Red River Paper reveals true cost of inkjet printing

Calculations were carried out on ink usage derived by printing 200 8×10-inch prints of Bill Atkinson’s printer test, shown above. According to the test report, the montage of photos in Atkinson’s image provided near 100% coverage, used a wide variety of colours, and presented what amounts to a worst-case scenario of ink usage. For each analysis, a pre-primed printer was loaded with new and previously unopened ink cartridges. The image was resized to 8 x 10 inches at 300 ppi. Prints were made using the High Quality setting within a colour-managed workflow. Inks were changed only when the printer stopped and indicated an empty tank. At the 200th print, a count was made of ink cartridges used plus an estimate of remaining ink cartridges. From that information, total use of ink in equivalent number of ink cartridges used was obtained. The ink usage was equated to amount per square inch and then converted to specific photo sizes.

Since the tests were conducted in the USA, the costs are expressed in American currency and linear measurements are in inches. However, the relative costs will be very similar in Australia, allowing the published table to be used as a guide. Readers should note the Epson P900 and P700 printers are known as P906 and P706 in Australia.

Click here to visit the Red River website and read the entire report.