My print sale was modestly successful. I sold 23 prints to 18 people, and hereby thank them all. What it means is that my B&W camera is paid for—for which I'm very grateful. The very first sale I had, of "Wisconsin No. 7," somewhere in the 2005–2007 timeframe, paid for the camera I took it with, my first-ever DSLR. If you're curious, "Lake" was the most popular print, "Car" came second, and "Vultures," let us just say, was not as popular.
Now I have a challenge. How am I going to make prints going forward?
Ctein is probably too expensive for me. In the print size my 18 customers just purchased, he charges $350 for the first custom print (that's the one that soaks up most of the effort he described the other day) and $110 for each additional print ordered at the same time ($160 for additional prints made later). That's $460 for two prints. Those prices makes perfect sense for those who have any kind of purpose for their prints (sale, exhibition, etc.), but it's a steep price for a guy who just wants to take pictures and store them in a box, perhaps someday to have a show—at a loss, no doubt—at a local gallery.
I've always had a hate-hate relationship with inkjet printers—my first one(s), the ill-fated HP B9180, made beautiful prints, but it soaked up immense amounts of troubleshooting time, had to be replaced by the manufacturer twice, and never worked right. I don't think I ever got all four print-heads testing "green" all at once, not even one time. The B9180 basically put HP off pursuing that whole segment of the market—the company stopped making mid-level home pigment printers for photo enthusiasts not long afterward. And it put me off digital printing, if I'm honest. I have never since had a "good" printer for artwork that "took." I did try an early Epson, but the heads clogged immediately. Most recently, I killed an Epson P600 because I was too cheap to pay for the ink to run a test sheet every day to keep it unclogged; that one clogged too, and I had to put it out of my misery.
I have a real problem with ink costs. The model is the one devised by the accursed competitors of King Camp Gillette, called "the razor and blades model." King Camp Gillette (really, that was his name) didn't invent it; his competitors did. Whoever they were, I trust they're now roasting on a spit in the Devil's domain. I really, really hate being cheated that way. Including being remorselessly soaked for printer ink at $4,000 per ounce or whatever it is.
Computer printer manufacturers have gone through extensive efforts to make sure that their printers are incompatible with lower cost after-market ink cartridges and refilled cartridges. This is because the printers are often sold at or below cost to generate sales of proprietary cartridges which will generate profits for the company over the life of the equipment. In certain cases, the cost of replacing disposable ink or toner may even approach the cost of buying new equipment with included cartridges. Methods of vendor lock-in include designing the cartridges in a way that makes it possible to patent certain parts or aspects, or invoking the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prohibit reverse engineering by third-party ink manufacturers. Another method entails completely disabling the printer when a non-proprietary ink cartridge is placed into the machine, instead of merely issuing an ignorable message that a non-genuine (yet still fully functional) cartridge was installed.
(from the Wikipedia article "Razor and Blades Model.")
A lot of what's called "marketing" is actually "cheating the customer in ways we can get away with." I learned of another one just the other day: people don't use dishwasher powder any more. Dishwasher detergent is now sold in "pods," which are merely dissolvable packets of...dishwasher powder. Not only are the "pods" sold for greatly higher prices than plain loose powder, but they are now "recommended" by the dishwasher manufacturers...despite being actually worse functionally* than plain powder! And the reason they're "recommended"? Because the manufacturers of the pods pay the manufacturers to do so. They called that "marketing," but it is in fact a plain swindle IMO. There oughta be a law.
This goes beyond just my own personal anger. In my judgment, this systematic exploitation by the printer manufacturers of people who print for anything but money has put a chilling effect on photographic printing in general, and is in part responsible for the decline of home photographic printmaking as an independent pursuit among amateurs and hobbyists. The way it is, the fewer prints you make, the less you get exploited. Obviously, the situation would be better for photography if it were reversed: the more you print, the more you save. That's the sales model of volume discounting. Whether I'm wrong or right about this chilling effect might be disputed, but at the very least the status quo has put a chilling effect on my home photographic printmaking—and that's germane to our topic.
Well, let's get past this digression.
The fact is that I won't buy another printer than doesn't at least offer minimally acceptable value for ink. That means at least the Epson P900 or Canon Pro-1000. A single replacement inkset for the latter, a $1,200 printer, can be ransomed for a cool $700, which in turn means I would have to sell a few prints of every picture in order to be able to afford the ink. I'd have to crunch all the numbers and come up with a break-even point; could I afford to print a picture if I could sell two or three copies of each? At what price? Does a market exist for my work that would get me to the break-even point? Having sold to just 18 customers in the maiden print sale doesn't bode particularly well for finding a clientele on TOP. Coals to Newcastle, I guess. So then I have to find a market for my prints outside of the blog. And where—?
Enough of this now; the point is that, as you can see, the business calculations are actually pretty formidable.
