Dye Sub Printers

I'm looking for a Dye Sub printer at work to print gift certificates on 4x6 stock (we're an eCommerce company). We're currently using a Canon Pro9000 Mk II but between the high price of paper & ink (my math puts me in the $0.70-0.80/print range, not including labor), and the long print/dry time, I'm not sure we'll be able to keep up with demand this holiday season.

I was leaning towards the HiTi P510S but have noticed a lot of people complaining about not being able to buy consumables for it.

Does anyone have this printer and have that issue? If not, where are you buying?

Also, I'm open to suggestions on alternatives. I will only ever be printing 4x6 on it, always from a computer, would like the keep the cost/print down, and would like to restock as infrequently as possible (so a half-dozen CP800's in a print pool won't work since you have to restock them every 18 prints). I was looking for something in the $1000 area but am willing to spend a little more if there is a clearly-better option or dramatically lower ongoing operating costs (we did about 1100 prints last year in Nov & Dec, about 2700 total in 2010, and 2200 so far this year in 2011).

EDIT: Also, the plan is just to print from Acrobat (we have a template, they just type in the name & GC code and hit print), not any proprietary software.

I know nothing about dye-sub printers but your estimated cost per page surprises me! What type/size paper do you use? I havent printed to actual 4x6 paper in a long time, usually if I want to print 4x6 images in recent years I would compose three of them on an 8.5x11 sheet. Anyways, I'm just checking in!

tonylong wrote in post #13373308
I know nothing about dye-sub printers but your estimated cost per page surprises me! What type/size paper do you use? I havent printed to actual 4x6 paper in a long time, usually if I want to print 4x6 images in recent years I would compose three of them on an 8.5x11 sheet. Anyways, I'm just checking in!

4x6 paper, usually Ilford or Canon. That accounts for about $0.20-0.25/print. The rest is made up in ink. The prints are real dark and we burn through a ton of a couple of the colors.

jasonlitka wrote in post #13375671
4x6 paper, usually Ilford or Canon. That accounts for about $0.20-0.25/print. The rest is made up in ink. The prints are real dark and we burn through a ton of a couple of the colors.

OK, interesting -- I wouldn't think ink would be nearly so spendy but if you are using mainly a couple colors then I guess it could be...?

tonylong wrote in post #13373308
I know nothing about dye-sub printers but your estimated cost per page surprises me! What type/size paper do you use? I havent printed to actual 4x6 paper in a long time, usually if I want to print 4x6 images in recent years I would compose three of them on an 8.5x11 sheet. Anyways, I'm just checking in!

I owned one -- estimates may be a bit low. I was $1.25 / page.

S.Horton wrote in post #13376625
I owned one -- estimates may be a bit low. I was $1.25 / page.

Is that $1.25 for a 4x6? Wow!

^^ Yes, but this was years ago -- the 'ink' in the thing was SUPER expensive.

Amazing results, but I just didn't care for fooling around with the device to fill it and paying uber-bucks.

So, I just send 'em out now.

Anything 'casual' is just an inkjet, and the people who want/need that could care less about what I notice is wrong.

I'm taking a chance on the HiTi P720L. They claim 7.9 seconds per print and 1000 prints per supply change. Prints will be $0.13 each. Ordered from Adorama earlier today and promptly got an out of stock notice, I might call around a few places tomorrow to see if anyone has one in stock...

Dye-sub is the worst in ink economy. The "ink" is actually a roll of a film. You use 6 inches of each color even if it is not present in the image being printed (for a 4X6 print). So a pack of say 25 papers there is only enough ink to print 25 prints. There is no such thing as carying over ink to the next pack of paper. So say your gift cert is only black and white, you still will waste all 3 colors in making the print. It is not like a ink jet the only uses the ink needed to make the image. This is what makes it so expensive.

