So does the ET 8550 really compare to the KING? The CANON PRO 1000!

[@TheStlgg]

Had my Epson ET 8550 for three month and printed over 50 A4 Photos and the inks that came with the printer are still 75% full. every print so far has been beyond my expectations. Thank you to Keith and yourself for your time to create such unbiased content 👏

[@emcook1]

Jose I have printed around 1500 images on my ET8550. A combination of 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 11x17 glossy, matte and lustre (mostly color but some BW as well) and have only been through one set of inks and about a 1/4 of another set. I love the print quality and the minimal cost associated with producing the images. BTW I have printed on some 10-15 year old paper with great results. I am not trying to defend the ET8550 vs any other printer. I don’t have any other printer and at this point do not see the need to spend the extra money for the cost of ink sets to produce prints that may last longer, however most likely as you and Keith have demonstrated will not look any better. FYI I do use Qimage One but very rarely find the need to use ICC profiles. I use an LG non 4K monitor not calibrated and my prints are almost identical to the color I see on the screen. In addition, I offer to print for some of my photography friends for free because it is so darn cheap to produce great quality prints. At this point my only potential concern is longevity of the printer itself given the amount of prints I am producing. Thanks Mike

[@andreasbelz2110]

Hi from Belgium. I love your videos. You help a lot of people to find the right choice. The technical best printer must not be the best printer for somebody

[@carlospena1388]

Thank you for all the videos, the ET-8550 will not be in the professional segment, but really the results are spectacular in all types of paper and formats that I have tried, perhaps where it falters is in black and white printing, if we add the management and consumption of ink it is a very interesting printer very satisfied with it.

[@classicaloracle]

Having endured such high ink costs with previous Epson A3+ printers the 8550 has brought me into a different world. I'm now happy to experiment with different papers and really explore the possibilities a printer should offer. Added to which this printer also copies and scans incredibly fast compared to my previous dedicated Epson scanner. It also produces double-sided copies quickly and has led me to use my laser printer less. Definitely one of the best products I've bought this year. You feel you want to commend it to those who have stopped buying printers due to ink costs but who would love to see high quality prints to share with their family.

[@20111111jorg]

Great review. I had a Pro 1000 and gave it away. I was using it so seldom the inks would dry up and I couldn't get the nozzle cleared even taking the head apart. But mostly the inks were horribly expensive and were mostly used for clearing heads. With the Epson ink cost I won't be so reluctant to keep them clear. At least that's my hope.

[@istvann.huszar420]

Thank you, Jose. You did exactly what I asked from Keith in the comments under his video, and it was VERY informative. I have to slightly disagree with you though: the differences are pretty obvious to my eyes, especially in that sandy corner area. But then I also agree with your conclusion: if I can achieve this quality for half the cost, and that's the only printer I have, it is good enough for me as a hobbyist. The only thing that I missed from your video was the emphasis on reds. You even mention that a dedicated red ink is the main difference between the two printers, so intuitively, I would have chosen an image with reds to see where the differences become the largest.

[@geckonia]

I just got a Black Friday 8550 could not be happier 😅 one thing I’ve noticed over the years of using an Epson is the prints lighten up a bit when they dry so I don’t judge a fresh print

[@photonsonpixels]

Thanks for your tutorial, José. Is your custom profile for the ET-8550 available for us to use? Thank you.

[@micheleannunziata609]

Very impressive test. Yes the Epson deliver much good nuance, well done. I'm customer Canon and my printer is a fantastic Pixa Pro 200. Again the best results of Epson are the inks not too expensive like Canon. I think this is way of future. Good test sir. Chapeau!

[@grumblewoof4721]

Thanks for that great comparison. Perhaps the difference is in accuracy and permanence of image. A professional who intends to produce and sell prints, in say limited editions, would require the best archival paper and best pigment inks and they would use the best printer for the job, the client or purchaser would expect it. If you have no intention for your prints to last 100+ years and the only person(s) likely to see the print is you, your family and friends on the living room wall, then you don't need a Pro 1000 (or Pro 1100) ... they would never be able to detect the difference, so you might as well save the money and get the ET 8550 or the Canon Pro 200. This will save you a lot in ink costs.. So the prints fade a bit ? Just print another copy and replace when they do.

[@cheo1949]

For sure. Huge difference when you include longevity. The point here what most user are usually concerned with is...how do my prints look. Specially firt timers.

[@inspiredartphotos]

Not necessarily I have prints made on the Epson 1200 and the 1280. Those prints are at least years 15 old. I have a Canon Pro 10. The Epson dye based inks had a wider gamut and looked better to begin with. The pigment inks had a bronze tint and a slight green cast even in professionally profiled environment. After all these years the dye based inks of the Epson look fantastic. I have been using an Epson 4760 Ink tank printer as office printer for 3 years. I am amazed by the lack of problems with ink clogs and head cleaning on the Epson. I also have a Cannon Pro100. That darn thing is too expensive to use. It is always out of ink.

[@ChicagoRob2]

I wonder if a custom Pro-1000 profile would make the results even closer.

[@cheo1949]

Possibly

[@pesto12601]

Question if you have the time.. any advice for leaking ink carts in my Pro100? I refilled them using precision inks.. but many of the carts just seem to leak out the bottom of the cart after refill... and then spill all over the inside and my prints have ink smear on them. Sigh... wish there was an easier/better way like the refill system I used to use on with the Canon 9000 carts... those never leaked and were so easy to replace. Thx!

