Hi,
I am looking for a good quality compatible ink to replace the canon (expensive) inks for my Canon IX5000 printer.There are so many on the market and I am worried since I have heard that some inks can block up the nozzles. Any help?
Many thanks,
Rachel

I don't think that it is a good idea to use an ink not recommended for your make/model of printer. Refilled ink cartridges are also not a good thing to do, in my opinion.

You can reduce the amount of ink used by your printer using the built in tools. You can use "draft" mode for printing where exceptional quality is not important. You can avoid printing pictures using the "best" quality when you can. Those higher settings use up a lot of ink.

When you need high quality image prints you could use an online service like Wal-Mart or whatever store is close to you. They often charge a very small amount for printing; much less that your home printer would cost. One suggestion: If you use the Wal-Mart print service, use their image editing software as it will give you a better and more consistent end product.

Wal-Mart Photo (even if you don't have a Wal-Mart nearby, you might look at this to see how they're doing this image printing).

I know these cartridges are expensive. You can try to find "bargains" by shopping for them online. Sometime you can find good deals that way. Try using Google Shopping to look for lower prices: Google Shopping (this is US, so you may need to look under the UK option).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dwight,

Hi,
I am suprised that you say I can get cheap printouts from a service provider, since I have shopped around and they seem expensive! I have printed out a book I have written on my home A3 printer (IX5000 printer) and I have estimated that on a high quality setting (using Canon ink), about £8 worth of ink is used per book (284 pages)and cost of paper amounts to £2.84. My nearest service provider prints coloured pages at £0.29 per copy (the cheapest), whilst if I go to a professional digital printer the price escalates to £2700 (yes that's right: two thousand, seven hundred pounds!)for one hundred copies. Each book on my home printer (later wireo-bound) takes seven hours on the high quality setting, and I'm not sure I have the time to wait for one hundred copies! I will try the contact you gave, though am just suprised. Another issue, is inkjet print which runs if in contact with water. Are there cheap laser printers which are suitablefor home use?

Many thanks,
Rachel

Well, we are not talking about the same types of print jobs. I was referring to home printing of photos, not printing books.

For large print jobs (large by home standards), a laser printer would be less expensive than inkjet printers. You may be able to locate a very good quality used laser printer that would do a good high speed, high quality print job for less money. A used computer store may carry one that will work well for less money.

I'm not familiar with the UK, but here in Alaska we often have public auctions where used Federal and local government equipment is sold. I have many times seen very nice laserjet printers sold for as little as $5 (£2.5) and they often include spare toner cartridges.

If you have something like a Craigs List near you Craigslist-UK you might try looking for a good buy on a laser printer.

Are you printing this out on two sides of the paper? If this is feasible for you project, this would obviously cut the page requirement by nearly half. Would a smaller font size work? Could you enlarge the page margins? If you could do either of these it would reduce the number of pages.

How about printing this out of for use by the Internet? By that I mean, offering the book via a Webpage? Setting up a Webpage would not be hard and you can get very inexpensive Web hosting services. You would also need to buy a Domain Name, but even that can be done for free or for a nominal amount when combined with the Web Hosting. See Powweb Using the Web would allow you do provide the book without printing anything on paper. The reader could chose to print it out on paper if they wanted, or just read it online.

You could also do this via a ".PDF" or Portable Document Format. Again, this would be read via computer and you could burn it to a CD and distribute the book via CD if you like. You can get a free .PDF program here: PDF995

I don't know if any of these alternative distribution suggestions are right for your project, but I hope that something here might be beneficial.

Thank you for your help. I will investigate Craiglist and also enquire about means in the U.K of buying second hand laser printers.I have recently (yesterday) bought a domain name and am now working on my own website (to advertise the book). However, I would be nervous, for copyright reasons about providing a download of my whole book on line, which is 284 pages long! How could I prevent someone copying pages without buying? I would only wish buyers to even see more than a few sample pages on screen before purchasing. Is there a way of encripting pages so they cannot be printed out by other people, and limiting viewing activities of people who do not wish to buy ?

Many thanks,
Rachel

"Is there a way of encrypting pages so they cannot be printed out by other people, and limiting viewing activities of people who do not wish to buy?"

Yes, you can put a password requirement on any page or folder of pages that you wish to protect.

You could offer a sample section, then place a continue button that opens a dialog box where the password is entered.

You can provide the reader the password via email after receiving payment. Each user could have a unique password.

Of course there are ways to hack around these things but there is no such thing as total security. Your printed books could be photo copied and passed around, too. This protection just makes it harder to do.

Dwight

You may want to read this article before you decide on getting re-manufactured inks...

Remanufactured Inks