Printing Digital

[Raydar]

I'm debating on buying a printer and have 0 knowledge of where start.
What are some good (cheap/medium priced) printers that can print high quality prints?
Paper? There's so many types of paper. I've noticed that gloss and matte r the most common.
Aspect ratio? I seen in light room you can make your own custom template to print, but will i be able to keep the original aspect ratio of the picture?

 

[Joves]

Well I have the Pixma Pro 9000 as my printer. Now I am not going to discourage you from printing your own photos, But one of the most important things about printing is that you are working with a calibrated monitor, and printer to get the best results. This is where people tend to have problems in getting prints that have the same color as they see on the monitor. Papers depend o subject matter to tell you the truth, and how you want to convey the image. I use the Satin. Pearl types more often, and the matte more so than the glossy. Then there are the metalics and canvases as well. I always print on what creates the effect I want for the photo, or who the intended recipient is as well. You can do common crops for aspect, or you can use the whole image on some machines, on some others not so.

 

[Tony S]

Printing is a pain in the @$$ and costly due to the price of inks. Unless you are looking to do some fine art printing on specialty papers I always suggest getting your prints done by a lab, it's easier to get the colors right. It is usually also more cost and time effective.

FWIW, I use a Canon Pro9500 with great results, but only use it for specialty printing... everything else comes from one of three labs I use for almost everything.

 

[Raydar]

Thanks. Where do u print Tony??
I dont live in a big city and honestly i was planning on going to walmart or staples to get my prints done... Idk if it's gonna be the quality i want.

 

[Tony S]

I use Millers Lab, the pro line division of Mpix for print packages and most canvas wraps (hard to get around the quality and ease of drop shipping so I don't have to resend items out). Simply Canvas and H&H color when they have specials going.

Lastly I use my closest Costco Photo lab for things I need printed and picked up today. But I have a good in with them since I worked to help them early on when they were converting to digital processing, they have had the same two lead techs for the last 13 years, and they know exactly how I like to have prints/crops/and cutting done. I even get calls to my cell when something does not look right to them. Converting everything over to their printer profiles gets me great results, so I can send in my prints online and by the time I get there they are ready to pick up. On some shoots I can shoot, process, get prints and have them to the customer in less than three hours. Sometimes that is a great benefit.

 

[KmH]

Showing a location in your profile is helpful. TPF has many members that aren't in the USA.

I also used Miller's, but I also used a number of other labs depending on the product I wanted - H&H Color, Bay Photo, Nations Lab, Short Run Posters.......