Photo printer

[oliviansmom17]

I've just purchased a Nikon D80 and it's time to enjoy some of the pics I take with a good printer. Any recommendations? I currently have an Epson Stylus- just a C88- and I'm ready to move up....

 

[MarkBarbieri]

How big do you want to print?

How much do you intend to print (a few 4x6 a month, 100 poster size shots per month, etc)?

How important is print longevity? Must your prints last 100 years or is 10 years good enough?

Will you use a lot of different types of papers?

Do you intend to profile your monitor and printer?

Why not just print at your local store or order prints online? What do you hope to gain by printing yourself? Lower cost? More convenient? More control? Better quality? Faster turnaround?

 

[oliviansmom17]

How big do you want to print?

How much do you intend to print (a few 4x6 a month, 100 poster size shots per month, etc)?

How important is print longevity? Must your prints last 100 years or is 10 years good enough?

Will you use a lot of different types of papers?

Do you intend to profile your monitor and printer?

Why not just print at your local store or order prints online? What do you hope to gain by printing yourself? Lower cost? More convenient? More control? Better quality? Faster turnaround?

I will probably print quite often, print longevity is not tops on the list, but is relatively important, I will primarily use regular printer paper as this will also be my main printer and semi-gloss photopaper, and I tend to print off my own shots for immediate gratification ; ) as well as for gifts-last minute. I've used only one online photo service with mediocre results, so I've been turned-off. I should really get back on the horse again b/c it's seems more cost-effective.

 

[MICKEY88]

I will probably print quite often, print longevity is not tops on the list, but is relatively important, I will primarily use regular printer paper as this will also be my main printer and semi-gloss photopaper, and I tend to print off my own shots for immediate gratification ; ) as well as for gifts-last minute. I've used only one online photo service with mediocre results, so I've been turned-off. I should really get back on the horse again b/c it's seems more cost-effective.

which online servie if I may ask...

MPIX is a great printer....I use them for all my important stuff, and my local walmart actually does a great job also

I rarely use my photo printer at home anymore..

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I will probably print quite often, print longevity is not tops on the list, but is relatively important, I will primarily use regular printer paper as this will also be my main printer and semi-gloss photopaper, and I tend to print off my own shots for immediate gratification ; ) as well as for gifts-last minute. I've used only one online photo service with mediocre results, so I've been turned-off. I should really get back on the horse again b/c it's seems more cost-effective.

If you had rated extreme longevity high or use with a variety of papers and profiling, I'd have recommended going with Epson.

Given what you've said, I would say that any of the current dedicated photo printers should meet your needs fairly well. Just be aware that printing your own pictures is typically more expensive that printing at the local *mart.

If you plan to print a very high volume and want to keep costs down, you might look into third party ink systems. These systems allow you to buy much larger quantities of ink and then attach them via little hoses to your printer. I've got a friend who does that with his Epson and he loves it. I tried third party inks with my Canon and found that I could no longer get the colors to match my intentions.

 

[oliviansmom17]

which online servie if I may ask...

MPIX is a great printer....I use them for all my important stuff, and my local walmart actually does a great job also

I rarely use my photo printer at home anymore..

Kodak, oddly enough.

Thanks to all who responded- I appreciate your input...

 

[MICKEY88]

one word of caution on usng 3rd party inks, I've read several tests in photography magazines, and online, and there have been cases where, they have either clogged the print heads, or in one case the ink was so thin that it literally ran out the print heads overnight leaving behind a terrible mess..

in other cases, they simply cause poor color quality, or do not dry well with some papers....

 

[DueyDooDah]

If you had rated extreme longevity high or use with a variety of papers and profiling, I'd have recommended going with Epson...

Mark, at the risk of highjacking this thread, can you qualify this? I have been doing some research and have been seeing that Epson, although their quality is high, does not appear to have any better output than a comparable Canon or HP. And, the heads on the latest Epsons are built into the machine, so if something goes wrong, new cartridges won't help. Also, the print cost seems to be higher. Can hear your thoughts on this? I am also looking for a new printer and would like to ensure I'm not going down the wrong road.

 

[boBQuincy]

Epson printers in general do not print a better looking picture than Canon or HP but they do use pigment ink which has greater resistance to fading.

Many papers are not suitable for or do not work well with dye ink but they work very well with Epson printers. Many upscale papers have profiles for Epson printers, there are far fewer profiles for Canon and HP printers.

