Photo printer

[ukcatfan]

Check to see how expensive it is per page. That is where the true cost of a printer is. If you are just using it for photos, I suggest considering an outside service. They are just soooo cheap now that I cannot justify doing it myself. The quality and longevity of the print is going to be better with a print shop as well.

 

[Soupermom]

price was about .10/picture. The problem with ordering online is that we have dialup; due to where we live (in the country), that's all we have available right now. It takes FOREVER for me to upload photos. I'm talking 5 minutes/photo! Right now it might be best for me to print here at home. I'm very happy with my PictureMate, but it only does 4x6's and it's going on 5 years old. It's gotten lots of use.

 

[wenrob]

I had it for a day. I went and bought it on glowing reviews and the prints were just awful. Now maybe I got a bad one, I don't know, but the cheaper ink was not worth it to me. I took it back and got an HP (which I had before). I'm putting out more for ink but my prints are far more superior. I don't print large amounts of photos so the price is negligible to me and it's nice to have a really great print when I do print photos.

 

[mhutchinson]

I bought this on the infomercial hype last Christmas (along with a fantastic price $99 for the 5300 with an extra set of ink and free shipping) to replace a very costly laser printer...which ironically was almost $99 for the cart.

I have had no issues with print quality or speed. For the price of this printer I think it does a really good job. The scanner is not quite as good as my canoscan and the 4X6 photo prints are almost as good as my Epson. I mostly bought it for documents, which it does a pretty good job of printing..they are clean and crisp...I like the reverse collation feature for multi page docs as well. The printer itself is not very loud so it doesn't bother me when printing of a multi page document.

Any cons would be that I really don't see that I am getting the amount of pages per ink cartridge that they advertise...but I am sure that real life usage vs the testing to obtain the stats greatly differ. If I were to bet, I would guess they just keep printing out pages until the ink is gone and then count up what came out...no head clearing required. Then again the ink is cheaper than the others on the market. Also the duplexer attachment is fairly expensive compared to the price of the printer (@$80).

Overall I am happy I went this route and tossed the laser away..plus this is about as fast for printing.

Michael

 

[PhotobearSam]

I bought a $300 printer/scanner so I could print some pics from our last trip. Well I only printed about 15 prints and placed them up on my fridge with magnets...well then the summer got busy, and come fall I noticed that the prints are so badly faded that they only have about one fourth the density they had when printed but anything underneath the magnet is still ok...


What on earth could cause that? I only used the HP inks and HP premium photo paper. It`s expensive stuff so I am a little pissed that they are useless. I was hoping for at least 3/4 of the quality of a lab print, I got about 1/10 the quality. They looked really good when first printed so it`s really frustrating.

 

[YesDear]

My only thought is that being near the fridge and the change in temperature. Sun can also do it. Is it near a sink that may get moisture? I have some printed pictures on my fridge, but the are in frames with covers.

 

[DizGeek]

With home printing, you must put the photo under glass....they fade big time...as you found out.

 

[klmall]

As much as I want to believe everything good written about printing photos at home, I rarely do so anymore, especially for prints displayed in sunlight unprotected.

Most prints I want to last for any time I have printed commercially. I watch for specials at Walgreen etc. I consider my home printer as a "temporary" printer.

 

[AndrewWG]

I have the same problems with my HP printer. I am not sure it is HP exclusive though so I'm not too free to bash them just yet. The first print I did, I put under glass in a frame and it still looks great so maybe there is something to that. Others that I have printed fade big time until you cannot see a thing. This is with HP ink and premium paper too.

I feel your pain.

 

[jann1033]

I have the same problems with my HP printer. I am not sure it is HP exclusive though so I'm not too free to bash them just yet. The first print I did, I put under glass in a frame and it still looks great so maybe there is something to that. Others that I have printed fade big time until you cannot see a thing. This is with HP ink and premium paper too.

I feel your pain.

so much for the viera( sp) ink that is supposed to last for a hundred yrs or whatever.

just wondering if you used photo ink or normal ink. i don't print much out but the couple i i have, haven't noticed fading, but i usually manage to get them wet somehow so the ink just melts off.

 

[PhotobearSam]

Photo Inl here at $80 a pack...I wonder if they need to be under glass or would a photo Album work too...

 

[MICKEY88]

all photos will fade if exposed to direct sunlight,even if under glass unless it is UV protective glass, higher priced frames usually have this glass.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Yup, had the same problem. Plus the ink is really expensive. I don't even bother with it anymore.

 

[Twigs]

As said above it sounds like an exposed photo problem. I have an hp photo printer that I have had at least 6 years, and photos that I printed back then that are in albums are fine. I use regular ink and kodak paper.

 

[sherry7]

I don't print at home anymore. If you add up the cost of the photo paper and the ink, it's much cheaper to print at Walmart, Adorama, etc...and the quality is superior.

I do have some prints from my older Epson printer that are still in great condition after several years, but they've been in albums for the whole time.

 

[NHMickey]

I have a hp photosmart c3140and I like it but want to get a printer that prints a better print and larger prints. Any suggestions would be great...

 

[tiggr33]

Hi Nat,
What size image are you looking to print? And are you looking for a dedicated printer, or a multifunction machine?
Stacey

 

[NHMickey]

Hi Stacey,

I would like a dedicated one. Also I would like to be able to do a little larger than 8x10 and be able to print a larger panaoramic.

 

[tiggr33]

Nat,
I'm partial to the Epson line. Take a look at the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 or the Stylus R1900. Both have current rebates, and B&H has free shipping (but the lower cost 1400 is out of stock). The R1900 can get expensive with ink. But if you have another printer as your day to day youd be fine.
Stacey

 

[NHMickey]

Will do and thank you...