn't motivated to change it.
Yeah, but so many people DO say it. It's the way many in the industry want you to feel.
We're just going to have to make do with what's avaliable until something else comes along. I
suspect it will be a a photo quality color laser printer with less expensive toner cartridges - it
may weigh as much as I do and I'll have to knuckle down and buy a heavy table for it, but if it
solves this endless grief of bad printing hardware, I'd be happy.
Brian Yarvin
Author, Educator, Photographer
http://www.brianyarvin.com
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