Home printer

[DoubleAA]

Hi, me and my wife just got our new camera and we're excited about using it. We've been taking lots of pictures. Now we're thinking about purchasing a printer just for photos and we need some help! Now we don't mind spending the money for a quality printer but we don't wanna break the bank. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!!

 

[Trever1t]

Amazon.com: Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Inkjet Photo Printer (3295B002): Electronics

I found mine on Craigslist for $200 new.

 

[photocist]

Watch out for ink costs... Unless you plan to print every shot, just go to costco.

 

[Trever1t]

Ink is pricey and the Canon drinks it but the quality is awesome. I only print my favorites. Costco does a decent job from what I've seen but I like to do it myself.

 

[clanthar]

Watch out for ink costs... Unless you plan to print every shot, just go to costco.

2nd that -- the ink cost is the show stopper. You've got another concern: Long periods of idleness (weeks) will result in the ink drying and clogging the jets. This can be remedied with an automatic cleaning however that cleaning uses ink.

Canon is the most ink-cost effective right now. Your serious choices are Canon and Epson. HP is on the fringe of serious.

Don't be scared away if you want to do this, but do the research and know what's involved. Trever is right -- quality is awesome.

Joe

 

[FavillePhoto]

You can get a decent inkjet printer for $200 from Canon. But, as with all printers, the ink is the most expensive part.

 

[Ginu]

Honestly, just print at your local print shop while you do the shopping in the mall... faster, reliable and the best part you dont have to worry about ink drying up or running out, paper, cleaning the aggravation and so on.

I had two photo printers and best choice was to get rid of them and get a nice laser printer which I haven't had to change the toner or fiddle with it over the past two years...

 

[KmH]

For a quality photo printer that can print decent sized images plan on spending at least $1500 for the printer.

To make high quality prints you'll also need to calibrate your computer display, the printer, and use the ICC profiles for each paper type you print on.

If print quality and size is not a big issue, go cheap.

If good print quality, and a nice selection of paper sizes is what you want, I recommend using a good online consumer print lab, like www.Mpix.com.

 

[spacefuzz]

Amazon.com: Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Inkjet Photo Printer (3295B002): Electronics

I found mine on Craigslist for $200 new.

I have this printer and like the results (although mine wasnt that cheap). I get nice results up to 11x17 and enjoy having the freedom to color adjust and print out proofs myself. after crunching numbers it looked like printer at home saved me ~ 50% over printer at walgreens, costco etc when I was printing larger sizes.

 

[clanthar]

For a quality photo printer that can print decent sized images plan on spending at least $1500 for the printer.

To make high quality prints you'll also need to calibrate your computer display, the printer, and use the ICC profiles for each paper type you print on.

If print quality and size is not a big issue, go cheap.

If good print quality, and a nice selection of paper sizes is what you want, I recommend using a good online consumer print lab, like www.Mpix.com.

The Canon 9000mkII mentioned is around $400.00. It will print up to 13x19 inch images which is certainly decent sized.

Regardless of how you print you'll want to calibrate your display. A poor display would also negatively effect the quality of commercial prints you have made.

Downloading and using ICC paper profiles is easy enough to do, however if you stick with paper made by the printer manufacturer you can have excellent success without using control profiles.

The ink will still be expensive, but it may well be worth doing. If you do enough printing it will be cost effective. That's the key; if you buy a printer and only use it occasionally, it may not be worthwhile -- you'll have to decide that. It's certainly cost effective over a commercial lab if you use it enough. It certainly is for me.

A friend stopped over the other day with her 6 year old. I snapped a couple cute photos. I then picked one out and immediately printed a nice 8x10 for her to take home. There are advantages to having print capability on hand. Last week the Boss emailed me and asked if I could have a signed print in his office the next morning. He needed a last-minute gift for one of the campus retiring administrators -- no problem.

Joe

 

[Trever1t]

I just like doing it myself. It may not be more or less cost effective but that's not always a deciding factor in my world.

A large NY based photo outfit had some stupendous deal on Canon camera/Printer packages and a lot of the Canon printers are sold on Craigslist by these buyers to recoup some of that $ back on the camera purchase. I still see them listed occasionally.