Yuck..been playing with my mom's new printer

[Spinning]

I was so excited and couldn't wait to play and see if I wanted one...it is an Epson Stylus CX6400 The prints aren't as sharp and seems grainy to me...I really had hoped it would print to the same or close quality as a "real" picture...Guess I will be uploading all of these digital pics to ofoto or snapfish!

[ToDisney]

I LOVE my HP7960!!! I have an 8x10 of the Tower of Terror I'm about to scrap and it's not grainy in the LEAST!!! It's not my first 8x10 I've printed on this printer and I love it!!

If I do say so myself... I think this picture looks professional!! ;)

[JudithM]

Spinning, have you checked the EPSON website for the latest drivers? We recently purchased a different EPSON printer. I was disappointed that the drivers that came with it were dated summer 2002 & when I went online the latest drivers were from last October.

Also, have you checked to be sure it is set for the highest resolution?

Does the printer work with whatever operating system your mom has?

[JudithM]

Spinning, have you checked the EPSON website for the latest drivers? We recently purchased a different EPSON printer. I was disappointed that the drivers that came with it were dated summer 2002 & when I went online the latest drivers were from last October.

Also, have you checked to be sure it is set for the highest resolution?

Does the printer work with whatever operating system your mom has?

[lisa_from_nj]

Just a possibility, maybe you are blowing up the pictures too large for them to be clear? Just make sure you have high enough resolution pictures for the size you are trying to print out.

Lisa:D

[paulinewdw]

My home pc has windows Me and Epson printers do not do well
with it. DH has xp and when he hooks the printer to his machine....picture perfect prints.

[chessie]

My last printer was an EPSON and I really liked it but I always had to use Epson photo paper or the photo looked awful. Even Kodak paper did a poor job.

[Fire14]

another way to get them printed is most walgreens, targets, sams club walmart can do 1 hour printing from dig camera media. this is how i do mine.

[Spinning]

Thanks for the info... I went to the store talked to the guy and bought another pack of paper. This time High gloss stuff the pictures look 100% better! So I am happier....I will print out the 5x7 pictures and then upload the rest to snap fish and order prints!

[JudithM]

Spinning, I am glad to read you were able to print better photos with the high gloss paper.

[Pammy jo]

I don't know Spinning, I have just never had luck with our printer. I finally figured out how to make them better last week, however they just don't have that crispness that real photos do. Guess I'm destined to continue taking my pics to Costco or Shutterfly.

[goofymom/pop]

Here are some of the quick fixes I have used

Make sure your printer is set to the Best setting, and photo quality paper.

Make sure you are taking digital pics you want to blow up on the Best resolution on your camera. It may be that you are using the lowest setting on the camera and therefore the print will be grainy when blown up. I always set it to the highest setting unless its for a pic for ebay or something.

I print all my own pics on my HP 2210 and love it!!!!! I have taken them to the local photo store and they don't do as good of a job as my printer does. I love it!!!

Paper is a big concern too....I use only the premium quality or better, mostly high gloss. I have blown up many pics, even for some contests!!!

I would take back the printer if I wasn't happy with it.

hope I helped a little
cindy

[Pammy jo]

The funny thing with my problem is that the larger I make the picture the better it comes out. So if I blew up a nose on it it would look clear as a bell. (But who wants to look up a nose!) So any ideas what else is going on? I'll keep trying different paper.

[goofymom/pop]

generally the larger the pix the more likely it will be blurry. Hmmmmmm......Maybe the megapixels of the camera and printer are not compatible....I wish I could help. I do have a 4 mega pixel camera by HP and a HP printer, maybe that helps me out as they are made to go together.

Try calling your printer company or emailing them with a trouble shooting idea, or your camera company. I have never heard of that problem before.

sorry I don't have any tips for that....:(

[safetymom]

Are you printing them at photo quality? What quality are the images? You should be getting real photo quality out of that printer.

Epson makes many types of paper for that printer. You will get the best results using the Epson paper. Ink and paper are designed to work together. The ink needs to soak in at a certain rate and if you are using someone another brand of paper it may not work correctly.

Also printing your own on many paper types will give you a longer archival life than store developed prints.