A good printer

soundwavephoto · Dec 21, 2011

I am looking for a really nice printer for my studio and wanted to grab some suggestions from you guys. What do you think are a few good ones out there?

KmH · Dec 21, 2011

Good ones for a studio start at about $35,000.

What is your budget?

soundwavephoto · Dec 21, 2011

I've seen printers in the $3,000 or $4,000 range but nothing that high yet. My studio is on the smaller side and I don't think I'll need anything that expensive. My average work load is 5-6 print packages a week with let's say 20-30 prints per package with all different sizes. I'm currently using a local print shop but was curious if there are machines out there capable of printing studio quality images at a decent price.

thinkricky · Dec 21, 2011

Noob question. Why so much? Can't you get a decent in fact great photo printer for few hundred? Is it quality or speed? (Serious question... I really don't know)

mjhoward · Dec 21, 2011

^Both, as well as max print size.

Tony S · Dec 21, 2011

Unless you are printing on fine art papers where you really want to control your end product it makes more business sense to have the printing done at a lab. With what labs charge it is almost impossible to match the costs and time savings from a good quality lab. Inks and paper is not cheap, then there is the time spent printing. Ugggh. Too bad it's taken me two printers that now sit idle most of the time to figure this out.

But, since you asked, if you really feel the need to print yourself the Canon Pro9500 MKII makes fine prints up to 13x19. If you need to print up to a 16x20 Epsons Stylus Pro 3880 would work.

soundwavephoto · Dec 22, 2011

Thanks for the suggestions I'll look into those two printers.

mjhoward · Dec 22, 2011

If you're interested in more of the 'pro-sumer' type printer like the Canon Pro9500 MKII, B&H has them for $422 after mail in rebate. You may want to also look at the Pro9000 MKII. The 9500 uses Pigment based inks while the 9000 uses dye based inks. When I was looking into them, it seemed that the 9500 was more suitable for printing B&W and the 9000 was the better option for printing color.