What's the lowest ink quality to use?

[Einhander]

Well on my printer, it says it's Innobella and Brother.
Says for best results, use BROTHER, LC101 Standard Yield Ink Series or LC103 High Yield Ink Series.

So based on that description, what is the step I should take?

Also, do you use programs such as Photoshop or Power point so you can create your own size? Not all printers will let you do that unless you do it through a special program I'm assuming.

[wiggy]

OEM inks. That is, if you're using a Canon printer, use Canon inks, not the shitty refills or bargain ink carts on eBay, amazon, etc.

[Lashek]

OEM inks. That is, if you're using a Canon printer, use Canon inks, not the shitty refills or bargain ink carts on eBay, amazon, etc.

This. 1000 times this. Used refill kits and such a few times, and while they did get a fair number of prints, they also screwed up the print head.

Once a print head goes, you're pretty much done unless you can get a new print head for cheap (or can salvage the messed up one, which is rare).

[TDIRunner]

OEM inks. That is, if you're using a Canon printer, use Canon inks, not the shitty refills or bargain ink carts on eBay, amazon, etc.

This. 1000 times this. Used refill kits and such a few times, and while they did get a fair number of prints, they also screwed up the print head.

Once a print head goes, you're pretty much done unless you can get a new print head for cheap (or can salvage the messed up one, which is rare).

This. 

Also, I always buy the XL ink cartridges.  They cost about 50% more, but they last more than twice as long. 

[the7k]

I dunno man, I just got an EPSON and I HAVE to use bootleg inks. The official inks cost about $50 for color and black standard size inks and they literally last for 10-12 covers. I can order 2 of each colors and 4 blacks, XL size, for like $15. The quality is slightly lower, but only slightly, and I literally can not afford that slight difference with my meager salary.

[razielleonhart]

I dunno man, I just got an EPSON and I HAVE to use bootleg inks. The official inks cost about $50 for color and black standard size inks and they literally last for 10-12 covers. I can order 2 of each colors and 4 blacks, XL size, for like $15. The quality is slightly lower, but only slightly, and I literally can not afford that slight difference with my meager salary.

i have a EPSON R280 with a CIS ink system cost me $60 for the ink and the system and to fill the tanks it will cost me $30 and i can print all day and night if need be

[Einhander]

Do you guys use photo shop or power point to get the dimensions right?

[danielflugt]

Do you guys use photo shop or power point to get the dimensions right?

Any picture viewer should work. I use Preview, the standard picture viewer in OS X and it comes out perfect. Just make sure you print in 100% scale. If you're unsure, print out a fast draft on normal paper to check if you've got the settings right.

[Nacho3]

I dunno man, I just got an EPSON and I HAVE to use bootleg inks. The official inks cost about $50 for color and black standard size inks and they literally last for 10-12 covers. I can order 2 of each colors and 4 blacks, XL size, for like $15. The quality is slightly lower, but only slightly, and I literally can not afford that slight difference with my meager salary.

Are you printing at photo quality? I have an HP printer and when I print using the photo quality setting it uses way more ink, but if I change it to normal the covers are slightly less bright and ink lasts 3-4 times longer.

[the7k]

I am printing at photo quality, but if I print at normal quality there will be very clear strips throughout the print where it apparently didn't print. I pretty much only use normal quality for text docs as a result.

[SnesGuy]

i have a EPSON R280 with a CIS ink system cost me $60 for the ink and the system and to fill the tanks it will cost me $30 and i can print all day and night if need be

+1 to that.  I have a HP Officejet 4620 with a CIS.

[wiggy]

I dunno man, I just got an EPSON and I HAVE to use bootleg inks. The official inks cost about $50 for color and black standard size inks and they literally last for 10-12 covers. I can order 2 of each colors and 4 blacks, XL size, for like $15. The quality is slightly lower, but only slightly, and I literally can not afford that slight difference with my meager salary.

Here's the difference after 3 months with shitty ink versus oem, plus the cyan cart exploded in my printer which took HOURS to clean up and required that I completely disassemble the printer.





Faded and shitty

[FritzWhite]

Even more important than ink quality is the paper IMO. I used cheap paper for my covers and it doesn't look as nice. I eventually plan to buy some more expensive paper like this (recommended by Wiggy): http://www.adorama.com/IESS041605.html

Here is an early shot of the collection. The better looking covers were printed off a laser printer, the faded ones were done with an inkjet on cheap paper.



This is the current collection. Eventually I'll upgrade the paper for covers.

[videogametrader]

We use an Epson Artisan 1430 printer with a CIS (Continuous Ink System) and have no issues. With standard Epson carts the cost to print a cover is well over $4.00 and with the ink refill system its down to under $0.05 in ink cost. Paper is about $0.35 - $0.40. We use a photo quality thick matte paper.

We have not noticed any degradation in quality over the last few months.

[Einhander]

Well on my printer, it says it's Innobella and Brother.
Says for best results, use BROTHER, LC101 Standard Yield Ink Series or LC103 High Yield Ink Series.

So based on that description, what is the step I should take?