best ink jet printer for prints < 8"x12"

[michael_]

im finding it to be less profitable having a ProLab print anything less than 8"x12" prints simply because they either have a minimum order and charge a standard $10 for packaging regardless of pickup, 7"x"5" are roughly $0.70c, some weeks i dont have large print runs so to spend $25 for a print which costs $1 at best and my fee is $15 (incl tax and postage) its just not profitable, so thought it may be viable to get my own printer , i was looking at the Canon Pixma PIXMA Pro9500 - A3+ Printer, ink will cost me about $130 to replace, paper (A4) about $0.60c each and i should get about 50 A4 prints to each ink run so say 100+ for 5"x7" cutting the cost down to about $2-3 per print which is still a large saving (unless i have a large print run), also means i can get prints out quicker etc, so the question is the PIXMA Pro9500 - A3+ Printer the best for anythig less than 8"x12" outside a ProLab? or would an epson or somethign else be better? any recommendations would be great and fyi i can get the Canon for $950 so anything from $950 - $1200 would be fine (AUD offcourse)

Cheers

[ssim]

I have the 9500 and it is a great printer, I really like it alot. However, if you are looking at just printing 8x12 or smaller this is a tad overkill given that it will print up to 13x19.

Epson does make some great printers as well. It is really a matter of deciding which options that you want. I have always had Canon printers, I also have the Pixma iP8500 which does a bang up job on papers up to 8.5 wide.

A personal observation is that I would change labs in heartbeat if my pro lab charged anything for packaging if I was picking up the order. That just seems like a rip off.

[michael_]

unfortunately changing labs wont be beneficial as other labs charge almost 5x the price for my > 8"x12" prints so would cut my profit margin considerably.

i guess i could also use it to print my own personal prints larger than 8x12 which i do quite often and it would work out roughly similar pricing.