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Wich photo printer??

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Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Nov 17, 2000
Messages
6,004
Im looking for a printer that will do like a 4x6 photos. It will be hooked to my computer and I dont really care about having a ton of features as long as it prints clear photos. Im trying to go as cheap as possible but I dont want to buy a piece of crap either. Thanks for any advice.
 
i haven't ever had any problems with HP printers... i would say get whatever you can for $70 - 80 at the time and it should suit you well..

just get a full size one so you can print normal stuff too.. i think photo size printers are worthless.
 
Stills surprises me people post certain answer, despite what most graphics industry analysts say. *Sighs*

Anyway, if you care about the output quality, HP and Epson are head and shoulders above the rest. I wouldn't buy a Canon or a Lexmark unless you enjoy having equipment break down, or you enjoy inferior output.
 
As far as quality, I know 4 graphic artists and all four use 6 color Epson printers. That may be as much tradition as technology. They have been using Epson for years and are comfortable with their product line.

I strongly recommend you go to a brick and mortar retailer, and look at samples on good paper, not the cheap crap they typically use. You may need to bring your own photo paper.

Pay particular attention to light shades and flesh tones, those are colors very difficult to reproduce without noticeable dithering. Are your thinking of keeping the photo's for years, scrapbook and such? If so, be sure you can use archival inks that are acid free.

Here is a good link.
PC Magazine Comparison Article

For a more digital photography related viewpoint, try Steve's Digicams or Digital Photography Now

Steves Digicams thinks very highly of the recent Canon's. He replaced his Epson with a Canon S9000. I have read some people don't like the vertical banding on the bubblejets. Check out the print samples to see if you notice.
 
Originally posted by pbj75
As far as quality, I know 4 graphic artists and all four use 6 color Epson printers.
Click to expand...

Those do put out some awesome looking prints.
 
Originally posted by djnes
Stills surprises me people post certain answer, despite what most graphics industry analysts say. *Sighs*

Anyway, if you care about the output quality, HP and Epson are head and shoulders above the rest. I wouldn't buy a Canon or a Lexmark unless you enjoy having equipment break down, or you enjoy inferior output.
Click to expand...

You know, I've had all kinds of trouble with HP inkjets (the laserjets are another breed entirely, of course), just to show how much andecotal evidence is worth :D

I say you should look at a few reviews, like the ones posted above, and then take a long look at the price per page. Nothing like strongly enforced monopolies (who was it that put chips into their cartridges to avoid refills and 3rd party produced ones?) to drive prices sky high.
I like the canon one cartridge per color system in this regard. You only pay for ink (there's more technology in the printer), and only the color you've used up.
That this makes the reliability of the parts you don't change much more important is of course a side effect.
 
Originally posted by djnes
Stills surprises me people post certain answer, despite what most graphics industry analysts say. *Sighs*

Anyway, if you care about the output quality, HP and Epson are head and shoulders above the rest. I wouldn't buy a Canon or a Lexmark unless you enjoy having equipment break down, or you enjoy inferior output.
Click to expand...

interesting. The HP (inkjets) and epsons I've known have been nothing but trouble. My fmaily owned two HP inkjets and they weren't worth crap. Horrible streaking even with new cartridges, etc. My roomates Epson is spewing blank pages every time he prints. The photo prints that he had came out looking horrible. He's had nothing but trouble with it. Granted on the rare occasion it works it prints amazingly but its not worth the hassle.

My little Canon i850 is humming along great. Prints great pictures and does text incredibly fast. I'd definetly reccomend the i860
 
Everyone has a bad story about some company. You have to go buy the masses, not individuals. If I stood up here saying Lexmarks where the best, there'd be quite a few people saying no they aren't, etc. Anytime on these forums, someone points out the best of something, others are quick to disagree. I'm basing mine on facts. I get to speak to many industry analysts on various projects I do, and I also get to speak to reps from many many hardware and software companies. I'll take the analysts' word against a few anecdotal accounts any day of the week. Canon printers are horrible when put up against HP and Epson, using the same paper. You can go into any store and find this out for yourself. Canon and Lexmark printers use very shitty drive motors and belts inside. I speak to an insider at Dell who said they seriously regret going away from HP and Epson printers in favor of rebadging Lexmarks. The quality has suffered greatly, and the percentage of returns has risen. Dell also considered Canon, and quickly dropped them as a contender due to inferior products.
 
