I've been using an Epson 1280 printer for several years, but I've never really found it satisfactory, particularly for black/white. I am a serious amateur, but my ambitions are limited by advancing age and capability I don't expect to make lots of large prints, but I do make them for family and friends as well as for myself. I know I can enhance the 1280 s use for b/w by using inks designed for that purpose, but I would really prefer a printer which can do a reasonable job with default inks.
I've been contemplating getting a 3800, but I am put off by the expense of the ink sets. The alternative would be to get a better 13 x 19 inch capable printer, like the 1280. I've recently been trying to master color management, and it is possible that I could use that to have larger prints made commercially, and still control the results.
I would appreciate any advice. For example, assuming I make at most two or three prints a month, how long would the 3800 inks last before they had to be discarded because of age? Also, I notice that there are third party inks advertised on the web for the printer which cost only a fraction of the cost of the Epson inks. Are such cartridges a serious alternative?
If I understand color management, if I include a profile in an image, then a commercial lab can in principle produce a print which will be pretty close to what I could do myself. Is that a realistic expectation?
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