Doug Aurand
Posts: 1764
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 5 Jul 2009 at 15:40 GMT
|
|
Retail stores carry very few of these wide-carriage printers so its not unusual you have to order one
The Staples I ordered mine through didn't have it in stiock (thats why I ordered it) but did have an Epson with a 13" wide paper path, but couldn't do the 36" long custom size I want.
A retail store is only going to spend inventory dollars on printers that move.
Also, HP is a lot better at keeping ink cartridges in production. I have 2 old HP 880C printers and they always have ink for it at Staples, Black 45 and Color 23. Those are really old.
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Mark Schuster
Posts: 1068
Location: Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom
Registered: 25 Jan 2006
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 5 Jul 2009 at 16:31 GMT
updated: 5 Jul 2009 at 16:34 GMT
|
|
Doug and all,
For poster quality a cheap solution is an A2 drawing pad. Slice the sheets down the centre to produce two A4 wide by twice A4 long. The result is about the quality of a magazine colour print, which for me isn't really good enough.
Regardless of all that, I can produce pretty good 22 x 8 inch prints mounted frameless on MDF but my problem is marketing! Apart from going around knocking on doors, how?
Mark
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Mark Schuster
Posts: 1068
Location: Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom
Registered: 25 Jan 2006
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 5 Jul 2009 at 16:41 GMT
updated: 5 Jul 2009 at 16:41 GMT
|
|
Doug,
Just read yours about HP ink cartridges. With my old Ink Jet 800C series I used to refill and reuse cartridges over and again, but when I try with the silly little HP351 tricolour cartridges for Photosmart I get the oddest colours. Mind you some remanufactured cartridges from Ebay are fine and contain more ink.
Mark
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Doug Aurand
Posts: 1764
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 6 Jul 2009 at 13:53 GMT
updated: 6 Jul 2009 at 13:59 GMT
|
|
Mark
The marketing depends on how many posters you want to sell
The Albuquerque Sunset from High Finance Restaurant has 2 natural retail outlets, the restaurant itself (they also sell t-shirts, baseball caps, coffee cups, etc, with their logo) and the gift shop at the base of the Tramway you have to ride to get to the restaurant.
But you have to make it worth their time & money. I'm planning to charge $20 for the 13x19 poster which makes the traditional wholesale price $10 for them, so they can make $10 profit. At first I'll make about $6 to $7 on each poster I sell wholesale, but I think the restaurant (where the "view" of the Sunset is) and gift shop are the places that have the best opportunity to sell that poster. If they sell okay, I'll raise the retail price to $25 so I make about $10 each when sold wholesale and $21 when I sell direct.
For posters of the University of New Mexico Football Stadium, Basketball Arena and Isotopes Park, I'm thinking their respective gift/souvenir shops are the natural place to start. There's also a local company that sells sports merchandise for the local sports teams, so Ill talk to them to.
The other possibility to make some money from the non-panorama image like the Sunset is as postcards. Since many of the people who ride the Sandia Peak Tramway are tourists, they may want a souvenir that's less expensive and easier to carry home than a tubed 13x19 poster. At first these likely won't really be postcards, just postcard size photos. If I can make $.50 profit on each one, I'll be doing well. Not much per unit, but a lot easier to sell a lot of them. Fortunately, this size wouldn't be that expensive to have 1000 of them printed. Something I learned collecting old "linen style" postcards is that many of them are never mailed. They're purchased as souvenirs because the buyer simpley can't take that good a photo, get to that location or so what we do (stitch) to images.
Another retail outlet I may try is a few local picture frame shops. They usually have a few framed pieces they bought on spec and are trying to sell with the frame.
Then of course there's the Internet. I already sell a few of the Balloon Fiesta panoramas from Blakeway on my wesbite and could add the Sunset without too much effort, as well as the panorama I have as the header on VirtualAlbuquerque (without the text in the sky). Then of course their's eBay, but I didn't have too much luck with the 8x23 posters there. I may hive it a try again though.
Its a lot of work to get going, but fortunately the people who used to do large prints of Albuquerque scenes have faded out since I moved here 30 years ago. I just hope it wasn't because there was no market for the posters.
The benefit of selling the posters is once the hard work is done and they are selling, its low maintenance business; just refill orders and ship online sales
Later
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Jorgen Poulsen
Posts: 228
Location: France
Registered: 30 Apr 2008
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 6 Jul 2009 at 15:32 GMT
updated: 6 Jul 2009 at 15:54 GMT
|
|
Many of the best panoramic photographers are on here.
Together you have 'probably the best panoramic images in the world' (excuse the Danish pun).
Instead of trying to individually set up a little business selling your own limited, but for sure fantastic, panoramic images why don't you pool all your images in one business and let one person manage the business and sell your images?
One fantastic website with a massive stock of the world's best panoramic images.
One small investment plus SEO. Minimal investment maximum return.
People want choice. How about the world's largest panoramic image store? The website with the world's best images in any size you want. Exclusively sold on this site.
Each 'supplier' will have a link on their website which will in itself create traffic and sales.
Think big, sit back and receive your royalties.
Thoughts?
ps. just checked one site www.horschgallery.com/addtocart2.aspx?catId=%C5%9... %1E. It sells 12x36 images without frame for $180.
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
bigwade
Posts: 567
Location: Netherlands
Registered: 19 Oct 2005
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 6 Jul 2009 at 18:53 GMT
|
|
Doug,
This printing stuff is trickey.
I have had many printers and never made any money with them.
(I don't mind )
It takes so much proofing etc. (paper/ink) to get good results.
Even with a good calibration (paper/ink) you can get weird results.