Originally posted by djnes
Everyone has a bad story about some company. You have to go buy the masses, not individuals. If I stood up here saying Lexmarks where the best, there'd be quite a few people saying no they aren't, etc. Anytime on these forums, someone points out the best of something, others are quick to disagree. I'm basing mine on facts. I get to speak to many industry analysts on various projects I do, and I also get to speak to reps from many many hardware and software companies. I'll take the analysts' word against a few anecdotal accounts any day of the week. Canon printers are horrible when put up against HP and Epson, using the same paper. You can go into any store and find this out for yourself. Canon and Lexmark printers use very shitty drive motors and belts inside. I speak to an insider at Dell who said they seriously regret going away from HP and Epson printers in favor of rebadging Lexmarks. The quality has suffered greatly, and the percentage of returns has risen. Dell also considered Canon, and quickly dropped them as a contender due to inferior products.
Click to expand...

You know, I happen to trust hardware reviewers to people on message boards claiming their expertise. And in this case, you come out on the wrong side.
(And yes damnit, I've dealt with a lot of printers, users of printers, and some professional photographers. It's still only andecotal evidence, and I won't claim that it's neccesarily right, but it agrees with me, not you.)

Though I agree that rebranding lexmarks can't be good :D
 
Well, alright, believe what you want. I'll continue trusting the people who's jobs it is to analyze, test and report on different products professionaly. It's good enough for major corporations to trust, so, it's good enough for regular consumers to follow as well.
 
Originally posted by djnes
Well, alright, believe what you want. I'll continue trusting the people who's jobs it is to analyze, test and report on different products professionaly. It's good enough for major corporations to trust, so, it's good enough for regular consumers to follow as well.
Click to expand...

A perfectly civil and acceptable solution for us both, then.
 
I can recommend the Epson stylus PHOTO R200. at $99 its simply awesome and it prints on cd's too !

twajetmech
 
The best photo printers I've seen were the Kodak dye sublimation printers, killer quality, but tend to be pricey. Epson and HP would be the best mainstream ones and easier on the wallet.
 
Two other thoughts. One quality related, one practical.

For good quality photo prints, you really want a 6 color printer. Those extra 2 colors (light cyan, light magenta) are key to good dither-free flesh tones and light areas.

Also, beware of printers that use a separate photo cartridge. I have run across that with some of the HP photo printers. You have to open the printer, pull out the black inkjet cartridge, and put in the special photo cartridge to get 6 color printing. I guess its not such a big deal, but with all the 6-color separate ink tank systems available, it seems like an unnecessary burden.

BTW, does anyone know what the shelf life is for those photo cartridges after they are opened? That would suck if those cartridges are only good for a couple of weeks after opening.
 
The HP 7960 has three places for your ink cartridges, 56black, 57tricolor, and 58photo so you don't need to switch things out when you want to change printing modes. Some HPs also support 59grayscale carts. so if you're going to be doing photos sans color, the results will be astounding.

If you do pull out a 56black and use the 58photo, HP has a little holder with a rubber cup to prevent the print head from drying. Now while this is obviously only a temp solution, I've had the photo cart in there for a month and a simple head cleaning brought it back to life.

The HP 5150 (last year's model) and the 5650 (this year's model with the 3 cart carriage) both have the same print quality as the 7960 and are $80 and $130 respectively.
 
I have an Epson Photo Stylus 925 that absolutely rocks! If you use High Quality photo paper you will be hard pressed to tell the difference, and the ink cartridges are only $20 to boot.


~N
 
Since dye sublimation printers were mentioned briefly, if you want the best of the best quality, Olympus has a model available that costs $399. It's capable of a 7MP full sheet borderless print that is simply perfect. The film refills are $40 and are good for 40 prints, and the special paper is $40 for 40 sheets, so each print ends up costing exactly $2 but it is worth it if that's what you are after.
 
I bought a Canon i860 a couple of months ago. I read reviews and user opinions on the net from various sources. I have been very happy with the printer, ink is reasonably priced and you would be hard pressed to tell a printed picture from a photolab one at a normal viewing distance. It can do borderless prints up to 8x10. Check this out at Zdnet for printer comparisons.

Editors Top Printers
 
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