I bought a Sony UP-CX1 about 2 years ago. Sony doesn't make it anymore and it got difficult to get the medium to print on. DNP has taken over the Sony line of dyesub printers and paper. They have a model DNP DSRX1 that is available for about $875. It use to cost me about 28 cents a print to make a 4x6. The last price I paid, put the price at about 40 cents a print. However, the price should be dropping again as supply ramps up. I was using a Canon Pro 9000 inkjet for all my photos. At one time I figured I was paying about 22 cents to print a 4x6 on the inkjet. Ink costs have risen but I can still print an 8x10 for about $1.25 each if I shop for the best deals. I only use Canon inks and paper though. However, the Sony dyesub prints much faster. You might want to check out http://www.imagingspec​trum.com …hermal_printer-dsrx1.html for more information on this latest printer from DNP.

Mark1 wrote in post #13378649
Dye-sub is the worst in ink economy. The "ink" is actually a roll of a film. You use 6 inches of each color even if it is not present in the image being printed (for a 4X6 print). So a pack of say 25 papers there is only enough ink to print 25 prints. There is no such thing as carying over ink to the next pack of paper. So say your gift cert is only black and white, you still will waste all 3 colors in making the print. It is not like a ink jet the only uses the ink needed to make the image. This is what makes it so expensive.

Worst on economy? Show me an inkjet+paper that can do $0.13/print. While dye sub may be somewhat wasteful, it's far less expensive to operate.

^
This article has ink consumption information http://www.redrivercat​alog.com/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html ...the Canon iP4820 costs $0.21 just for ink; the Pro9000 costs $0.19 just for ink.

Add another $0.10 per sheet for 4x6 photo paper, to the cost of printing your own.

It is cheaper to buy prints from Costco, by $0.06, than it costs for the ink alone, when printing on your own Canon 9000 -- which is the lowest per-print cost of the three Canons listed. (And even the lowest cost Epson is $0.004 more than Costco just for the ink!)

I have a Kodak Dye Sub printer and figured the cost per sheet to be $1.50 for 8 x 12 sheets. If you can squeeze your 4 x 6's on one sheet you might be able to get at least 4 on one sheet.

If you decide to go this route then I think it's a better decision than a ink jet.

However, they do make 4x6 printers that will work as stand alone or you can hook it up to your computer. I have an older HP and it prints outstanding photos.

Wilt wrote in post #13380948
^
This article has ink consumption information http://www.redrivercat​alog.com/cost-of-inkjet-printing.html ...the Canon iP4820 costs $0.21 just for ink; the Pro9000 costs $0.19 just for ink.

Add another $0.10 per sheet for 4x6 photo paper, to the cost of printing your own.

It is cheaper to buy prints from Costco, by $0.06, than it costs for the ink alone, when printing on your own Canon 9000 -- which is the lowest per-print cost of the three Canons listed. (And even the lowest cost Epson is $0.004 more than Costco just for the ink!)

That $0.19/4x6 for the 9000 is real conservative. Dark images (like mine) use a lot more than $0.19 of ink. I also use paper that is more than $0.10/sheet.

Anyway, I called up Adorama and they told me they expected to have my printer "middle-ish" of next week and then a couple days transit to me. I'm pretty annoyed with them at the moment since their web site implied it was in stock (doesn't say out of stock or backordered any where).

I need a few days of time with the printer to make sure the software I wrote for automating gift certificate production works before I can give it to customer service. At the rate this is going it will be Black Friday before I'm ready to go and I was hoping to give CS a week or so before the deluge of orders hits...

EDIT: That link doesn't actually say "Mark II" so I don't think it's the same printer. Maybe the original was more conservative on ink.

jasonlitka wrote in post #13380809
While dye sub may be somewhat wasteful...

This is my point. I didnt say it was expensive. I never even mentioned the cost at all. I meant you do indeed waste a ton of the ink simply by the design of the process. There is not even a hint of the concept of conserving of materials. 6 inches of print means 6 inches of C,M, and Y, no mater how much each contributes to the image. This point gets my goat. I dont know why, it just does.