Then there's the complexity of installing and running such a printer. I don't have room on the porch where I work, so I would need to move my office to the family room of my house, a converted single-car garage in the back. Wi-fi doesn't currently reach back there, but a kind reader (all my readers are kind! As well as above average) just informed me about mesh systems. So, first, I would need to try that to see if it works. Assuming it does, I'd need to engage movers to get the couch to the porch and the sit-stand desk on the porch to the place the couch used to be in the back room. The former garage is not on the house heating system, but I might even save on heat by moving back there, because I could keep the house colder in the winter and just heat the office. Then it's a matter of getting everything set up and running in the back.
Looping back around to the printer, I'd actually need to do a pretty deep dive into B&W printing to see what the best printing method for B&W actually is. Then there's the question...could I actually learn to get a printer up and running, without all the ongoing anguish and difficulty I experienced with the B9180 all those years ago? Probably, but it's not a foregone conclusion. I have lots of history of accomplishing difficult things, but I also have lots of history of failing to reach intended goals, sometimes simply because I can't keep my interest up. Could I navigate the treacherous waters of home printing—and, must I?
Anyway, as you can apprehend, printing would not be a trivial challenge pretty much no matter which way you cut it. I'll tell you what, though. Having seen prints from my new B&W camera, I'm not going to be satisfied with just throwing JPEGs up on Flickr. That's nice enough, but it's the print that's going to be parked in my head as the endpoint for my process. Much more rewarding than an image on a screen.
Mike
*Really, because there are not one but two wells for detergent in the average dishwasher. The smaller one is for the first wash, which lasts about 15 minutes. The pod has no way to distribute powder to the first wash, so the first wash becomes just a rinse. Here's the skinny on all that, from Technology Connections, in two videos: the first and the second. Aakin turned us on to these the other day, and, as so often happens with TOP, I learned something new. I was gobsmacked, as our British brothers and sisters say, to learn that at age 65 I actually didn't know how to properly operate a dishwasher! (You need to fill the secondary well and run the hot water in the kitchen sink before starting it.) So cool.
Aakin replies: "I'm glad that was interesting! And yeah, it definitely changed how I use my dishwasher as well. It's so much more fixture now, as opposed to being an useless waste of space in my kitchen."
Featured Comments from:
Rand Scott Adams: "Printing is a pain in the butt. Unless you’re addicted to it. 'Hi, my name is Rand and....' Even then, it’s still a pain in the butt.
"It is also one of my most satisfying pursuits. It is the final step in being in complete control of my output. It is a skill that has allowed me to help other photographers achieve an 'in their hands' realization of their vision for an image. That's worth a bunch to me. It's fun. It’s satisfying in a way that's hard to explain. Printing my own work has made me a better photographer. I see things in prints I’d never see on even a large, accurate, calibrated professional level monitor. Putting together a state of the art, fully color managed, printing operation is expensive in both money and time. Adventure into large format printers (24" wide and above) and you exponentially multiply cost, and space requirements. Keeping the printing space dust free, at proper humidity and temperature is also a factor. Creating an adequate color-temperature-controlled print evaluation station is part of the package. And, even with the best modern digital printers, you can’t just let them sit. The time it takes to understand the process and become truly proficient is significant. To get from 'good enough' to master is a large investment in time, patience, materials, and perhaps most of all, 'learning to see what it is you’re seeing.' Printing is also a losing proposition. The demand for really fine prints was declining before COVID, and is all but dead now. None of this matters; 'Hi, My name is Rand and....'"
Jean Bienvenu: "Isn't there a middle way between using a world class printing master and doing your own? Engaging the services of a good printer who does this as a job and does it well (enough)? I am pretty happy with the guy I use here (not in the US so that won't help you) and he charges me a fraction of what Ctein would (OK, this is partly because I also live in a cheaper country than the US)."
Bob Keefer: "The solution is the excellent after-market inks out there. I've been running my Epson 7880 for years on ink from InkOwl.com, with no problems and plenty of excellent prints. Buying ink by the liter instead of by the ounce reduces the cost of operation to nearly insignificant. Epson tries to scare you away from doing this by having the 7880 give you frightening error messages when you use non-Epson cartridges. You can safely ignore them."
Benjamin Marks (partial comment): "Ugh. My most hated topic. I have an Epson something-or-other that has never fed paper properly. Each sheet has to be hand fed dozens of times to get it to register in the right place. I suspect some sensor inside is covered in dust. Also the heads were perpetually (at least partially) clogged. I did get some of Cone Editions' pink head cleaner, which kind of helped, sort of. Also a mixture of 100% rubbing alcohol and Windex, which also sort of worked. But generally I just look at the machine with undisguised loathing and become preoccupied with revenge fantasies which should embarrass any nominally civilized person."
