Doing your own printing - please recommend

[Naturegirl]

If you can offer me some recommendations on a good printer/products, or if you can point me to a thread (or threads) that would provide me with some feedback on this.

Right now I take my card to a really awesome developer, but I'd like to be able to print some stuff at home, and I don't want something that'll print Walfart quality prints. I don't want to spend thousands of dollars, but I want something that will give me professional quality prints, something that will last me a few years.

Also, I don't do glossy.....so if you can recommend some quality matte (or other) paper.

I have a Nikon D80, and at the moment I have the worst laptop in the world, but I'm planning on getting a MAC (probably a macbook pro) in the near future (unless someone can give me some good reasons why an imac would be just as sufficient....I don't need mobility, I just need good processing/storage/memory, etc.).

Additionally, how much paper/ink do you go through per xx amount of pictures? I print out pretty much everything I do (too many "i lost all my pictures" horror stories), so I want it to be just as cost effective as going to the developer, but with the convenience of doing it at home.

I'm thinking as I type.....I'd like to have scanning abilities too, as I have a LOT of stuff from my film days that I'd like to be able to scan at a decent quality too.

Thank you, in advance. I know I don't often post, but I hope y'all will humor me anyway.

 

[Naturegirl]

:tappingfingers:

 

[Naturegirl]

All day, 33 views & no one has anything to say :tsk:

 

[usayit]

Big fan of the high end Epson's... Mine is the 2200 but it is no longer in production.

As for ink... I stick with Epson ink and prefer Ilford paper "Perl" or Epson Enhanced Matt.

As for scanners, you should either go with Nikon dedicated 9000 or 5000. If you need a bit more flexibilty (flatbed), the only one I have liked is the Epson V700 or V750.

Honestly, 99% of the consumer market would probably be happier leveraging a printing service like Mpix. Probably the reason why no responses.... and those that do probably haven't seen your thread yet.

 

[Bifurcator]

While you were tapping your fingers you could have done a search here and found MANY different threads on this same subject.

Canon and Epson are both good. The more ink cartridges the printer has the better and fuller gamut it will have. And also the more expensive the prints are. For example my Canon 5 cartridge printer does L2 prints at $0.18 ea. and the Canon 7 cartridge says it gets $0.26 per L2.

I'm using the canon MX850 and had the MP810 before that. Both 5 cart printers, both very fast, both had the same print head.

 

[photogincollege]

Another epson fan here. I like epson paper as well, though the matte isnt the best luster is awesome (not glossy, luster, there is a difference.) Ilford does make amazing paper as well. How much printing do you plan to do? If you plan to do a lot, ink will get VERY expensive, and then you might want to consider a bulk ink system, as its cheaper in the long run. The epson r2880 is the printer I believe we have at the college lab, and its absolutely stunnning, but it is a bit pricey at around 750 bucks. If you dont mind used you can find printers such as the 2200 for a decent discount

 

[Naturegirl]

thank you for the responses. if i have some time this weekend, i'll try to do some searches myself.

most of what i've read to this point are for epson too.

 

[Early]

I don't do much digital printing because I find it boring as hell, but the little I did was on an Epson 850, which I replaced only because the ink was becoming obsolete. I never did a cost thing on it, but I wouldn't think of going with another brand.