aaaargh my printer sucks or is it just me!

[John E.]

I have been trying to print 8 1/2 x 11's and I am having a 0% success rate.

I am using a cheapo lexmark printer z705 using kodac's glossy paper. 4800 x 1200 dpi on photographic paper, thats what is says on the box

The colors are different than monitor
I am getting banded coloring

My monitor I believe is properly calibrated.
The test page for printer looked good.

Is it better to print from photoshop or does it matter?
Is the quality from labs good from a digital image or the same as a home printer?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[LizM]

I have TONS better luck getting my digitals printed by a lab. I use one of the local Wal-Marts for stuff up to 8x10 and a local professional lab for stuff over that and mounted canvas stuff. Just take one image to several close Wal-Marts and see which one does best and stick with them. Its only like 29 cents per 4x6 and $2.49 for an 8x10.

 

[mrsid99]

I gotta believe it's the printer.
I can print 8 1/2 x 11's with my Canon S900 and you can't tell the difference from a store print.

 

[Digital Matt]

It's a cheap printer. Labs that print digital photos use printers that cost as much as your car. You'll have much better luck that way, in the long run, it's not really more expensive.

 

[craig]

Labs definitely have the gear to print your photos well and it is fairly cost and definitely headache effective. Having a "lab" out your house is one of the beauties of digital photography. Your question opens a huge can of worms. Personally I print out of pshop. The problem and solution is the many variables. Generally if you have a newer printer you will be able to get good results. In traditional Adobe fashion it just takes some time.

More details are necessary for this little ditty.

 

[John E.]

Thanks for the input

I think I will give up on trying to print, as many have pointed it out the cost is almost equivelent, and surely with cost of the labs equipment there has to be better reproduction.

My only problem now it that the nearest lab that can print a digital image is a 4hr drive away, maybe one will accept paypal or I will save many pictures to get printed at one time.

 

[Daniel]

Not sure where you are living, but even here in Ireland we have online print service companies. You just transmit your images over the web to them and they send you the prints within a few days home per post. It's even cheaper here than bringing them to the store, the quality is very good.

 

[SWFLA1]

Cruzin' -

If there is a Ritz or Wolf Camera somewhere close to you (actually, even if there's not) you can send them your file via email or upload and they will have your prints delivered right to your door.... Photo Labs equipment is far superior to everyday home printers and produce much better prints.

Good Luck!

 

[Digital Matt]

You can get decent prints from the Kodak print stations or Fuji ones that you can find in almost every Walgreens or CVS pharmacy. You bring in your images on cd in jpg format and print them right there, in about 5-10 minutes. We have one of the same kodak printers at work that is in those machines, and it prints beautiful images up to 8x12 I think.

 

[Corry]

Yeah, Walgreens, 29 cents for a 8x10, 1.99 for 5x7, and either 3.49 or 3.99 for an 8x10 (can't remember). It's really easy to use, and doesn't take long to get your pictures back. I don't work at CVS, though, so I can't vouch for them!

 

[Digital Matt]

$0.29 for a 4x6

 

[Corry]

Oops, yeah, that's what I meant!!! But it goes on sale sometimes and if you print more than 50 it's only 20 cents a print!

 

[hobbes28]

I just went through this battle with myself a while ago. I ended up buying a canon i860 printer for around $150 and use the photo paper pro. For the 4x6s it is about the same price as going to the CVS or ritz but if you print an 8x10, it comes out to around 80 cents a print which is around a tenth of the cost. I love the quality this printer has. They're cheaper now...... Just a thought.

 

[Brently]

My Brother all in one printer is crap, i tried printing on glossy paper and there are lines all over and looking close you can see the drops of different color, the color is wrong and at the end of the page a bunch of ink is splattered all over. I hate my printer.

 

[BernieSC]

I have mentioned labs using the Fuji Frontier that is a digital laser imaging printer which means it combines traditional printing but using a laser optic to expose the image on to the paper. And it can print negs or print digital files so you might look for a lab that uses that equipment. I am not pluggin fuji though, noristu and agfa have simular printers.