Don't go for cheap papers and ink, your clients will hate you for it after 2 years when they have a one-color purple print on the wall.
So Gallery-paper and chrome or K3 inks are the way to go and a 10$/A3 selling price is absurd.
You can't afford one mistake with that price.
Check: www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/4000-cost.shtml.
This is for an Epson 4000 printer with large tanks.
With smaller tanks the ink waste is enormous.
With my Epson 2400 I was changing tanks all the time (have a 3800 now)
On Dpreview and LL there are discussionforums about printing.
Read them.. 
grtz
Frank
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
erik
Posts: 79
Location: Kortrijk, Belgium
Registered: 5 Aug 2004
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 6 Jul 2009 at 20:16 GMT
|
|
Excellent idea Jorgen, there is a panorama maker who is also a professional printer, why not let him do the printing and posting.
check www.carloschegado.com
Then we need someone to set-up and maintain the site, i be willing to help.
erik
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Doug Aurand
Posts: 1764
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 6 Jul 2009 at 22:08 GMT
|
|
bigwade
I've done a little of this before and know there is usually a waste factor in getting a run going. My plan is when its time to print more posters to maintain some inventory, I'll print a whole 20 sheet package. Maybe 2 20 sheet packages at a time so the "waste" is spread over more usable posters
As far as paper and ink, its simple, HPs best photo papers and the B8850 uses their fade resistant Vivera ink
The $10 per poster price is "wholesale" which implies the retailer has to make a minimum buy of 10 posters. So it'll be a $100 sale. Retail markup for things like this is usually 100% of cost. So if the poster costs them too much they won't be able to sell any
Actually I think the printer will likely reduce my overall printing costs because now I print my Thumbnail Sheets for real estate shoots on HP Photo Paper on a HP5160 that has a TriColor cartridge that runs out of Yellow long before the Cyan & Magenta are gone. I go through 250 to 300 sheets of 8.5x11 glossy photo paper a month. With the separate ink color cartridges, I only replace what I use up.
Since I'll be using the printer pretty much all the time, printing on paper similar or identical to the poster paper, I just don't see that much waste happening
Also, having owned both mid-priced HPs & Epsons, I've found the HPs a lot more reliable and less troublesome
than Epsons. Ive got an old HP 880c printer that sits next to a Epson R320. The 880c is nearly bullet proof while I constantly have to clean print heads on the Epson wasting ink. And the stupid thing won't let me clean just the clogged head, it has to clean all 4. The B8850 is designed to let me clean one print head at a time. This is the third R320 I've had because Epson replaced the first one completely for free and replaced that one with me only paying shipping. I was impressed that they replaced the printers, but they weren't making be a loyal customer because of the unreliability of the printers. The only reason I keep it is because HP doesn't make a printer prints CDs as easily.
If I get to the point I'm printing 50 of the same poster every month, I'll just take it to a printing company and have 500 printed and inventory them. There are two good printing companies here in ABQ. That will bring the cost per unit down even more
Sorry your Epson 4000 is so espensive to operate 
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
bigwade
Posts: 567
Location: Netherlands
Registered: 19 Oct 2005
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 7 Jul 2009 at 7:43 GMT
|
|
|
I don't have a 4000 but a 3800
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Doug Aurand
Posts: 1764
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 7 Jul 2009 at 14:01 GMT
|
|
bigwade
Shoulda bought an HP
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
michael przewrocki
Posts: 805
Location: basel, Switzerland
Registered: 19 Nov 2004
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 8 Jul 2009 at 4:11 GMT
updated: 8 Jul 2009 at 4:11 GMT
|
|
imetto of china has a printer i1250 minilab(which can produce 30.5 x 127cm panoramas. wow! until now approx.30x90cm printers were available from kodak/noritsu. noritsus 37hd has 640 dpi output.
i asked imetto for more details, where are machines installed.
www.catwebonline.de/catw1/pdf-archivIC/2008/04/03...
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Thomas Krueger
Posts: 223
Location: Genoa, Italy
Registered: 3 Mar 2006
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 8 Jul 2009 at 4:51 GMT
|
|
The current inkjet technology from HP, Epson and Canon offers a better quality and lightfastness as chemical based RA4 prints. The printer can be switched off, the minilab needs a constant development workload, maintenance and control of the chemicals.
As grown up in a color lab 25 years ago, today I would stay away from RA4 development.
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Doug Aurand
Posts: 1764
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 10 Jul 2009 at 22:52 GMT
|
|
My new toy has arrived!!!
I hope I have time to set it up this weekend
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Thomas Krueger
Posts: 223
Location: Genoa, Italy
Registered: 3 Mar 2006
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 22 Jul 2009 at 5:56 GMT
|
|
|
If you got an HP printer, the "HP Professional Satin Photo Paper" works fine, a more economical paper is the "HP Universal Instant-Dry Semi-Gloss Photo Paper". A premium paper is Ilford Gold Fibre Silk that can be loaded with the preset for the HP Baryta Satin paper (enough gloss enhancer).
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Doug Aurand
Posts: 1764
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
|
Re: Panorama Printer Ordered
Posted: 22 Jul 2009 at 13:06 GMT
|
|
Thomas
I'll look into those
I printed a dozen on standard 13x19 photo paper of the Albuquerque Sunset poster and showed them to the High Finance Restaurant sales manager.
He wants to try out selling them at High Finance on top of Sandia Peak along with their baseball caps, t-shirts, cups and shot glasses.
Printing the 13x19 Publisher file is pretty straightforward but I have to print with one sheet at a time in the tray.
I'm having a problem getting the printer to use the 11.75x36 custom paper for my other poster. I'll have to sit down and really read the details of the manual and help files.
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
prev