[@rolandschiefer]

I am firmly convinced that for amateurs who don’t print in large volumes regularly, the ET8550 is the better choice. For many years, I owned an Epson A2 printer, the Pro 3800, which delivered excellent results. However, the ink consumption during occasional use was ruinously high, as the printer used massive amounts of ink for cleaning cycles and filled the maintenance tank. This could be mitigated by batching print jobs and printing large quantities in one session. With the ET8550, this cost factor is a thing of the past because the ink is so affordable that you no longer need to worry about it. The differences in quality are only noticeable in direct comparison and are insignificant for the average viewer-or even more so for uncritical observers.

[@spyrit35]

Great video Jose. It's also a shocker to compare the price of a set of bottles for the 8550 to a set of cartridges for the pro 1000 I imagine. I wonder if there are estimates for how many prints of a given size you get of each of the 2 sets, I imagine the 8550 would win there as well (as the initial purchase price).

[@robRobblah]

Interested in this metric - how many prints expected from each set of inks.

[@carlosgouveia]

​@@robRobblahask chatgpt

[@mikedfurman]

Slightly related but my question is how long will canon support pro 1000 ink now that the 1100 is out and has different ink? I have a 200 and if it weren’t for the ink I would definitely get the 1000, but I don’t want to spend that kind of money only to lose support after a couple of years.

[@LasstUnsSpielen]

Thank you for your expertise :)

[@poni7373]

Thank you very much for sharing this. I do see a tint difference in the beige part in the sky. But that can maybe attributed to the fact that you did not create the icc profile for the Pro-1000. Both look great and if A3+ suffices, the Epson seems to be the way to go. But I would like to see the same printed on the Canon Pro-200 and Pro-300 and compared to the ET-8550

[@cheo1949]

Should not be too different from what the Pro1000 vs the ET8550 shows. The PRO-1000 is above the 200. The 200 is just an updated PRO10. The differences are basically Splitting Hairs.

[@michaellovett1041]

Hi I am posting on this video because it's your latest one. I have watched your video on the epsom picture mate printer I need to order a new ink cartridges it will be a generic one is they I company online you recommend?

[@kevins8575]

I'm guessing that qualitative observations (I won't say "test") would be better done by using epson's own premium paper on their machine. The printers and papers were likely optimized together.

[@cheo1949]

well.....you would get different results trust me. That's why I used the same paper with a custom profile. Epson does NOT have an equivalent paper that rivals the Platinum Gloss.

[@lev_anni]

Thank you so much for this comparison, Jose! To me PRO 1000 is slightly better, but does this "slightly" justify this huge gap in ink cost between these printers? I think no. I can get 6 times more set of inks for ET-8550 for the price of PRO 1000 and print who knows how much more. Additional 6 colors indeed make difference but nobody will notice really until comparing prints side by side. Never used PRO 1000, wanted to get one but ended up buying L8180 (black 8550). The paper handling is terrible as you said at the beginning, I'm sure PRO 1000 will be way better in this department. Also, wider format is a big big plus. So to sum up, PRO 1000 print is richer in colors by say 10% to me.

[@JR-uy2nd]

The blues on the canon are deeper and the red boat brighter, and I liked more the reddish brown on the canon than the greenish brown. The Canon produced a better print, but it had to, there are no miracles, the canon is the double the price with better and more inks and made only to print photos. The Epson is a general propose printer that also prints fantastic photos.

[@mypapers3797]

New watcher here, José. What software are you using to print the photos?

[@cheo1949]

QIMAGE Ultimate

[@RION-LANE]

nice profile

[@ckuhn555]

Terrific printer, used 4 complete refills all colors for 8550. That's a lot of prints mostly 13x19. Anything larger or special papers (Ex watercolor paper) I use my Epson 7800.

[@aznycts]

printer ink can cost more than gold when measured by the ounce. Wow. 😥 so I Stop Using Epson and Canon Printers for 2 Years Now . i got tired of The Inks papper cleaning etc. . about 2 years now i found out that printing My work at a professional photo lab will likely produce significantly better quality prints than even a high-end professional printer than i have have at home, mainly because labs use specialized, high-grade equipment, inks, and paper designed to achieve the most accurate color reproduction and detail possible, which is often beyond the capabilities of a consumer-grade printer, even a "professional" . Im aNot paranoid anymore 😆😆😆 .

[@annespellberg7173]

He is OK, but he has an engineer's bent on things, and sometimes it's not really applicable to what I would do. For instance, he says you shouldn't use the bigger printers for 4x6, or something and I say I need too because I don't have space for a bunch of "specialty" printers. So while unbiased, kind of too techy sometimes.

[@ajansson3361]

When the printer is ready, and you look at the print and look the day after. You wil be amazed The difference when de inks have dried.😅 Print the same image again and look at the print from 24 ours ago. That is a shocker😂. I have de ET8550 and a Canon Pixma 550 for text and bw photo. Both are wonderfull printers

[@robRobblah]

Can you clarify a bit what the difference you mention is?

[@FLMUSACanada]

I print for myself and a few others, we’re all professional shooters. I’ll take Canon every day over Epson because of paper transport, ease of use/set-up and tech support. If you want excellent prints from your images, cost of ink will be one of your lowest priorities.