So why would anyone use dye ink? The gamut is larger in most cases, especially in printers that do not have a large number of ink colors.
Btw, not all Epson printers use pigment ink but most of their photo printers do afaik.

 

[oliviansmom17]

Epson printers in general do not print a better looking picture than Canon or HP but they do use pigment ink which has greater resistance to fading.

Many papers are not suitable for or do not work well with dye ink but they work very well with Epson printers. Many upscale papers have profiles for Epson printers, there are far fewer profiles for Canon and HP printers.

So why would anyone use dye ink? The gamut is larger in most cases, especially in printers that do not have a large number of ink colors.
Btw, not all Epson printers use pigment ink but most of their photo printers do afaik.

Great information...

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Epson printers in general do not print a better looking picture than Canon or HP but they do use pigment ink which has greater resistance to fading.

Many papers are not suitable for or do not work well with dye ink but they work very well with Epson printers. Many upscale papers have profiles for Epson printers, there are far fewer profiles for Canon and HP printers.

So why would anyone use dye ink? The gamut is larger in most cases, especially in printers that do not have a large number of ink colors.
Btw, not all Epson printers use pigment ink but most of their photo printers do afaik.

What he said.

I'd also add that, at least from anecdotal evidence, pigment ink printers are more likely to clog and waste more ink with head cleaning.

For your stated needs, I don't think that you need to worry about the distinction. Any of the better printers from Epson, Canon, or HP should be fine. It seems to me that I'm leaving out one other significant printer maker (and thus angering some brand loyalist), but that's all I can think of now.

 

[jann1033]

i've used mpix adorama shutterfly snapfish even walgreens and except for walgreens ( those were only soso but free ) never had a disappointing photo from any... imo #1 is..mpix... makes you feel like your photos were treated with care via their great packaging...and the metallic paper looks sooooo coool

I have an hp printer and basically never use it, it prints ok but not as good as the online printers

...adorama would be my second choice and both they and mpix were probably close to as fast as if i had to go get paper and ink and print in my self( like with in a few days of uploading they were in my hands)

 

[oliviansmom17]

Thank you for all the information- makes my life a lot easier. Too many choices and not enough time figure it all out! Again- thanks to everyone.

 

[boBQuincy]

I have used Shutterfly and MPix, both have been good and like Jan mentioned the metallic paper is really cool. Still, I can consistently get a better print at home *if* I want to invest the time and $$$.

Good paper and OEM ink is not cheap, plus I use monitor calibration and paper profiles. All in all it is a lot of work but the results are excellent. I am on my third Canon photo printer, now a Pixma Pro9000, and it can still do better than anything I can get from a lab.

 

[pjacobi]

Epson printers in general do not print a better looking picture than Canon or HP but they do use pigment ink which has greater resistance to fading.

There are Canon and HP printers that now use pigment inks.


-Paul

 

[Twingle]

So, what type of in home photo printer do you use? I'm in the process of purchasing a Canon PowerShot S5, and would love to know how you print at home (other than online services ie. Snapfish) Any information appreciated!

 

[CaptainNemo]

I'm very happy with my Epson R800
I also owned a Canon i950 that worked very well until the print head became so clogged it could not be fixed.
The Epson has been good so far. I can buy the ink at Office Depot.

 

[Twingle]

Thanks for taking the time to reply - I've not used any photo printers except for the Easy Share one that came with my Kodak, so I really appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[Furgus]

There is a discussion about this topic here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1711534

I own an Epson R1800, and I love it! I have only used Epsons, and I have never had a clogging issue that did not clean itself up in one cleaning. Maybe I am lucky but that is one of the biggest recordable problem Epson has.
I also have an Epson PictureMate I use for 4X6's.....well my wife uses that most of the time now for scrapbooking.

Good Luck

 

[DueyDooDah]

Well, I just received my first photos back from Snapfish (using the local Walgreen's pickup point, which is where the photos were really printed). After seeing the difference in quality between these photos and the ones I've printed, I may never print another photo. I got 3 4x6 prints for $0.57, a huge savings over printing myself. They were ready in an hour, less time than it takes to get satifactory prints myself. And the color was exactly a match for the files I sent them (which, unfortunately, I had overcorrected for because I heard that you needed to do that when printing). After my experience here, I will be using this method for printing my standard photo album images and using MPix for those wall-hangers. I will be using printers for things like letters and resumes.