Home printing vs walmart and new lens for d40

hyg71886 · Jan 10, 2009

Hi everyone, I have had my d40 with kit lens since the summer and love it. I think I'm finally ready for a new lens, I was looking at the nikon 18-200mm as a all purpose lense but I find that I like taking pics up rather close. I am looking for something with a low fstop to freeze fast moving objects with a range of at least up to 70mm (higher if possible). I take alot of nature pics and will be getting into shooting people.

Also I am starting a photo album, and was looking into a printer. I will be using it for school as well as photos. I was looking at the EPSON Artisan 700 and Canon PIXMA MP620. I am open to suggestions. Also, will I be able to make better home prints then i could with the kodak machine at walmart? I shoot all pics in raw.

Mgw189 · Jan 10, 2009

I use Walmart for prints quite a bit. Mostly for my own use. Our Walmart has a 1 hour photo and can print up to 8x10's in one hour. The price is about $3 for an 8x10. The print quality is pretty good and is done on Fuji paper. If you have a Sams club and are a member there you can also have them do prints for you (I tried and wasnt as happy with them as I was Walmart) but they have the ability to do larger print sizes up to 20x30 I believe. Staples can also do larger poster size prints.

I have also used a site called Iprintfromhome.com and have had some great results. The print on Kodak papers including metalic paper which is some pretty cool stuff. It is more expensive but the quality is worth it.

hyg71886 · Jan 10, 2009

Mgw189 said:
I use Walmart for prints quite a bit. Mostly for my own use. Our Walmart has a 1 hour photo and can print up to 8x10's in one hour. The price is about $3 for an 8x10. The print quality is pretty good and is done on Fuji paper. If you have a Sams club and are a member there you can also have them do prints for you (I tried and wasnt as happy with them as I was Walmart) but they have the ability to do larger print sizes up to 20x30 I believe. Staples can also do larger poster size prints.

I have also used a site called Iprintfromhome.com and have had some great results. The print on Kodak papers including metalic paper which is some pretty cool stuff. It is more expensive but the quality is worth it.

I was actually refering not to the lab but the kodak machine you walk in and use. Does the lab do a better job? And can they do it off my sdhp card?

Mgw189 · Jan 10, 2009

hyg71886 said:
I was actually refering not to the lab but the kodak machine you walk in and use. Does the lab do a better job? And can they do it off my sdhp card?

Ahh that I dont know. I usually just send them from home(upload to their site) after I do some PP then go pick them up in an hour. If you are shooting with a dSLR you really should do some easy PP a little unsharp mask and saturation boost go a long way if nothing else. Most P&S cameras do that to the file through in camera processing. I dont know about the D40 but I know most people with dSLRs have to do some PP to really bring out the quality in their photos.

hyg71886 · Jan 10, 2009

any suggestions on a lense? I was thinking of just getting a walk around nikon lens 50mm f/1.4 and the 18-200mm and that i think would do me justice for awhile.

AlexColeman · Jan 10, 2009

An expensive option would be the 105 macro with the 16-85.

CAG76 · Jan 10, 2009

I have an Epson Stylus Photo RX595 which I bought last summer. I believe this model may be going out and new models coming in. I am absolutely in love with this printer and it prints photo quality FAST! And there are many others out there that are even faster. I paid around $129.99 for mine. It's an all in one too. Scan, print, copy, and it even prints on CD labels. The nice thing about it, is the lowest quality setting is photo superb photo quality and can print one full bleed edge 4 x 6 in literally 30 seconds. The higher settings are more saturated which is nicer, but the lowest settings, as I said before are just great! One full bleed 8.5 x 11 photo quality color print on Epson's Premium Glossy Photo paper will take one minute of not less.

I use Epson because I trust Epson, I believe Canon has good machines too. I also ove Epson's Premium Glossy Photo papers because they are really nice photographic papers that are finger print proof and water resistant. Yes I soaked a print just to be sure and sure enough when it dried it was back to normal. No smear of ink... besides these Epson printers use water resistant ink too.

Ok that's my sales pitch.

-Christopher

ANDS! · Jan 10, 2009

Canon PIXMA 9000 for 13x19 prints. HP D7360 (still going strong) for anything up to 8.5X11. Print at my leisure and if anything goes wrong, I know where the error came from.

As for your printer options, you get what you pay for. I would get a standalone photo printer if oyu are serious about self-printing, and a 30 buck document printer for everything else.

hyg71886 · Jan 10, 2009

AlexColeman said:
An expensive option would be the 105 macro with the 16-85.

Are you refering to the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 dc hsm? Will that be adequate for stopping fast moving subjects? I want be doing those type of shots but I want the capability. Is a f/1.4 lens worth the extra cash?

Christopher
Thanks for the input. I looked at the printer you mentioned, right now im leaning more towards the canon i listed

hyg71886 · Jan 10, 2009

AlexColeman said:
An expensive option would be the 105 macro with the 16-85.

Are you refering to the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 dc hsm? Will that be adequate for stopping fast moving subjects? I want be doing those type of shots but I want the capability. Is a f/1.4 lens worth the extra cash?

Christopher
Thanks for the input. I looked at the printer you mentioned, right now im leaning more towards the canon i listed

ANDS! · Jan 10, 2009

Stopping action has more to do with shutter speed than anything else. You also need to think of WHEN you will be doing all this action stoppingness. If its during the day, it is silly to look at F/Stop as, unless you live in a perpetually overcast and foggy area, available light will allow you to shot at 1/100 and faster speeds.

hyg71886 · Jan 10, 2009

ANDS! said:
Stopping action has more to do with shutter speed than anything else. You also need to think of WHEN you will be doing all this action stoppingness. If its during the day, it is silly to look at F/Stop as, unless you live in a perpetually overcast and foggy area, available light will allow you to shot at 1/100 and faster speeds.

wow, so with that being said i can get a lense with an fstop of 2.8 and be good? I've been taking pics for a few months but still learning new things about my cam and photography everyday. i was looking at the new nikon 50mm f1.4, whats the difference between this one and the old d version? I am more then likly getting this lense first with a external flash and some filters.

Mgw189 · Jan 10, 2009

What kind of budget do you have for the lenses? You already have the kit lens I would look for something to compliment that lens range. The 50mm is a good lens and inexpensive.

ANDS! · Jan 10, 2009

hyg71886 said:
wow, so with that being said i can get a lense with an fstop of 2.8 and be good? I've been taking pics for a few months but still learning new things about my cam and photography everyday. i was looking at the new nikon 50mm f1.4, whats the difference between this one and the old d version? I am more then likly getting this lense first with a external flash and some filters.

The AF-S will autofocus on your camera. The AF-D will not.

hyg71886 · Jan 10, 2009

Mgw189 said:
What kind of budget do you have for the lenses? You already have the kit lens I would look for something to compliment that lens range. The 50mm is a good lens and inexpensive.

i dnt want to spend over 600.00. So your saying get the 50mm f1.4?