Walter McQuie (partial comment): "Quality costs. I'm sure my prints aren't as good as Ctein's but better than the online printers. The experience of making my own prints is worth quite a lot to me. With said intangible benefit, I'm pleased with my printer and its ink needs, given that I'm able to sell enough prints to pay for the paper that my printing habit requires! Have a look this page at Red River for an analysis of ink costs."
Ed. note: The full texts of "partial comments" can be read in the full Comments Section, accessible at the bottom of the post or by clicking on the post title.
Franz Amador: "For B&W printing, probably the best and most economical system is a used Epson 3880 and the Piezography inks. I've been using this for a while and find it excellent. It does take some futzing to set it up, and you'll need a set of genuine Epson cartridges (empty is fine) to get the chips off of, but after that all you need to buy are the ink bottles, which last a long time. And I've not had clogging troubles even though I'm pretty lax about running test sheets."
Kenneth Tanaka: "Re 'How am I going to make prints going forward?' You pose a quandary shared by many photographers! First, let’s dispel some of the 'fear of failure.' Printing at home has never been simpler. Ten-plus years ago print systems, inks, print drivers, monitors, etc. were all in constant flux. Today they’re far more stable, almost to the point where you’re nearly assured good results nearly from the start. But high-quality home printing is still a relatively costly proposition. My Epson SureColor P800 has been the best printer I’ve owned. It’s been very reliable and, thanks to WiFi, it can be sited anywhere in my home. But it has a big belly which must be periodically fed nine ink carts at around $55 ea., plus a maintenance dump tank. And that doesn’t even include paper, which can be $1–2/sheet depending on size and brand. Personally, printing represents a significant slice of my enjoyment of photography and I’d be loathe to give it up. But…Ouch!
"So back to you. Ctein is too costly…understandable, since he’s providing both printing and retouching services. If you just need a printer the world is your oyster. There are many high-quality photo printing services available online. As a few examples...Adorama acquired a good printing service called Printique (I have no affiliation with any print service!) some years ago. They’re located right in NYC and Brooklyn and are closely affiliated with the big Adorama photo superstore. On the other side of the country is the independent Bay Photo Lab, a very reputable printer dating back to the 1970s. I’ve never seen any disparaging remarks about their work! Overseas we have Whitewall, an excellent lab for large and specially mounted printing work that I’ve used. So with winter’s jaws fast-approaching I’d encourage you to experiment with one of the images Ctein just printed for your sale. You have a reference standard to compare against! Start yer' shucking'!"
Jean-Pierre Koenig: "I own the Epson P900 (my third Epson printer). It is fantastic and so much easier and more fun to use than the model it replaces. I would strongly encourage you to use it. The ink cost is not prohibitive I have found; I suspect the smaller droplets makes it more efficient. Replacing cartridge is expansive if you do it all at once, but in practice some only need to be replaced at any one time. Strongly recommended."
Gordon: "You only just touched the surface of costs for home printing. I belong to a small cooperative photo gallery in Sacramento where I try to keep a drawer of prints regularly updated. In order to do that you need to add the cost for archival mat board and fancy plastic sleeves. I recently had to purchase more 20x24 mat board and nearly fell out of my chair at the price. It had gone way up since my last purchase from the same vendor. These costs have taught—well, forced—me to be much more selective about the images that deserve all that expense. I don’t sell anywhere near enough prints to recoup the cost for all those I put in the drawer. As for printers, I’m on my second Canon Pro-1000. I had owned two Epsons previously and had no end of clogging trouble with them. So far the Canon has been fairly forgiving about my seldom printing. At least the Canon allows you to change the print head if it ever fails, although my guess is that if it came to that it might still be economically preferable to just buy yet another printer. Finally, while you might not think of it as such, there is an expense to just having the space to print, mat, and store photographs. We have an entire bedroom made into a dedicated office where our two desks, the printer, and several shelves of printing and mounting supplies are kept. We recently went looking for a new home and it was a requirement that we find one with enough rooms and space for all this stuff."
darlene: " I worked in advertising for a few years as an ad artist and was part of a team of creatives. I had to sit through many sales meetings with account executives and presentations with clients. I learned a few things from those experiences and applied them to my business. You never want to imply anything negative in your marketing campaign or transactions with prospective sales or clients. Negativity comes in all shapes and sizes. With that said, your 'Vultures' image would benefit from a different title for the general public, IMO. When I purchased the 'Vultures' print, I called it 'Circle of Life' (or something like that) because the title 'Vultures' makes me cringe. I guess you titled it after the birds in the picture, but you could have titled it something else. The word vultures can conjure up negative thoughts quickly, and you have about five seconds to grab someone’s attention. If you were selling a horror movie, yes, it would work to establish a thought of vultures eating flesh, but not to sell a beautiful image. I am not stomping on your creative license here; just suggesting marketing reasons. I understand your point about how marketing can cause misrepresentation or push people to purchase things they may not need (self-control IMO). Still, it can also help honest people market their products more effectively. It all depends on someone’s intentions."
