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  #1 Xavier Kirby on 18 Apr 12

   

  When we're printing, for many of us there may well be the thought in the back of our minds, "should I be saving money by buying third party inks?" We know what the printer manufacturers tell us about the need to use original supplies and, while many choose to stick rigidly with original inks, many others ignore their advice and take the third party route, filling our inkjet printers with third party inks. For some, the ink quality is an issue, for some it isn't.
  
  But, how many of us stop and think about the paper we are using?
  
  Because most office papers tend to be branded by a paper manufacturer rather than a printer manufacturer, and most of the office paper we use is probably not printer branded, it is very easy to forget that there are printer manufacturer branded papers to select as well. This approach can then easily translate to glossy photo papers and we assume that a glossy photo paper is a glossy photo paper and that's all there is to it.
  
  Well, I'd like to disagree with that premise and show you what to expect if you choose third party papers instead of original papers from the printer manufacturers - usually referred to as the OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer.
  
  In this article we will look specifically at photo papers rather than office plain papers.
  
  Used to produce these print samples just happens to be one of the Brother A3 series business inkjet MFCs. Now, Brother is not generally known for its photo printing and has not achieved household name status as a printer manufacturer in the way that others have - rather as a sewing machine manufacturer.
  
  This makes the choice of printer very fitting however. If we'd used a Hewlett-Packard, Epson or Canon printer, the obvious reaction would be, "this printer has been designed specifically to print photos, so the OEM supplies have had a lot of money thrown at them." But, Brother is frequently underestimated. Our testing has shown that photo print quality from a Brother printer is every bit as good as from other manufacturers and, for many people, preferable.
  
  Firstly, Print Quality
  Looking at a photo print in isolation, we might very well be pleased with the result and this is where a large part of the problem lies - we never get the chance to make a sensible, unbiased comparison.
  
  It is difficult for a small scanned image such as these to truly represent what the paper original actually looks like. However, note that the Cyan block (in particular) in the two lower images is actually rather grey by comparison with the two upper images. Similarly, the Magenta blocks are duller in the bottom images and the Yellow blocks tend to be slightly stronger. Finally, the black blocks are distinctly less dense and take on a reddish hue. The result is that the two lower images are flatter, with lower contrast and tend to be darker, with a slightly increased Yellow content (incorrect colour balance).
  
  To a certain extent this may be purely academic because, at the end of the day, all four images are acceptable as photographic records of the subject. So, you may have to take my word for it that there is a difference and, making a choice between the four, the lower images are rejected.
  
  hp cb540a, cb540a

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">When we're printing, for many of us there may well be the thought in the back of our minds, "should I be saving money by buying third party inks?" We know what the printer manufacturers tell us about the need to use original supplies and, while many choose to stick rigidly with original inks, many others ignore their advice and take the third party route, filling our inkjet printers with third party inks. For some, the ink quality is an issue, for some it isn't.<br /><br />But, how many of us stop and think about the paper we are using?<br /><br />Because most office papers tend to be branded by a paper manufacturer rather than a printer manufacturer, and most of the office paper we use is probably not printer branded, it is very easy to forget that there are printer manufacturer branded papers to select as well. This approach can then easily translate to glossy photo papers and we assume that a glossy photo paper is a glossy photo paper and that's all there is to it.<br /><br />Well, I'd like to disagree with that premise and show you what to expect if you choose third party papers instead of original papers from the printer manufacturers - usually referred to as the OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer.<br /><br />In this article we will look specifically at photo papers rather than office plain papers.<br /><br />Used to produce these print samples just happens to be one of the Brother A3 series business inkjet MFCs. Now, Brother is not generally known for its photo printing and has not achieved household name status as a printer manufacturer in the way that others have - rather as a sewing machine manufacturer.<br /><br />This makes the choice of printer very fitting however. If we'd used a Hewlett-Packard, Epson or Canon printer, the obvious reaction would be, "this printer has been designed specifically to print photos, so the OEM supplies have had a lot of money thrown at them." But, Brother is frequently underestimated. Our testing has shown that photo print quality from a Brother printer is every bit as good as from other manufacturers and, for many people, preferable.<br /><br />Firstly, Print Quality<br />Looking at a photo print in isolation, we might very well be pleased with the result and this is where a large part of the problem lies - we never get the chance to make a sensible, unbiased comparison.<br /><br />It is difficult for a small scanned image such as these to truly represent what the paper original actually looks like. However, note that the Cyan block (in particular) in the two lower images is actually rather grey by comparison with the two upper images. Similarly, the Magenta blocks are duller in the bottom images and the Yellow blocks tend to be slightly stronger. Finally, the black blocks are distinctly less dense and take on a reddish hue. The result is that the two lower images are flatter, with lower contrast and tend to be darker, with a slightly increased Yellow content (incorrect colour balance).<br /><br />To a certain extent this may be purely academic because, at the end of the day, all four images are acceptable as photographic records of the subject. So, you may have to take my word for it that there is a difference and, making a choice between the four, the lower images are rejected.<br /><br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.officeoneplus.co.uk/hp-cb540a-remanufactured-muiltpack.html">hp cb540a</a>, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.officeoneplus.co.uk">cb540a</a></div>

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