Photo printer suggestions, please!

[sothoth]

My wife and I want to buy a photo printer for my mother-in-law. As a first time grandmother as of about a year ago, she's finally realizing that a crummy camera isn't going to cut it, so we got her a decent point and shoot digital. Now she'd like to print the photos herself, which I think would be great.

I haven't looked at photo printers in many years. When I looked at them, they were very expensive, ink was expensive, paper was expensive, and to top off how expensive it all was, the quality was very poor.

Obviously a lot has changed.

Does anyone have specific experience with particular photo printers that you would be willing to share? We'd like to get one that does 4x6-ish up to 8x10-ish. Any particular ones you've loved or hated? Any general feedback on features we should look for? Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Alpha]

The Epson R series printers tend to be affordable and produce good results.

 

[Iron Flatline]

How savvy is grandma? Mine happens to be so savvy that she gets rid of red-eye in photoshop before she prints... others freak out when they see a computer.

See if you can go to a store, and really understand the user interface for each. Make sure it's coherent.

 

[sothoth]

Mine happens to be so savvy that she gets rid of red-eye in photoshop before she prints... others freak out when they see a computer.

She won't freak out, but the guy she lives with is one who thinks he's really technically savvy but isn't savvy at all. For example, he bought a digital camera but thinks you can only look at the pictures using the LCD on the back. Since he's not aware that you can put them on a computer, he just keeps buying memory cards and carries them around with him everywhere. At least when the memory cards were sufficiently expensive, he'd really curb how many photos he took to make sure he didn't waste money on ones that weren't really awesome.

Luckily, the mother in law isn't quite so bad. She can use a PC and she'd be able to figure out the interface no problem. I showed her how to use the digital camera properly and how to download pictures, and she bypasses her other half now.

I'll go look at the interfaces. After posting the question, my research seems to suggest quality isn't that variable anymore, that you're really paying for what features suit you the most. Well... and after you get it, you're paying for paper and ink of course, which is why some of the printers are only $50, right? It's reminding me of the genius of polariod.

 

[deanimator]

Just don´t let her buy cheap ink...you´ll be running around there everytime the thing clogs up or starts producing odd colour changes.

 

[Zatodragon]

Well, i'd probably look at how important 8x10's at home are for her and how often she will be printing them. Because if she's only gonna be doinga 8x10 once every other week or less, i might stick with a pro-lab for those and get her a 4x6 specific printer. As for ease of use and cost, very simple. Usually you can buy the ink and paper in nice bundles. Lastly a few of them are portable like the epson's so she could take it with her to parties and get togethers.

Quality? They are good, compared to a fully fledge printer that can go up to 8x10? Well, there's a good handful that would perform better, but then your spending more money on the printer, ink and paper.

That's just my 2 cents.

 

[usayit]

I think it would be easier for them to send them to MPIX or similar. No worries about printer setup and maintenance.

 

[Lol999]

Get her an HP in any variant. Good results, no clogged print heads to have you running round every 5 minutes to deal with cries of "It won't print properly"