Good Photo Printers

[therustytracks]

Can anyone suggest a really nice printer that is within the price range of $250-350 that can print photos that are at least 8x10". I'd like to be able to print larger than that but I can settle for 8x10's as long as they're decent quality prints.

 

[usayit]

to be honest.. any photo printer in that range will probably leave most photographers disappointed.

My recommendation is to send your prints out to a good online printer. I personally like mpix.com

 

[keith204]

what do you want to print? I use the HP 7360 ($100) and HP 7460 ($150) for the race track. However, for portraits I send them off to the lab to get better results. Overall I am impressed with both printers though.

Maybe not your cup of joe...

 

[Big Mike]

I would certainly consider using a lab for your printing needs. There are several that offer pretty good quality at low prices. Costco usually has pretty good prints for dirt cheap. Maybe not professional quality, but better than Wal-mart or other cheap 1-hour photo places.

You should consider the costs involved with printing at home. First you have the printer, that's easy. Then you need to consider the ink. How much does it cost to replace all of the ink...and how many prints/pages can you get out of a set of ink cartridges? Some ink is used up for calibration and cleaning. Some printers require that you change the print heads every so often.

Then there is paper. Good quality paper makes a big difference. You can expect to pay around $1 for a sheet of high quality 8 1/2 x 11.

Still, having your own printer is very handy at times. A good 'photo' printer will have several different inks. The best ones have around 7 different inks or more...but 4 five or six would be pretty good.

 

[bango707]

I have a related question about printing. I recently got a Canon Pixma Pro9000 printer with my 5D. I would love to print pictures that I take but I don't know how often or how many I would end up printing. I don't know if I should keep the printer or sell it and go through an online site for prints. I do know that I would want the highest quality prints possible and I've heard mixed reviews about the Pro9000. Some people say that it is amazing while others have had some serious issues with it. I guess thats the same for pretty much any piece of equipment tho.
mpix.com would be about $1 per picture which seems a bit much. Is that price pretty standard?

sorry for the thread jack!

 

[usayit]

If you are looking for just 4x6 regular prints of family or something, mpix has a service for 19 cents each. That service is bare bones.. I've used it many times and the prints are pretty darn good assuming you've got good WB and exposure.

 

[Trenton Romulox]

I have a $200 HP Photo printer, the exact model escapes me and I can't go check right now. But, for color prints, 8x10, it does a decent job. Not really great with black and white, in fact, it's awful with black and white, I don't even bother printing black and white pictures. For black and whites, or colors I want done for framing, I get them done at the local photography shop. There are some really, really nice photo printers, but they can run you upwards of $700.