Favorite printer for photos?

[PhreeZone 20]

Alright... with Xmas only a few weeks off and the family asking all the time what I want I'm thinking about getting a photo printer. I asked for a Digital Rebel but that did'nt go over well.

I've looked at printers like the Epson Stylus Photo 1280S, the Canon i960 Color Photo Printer, the HP PhotoSmart 7960 Color Printer and the printer of my dreams the Epson Stylus Photo 2200 Inkjet Printer.I doubt I can get the 2200, but any one have any experience with any of the other printers?

I'm looking for something I can take to the DZ and set up to do prints off of mine or others Digital Rebels and 10D's. 8*10 is the most common size we'll probally be printing on it but having 11*14 or larger printing is an option that I'd like for those killer shots, but its not a requirement. Clearly the ability to take abuse is going to play a factor and so is cost of ink in the long run.

Any opinions on any printers?

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[quade 4]

The Epson 2200 is, perhaps, overkill.

The Epson 1280 is my weapon of choice. Absolutely flawless prints up to 13x19 from a Canon D30/D60/10D/300D. It -does- require that you have an external computer.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[newshooter12 0]

I have been really happy with my Epson Stylus Photo 785EPX. Santa delivered it a couple years ago and i haven't complained since.I had a canon a while ago, but wasn't very pleased with it. Thinking about getting a calibration spider with software so i can set up the printers/monitors around here as well as some friends setups too.

-Edited to add: my favorite results with it have been on Matte paper, but it does well on glossy too...
matt

[quade 4]

Quote

-Edited to add: my favorite results with it have been on Matte paper, but it does well on glossy too...

Paper matters -- A LOT.

Some of the higher quality inks designed for the higher quality printers will -ONLY- work well on certain papers due to the chemistry.

If you use the Epson 1280, for instance, I recommend ONLY using the Epson inks and papers.

On other brands of printers, you might be able to experiment around with some 3rd party inks and papers, but with Epson printers, use Epson consumables.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[jdhill 0]

Epson 1280 is also my choice... I have tried other inks and paper and found that 3rd party ink tends to require much more cleaning... the Epson paper is great... looks and feels like the any other photo... other paper looks like you printed it at home.

J

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke

[blazetailman 0]

epson 1280
820
825

i JUST PURCHASED THE 835 ON SALE FOR $60. SWEET DEAL. It comes with $40 in ink and 2 picmia adapeters for direct print. good budget printer. Quality is the same as the 1280 but only prints to 8.5x 11

premium luster paper is my favorite. photo quality injet paper is good for test prints and shots for your portfolio.

and never buy anything but epson inks.

my 2 bits

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[groundrushpull 0]

I have had the Epson 2200 for about 2 months now and the main reason I went with the 2200 over the 1280 was the ink cartridge set up. It has 7 individual ink cartridges so when the light magenta runs out you are only replacing that color and not throwing away anything other than the empty cartridge.

If I understand the Epson 1280 it has a black cartridge and a color cartridge with all the color inks in one container. I guess if you run out of a particular color and have to change the cartridge you may be throwing away ink still in there from the other colors.

On the 2200 I will go through 3 or 4 light magenta to one magenta and 2 or 3 light cyan to 1 cyan and 2 light black to 1 black and so on.

The extra $250.00 hardware cost spent on the 2200 should be made up with ink savings over the life of the printer

I have roughly come up with a 1.1 cent per square cost for full color photo prints. 8x10=80 sq. x 1.1=$88 cents ink cost for the 8 x 10 print.

I bought the 2200 for $600.00 including shipping
Both models have excellent quality prints.

John Maggio

[fasterfaller 0]

As a pro photographer , printing is one of the things I enjoy the most . Currently I am doing 100% digital output through Fuji , Lambda , and Epson printers . I will try to put out some of my knowledge in digital printing for this topic . Even when I shoot film it is scanned and output on a digital printer .

For a lower cost printer I would go with the Epson 1280 . Print quality rivals that of the 2200 with a minor drawback of the ink cartridges . There are very high quality bulk ink systems for this machine from Media Street and a few other companies . Bulk ink systems add about $300 to the price of the printer but if you do a lot of printing it can pay for itself in as little as a month . From what I understand Media Street is a perfect match for the epson inks . I am using bulk inks on my Epson 1280 , 2200 , 7600 , and 9600 machines and have run gallons of each ink without any problems .

Now on to paper . Epson paper is good but there are other brands that are just as good . I feel that epson has the best semi-gloss paper out . If you can find Metagloss which was made for Gretag by Epson , you have found the best semi-gloss out there . For gloss I like Epson but also like Ilford . I think the best overall gloss paper is the Ilford smooth gloss and it works well with the ultra chrome ink . You can also buy Ilford smooth gloss at Sams club for $25 per hundred in Phoenix . Ilford classic gloss will NOT work with a Epson machine using ultra chrome inks as it does not have a swellable surface finish but it will work with dye inks like those used in the 1280 .

Hope this info helps .

[skydance1954 0]

I'm currently using a Canon i850, and it is an awesome machine. Quality is excellent, definitely a professional look, it's VERY quiet, and capable of borderless printing up to 8.5 X 11.

HOWEVER.......

The print cartridges are somewhat expensive, and if you print a lot of photos, you'll go through a lot of them. But that's probably true of any printer. The good news about the cartridges is that Canon uses the same type in many different models of their printer lines, so they should be around for a while.

Mike Ashley
D-18460
Canadian A-666

[freeflydrew 0]

Olympus P-400 Dye Sublimation

There is NO comparision to the quality of the dye sub printers...

(Except that you're limited to 8X10)

[XDV 0]

Anybody have tried the serie Canon I9100 or other 9000 models ?

[ParaShoot 0]

Anyone using the HP 9650 printer?

[fasterfaller 0]

Quote

Olympus P-400 Dye Sublimation

There is NO comparision to the quality of the dye sub printers...

(Except that you're limited to 8X10)

I love that printer , too bad they fade so quickly .

[skydivejersey 0]

I was looking at the canon i9100. Looks like a nice bit of kit.

[freeflydrew 0]

Quote

Quote

Olympus P-400 Dye Sublimation

There is NO comparision to the quality of the dye sub printers...

(Except that you're limited to 8X10)

I love that printer , too bad they fade so quickly .

Really? I haven't noticed that... maybe they fade when under the sun? I keep my prints in a book, and they all look great still, and it's been over a year for some.
hmmmmmmmm....

[fasterfaller 0]

Put the prints up on a wall where some uv will hit it without glass that protects from uv rays and see what happens .

[skydance1954 0]

That can also be true with professionally done prints as well. I've seen many a photo fade when exposed to the sun for long periods of time. Go to just about any DZ that has photos on the wall dating back to the 60s and 70s. Those pictures were not always that faded.

Mike Ashley
D-18460
Canadian A-666