Ed Hawco: "Six or seven years ago I posed essentially the same questions right here in this blog (in a comment). My fear was getting mired in arcane settings and endless tweaking just to get a nice print to put in a box (or maybe up on a wall).
"Ctein responded to my comment with a sparkling comment of his own, which can be paraphrased as 'get a good Epson printer, use the default settings, and tweak if you’re not happy but most likely you will be happy.' Best advice ever. I got an Epson 3880 and never looked back. I now have boxes and walls full of prints that I’m pretty happy with. Some have even been gifted and now hang on walls on three continents. I never expect to get my money back, but being able to print, and print nicely (on nice but expensive Hahnemuhle paper; my paper of choice) has been a wonderful experience. Having spent a lot of time in the darkroom back in the '80s and '90s I thought that learning digital printing would be a painful and arduous process, but in fact it was very (creatively) rewarding and not difficult. I would not put one of my prints up against a Ctein print, but I will happily put it up on my wall and call it my own. Sadly, that printer has broken down, so now I need to decide whether or not I want to buy another and continue, or to leave it behind as I once did the darkroom."
John Abee (partial comment): "I am thrilled that we are talking about printers. I have never given up printing and have been happy with my Canon printers and DIY cartridges after suffering through the same HP B9180 (twice) and a number of Epson horror stories, but my latest Canon is getting a little long in the tooth and I've started plotting my next move. Let's keep this discussion going."
Stephen Price: "Retired printer engineer here. About ink prices...I worked on really big 'production' printers. The last machine I worked on was a four-color machine that took three-liter cartridges of ink, and had two of each color so that when one ran dry, you could replace it without stopping the printer. I just looked up the current price. You can get eight cartridges (24L) for $1520 ($63/L), pigment or dye at the same price. That old machine has been replaced by one that takes 10L cartridges which sell for as little as $200 ($20/L). These are not photo-quality inks but it still boggles the mind how much ink costs for our small printers. I see B&H is selling P900 ink for $880/L. By the way, that newer printer runs paper at 494 feet per minute so it would blow through a 40,000 foot long roll in less than an hour and a half. Just think how quickly you could complete your printing chores!"
kirk: "From the commercial point of view as a working photographer no client has asked for a print in well over a decade. No friend or associate currently makes or sells prints. Prints are dead. From a commercial point of view. I gave away my last wide-carriage inkjet printer, an Epson 4000 Pro, over ten years ago. It made some nice enough prints but cost way, way, way too much to run, and clogged relentlessly. I no longer print in the studio or office. I send the corrected and profiled files to a service which outputs them on a printer that's good, and the inks are not on my payroll. But I do this so rarely, and only for my own use. You can't do everything. Send out the time consuming and frustrating stuff to a service. And the time consuming and frustrating stuff = printing. We're not in the 1980s anymore. The print is no longer the 'gold standard.'"
Eric Brody: "I fell in love with 'serious' photography as a teen and with time out for training, work, and children, still am. I recall John Sexton recalling the thrill of seeing a print 'come up' in the developer. I spent 40 years doing darkroom printing with everything from Minox to 4x5. Then I loved it; now, not so much. It seemed endless: make a print, make another, and then another and then another. What to do with all those 'almost OK' iterated prints?
"Now, with digital, I have no film costs, no chemical costs, just ink and paper. Not trivial but doable. I've been through a few printers and just got an Epson P900 when Roy Harrington, the author of QTR RIP, said it would work with QTR, my preferred black-and-white technique.
"When I did a workshop with my favorite teacher, Charles Cramer, the book he gives out is titled, 'Optimizing Images for Printing,' a telling title. Charlie is a master photographer and printer, and the best teacher I've had. He encourages printing sooner rather than later and reminds us that the screen is fundamentally different than the print. Now I make a print and, if it's not good enough, I adjust and make another. The print is the reference, not the screen. I no longer go through the endless iteration of the darkroom. It's common for the first print to be spot on (calibrated NEC monitor) or really close.
"So, as someone else said, 'it's not a photograph until you can hold it in your hand.' I completely fail to understand folks who spend a fortune on cameras and lenses and the show their images only on a screen. When our photo group has a print sharing, we all look carefully and slowly at the images for critique, not by some silly rules but rather on content, composition, and technique. That takes time. When we show images with a projector, they're on the screen for a few seconds, and can't possibly be evaluated properly. The photographer then misses out on a potentially helpful learning experience.
"So Mike, get a printer, learn how to use it, look at QTR or Cone inks to do your monochrome prints and you'll be happy!"