Photo printers?

[ex1z7]

So I've wanted to get a large format printer for a while now .. with $8 a print for 8x10, and as many 8x10's as I like to print / frame, and even larger formats would be nice, but the cost is pretty intense.. After a while, it starts adding up, and the inconvenience of having to go elsewhere for prints is a piss off..

So I'm wondering, in the ~1000 region - above or below - what's an excellent photo printer ? There are 3-5k + printers out there but I'm not that rich haha. .

I want to factor in the price of ink obviously, whichever uses ink I can obtain readily, and not uber expensive either .. I'm thinking of just being able to print, matt, and frame my work more often, and not have to go elsewhere to do it...

Something easy-ish to use, I don't need a scanner/printer, but it wouldn't hurt I guess..

The things I don't need/care about...
-LCD screen
-tons of buttons
-cords/power supply constraints
-card reader
-pict bridge connection
etc etc.. Gimmicks that don't generally mean anything, just offer slight convenience.

Things I DO care about..
-printing up to 13x19" at least
-high resolution (dpi? ppi? whatever)
-ease of replacement ink
-ease of maintaining printer
-ease of use
-obviously print quality is important..

Any idea's ?

=)

[Melinda]

Where the heck are you getting 8x10's for $8??? Go to costco, they have awesome quality 8x10 prints for $1.50.

Anyways, printers aren't cheap, no matter which way you slice it. It's been a while since I did a lot of research into specific printers because I haven't needed to (see my old thread about my new dining room table lol) but I work with several printers everyday and I'll just give you a few tips for when you go and buy.


- Most printers need to be used weekly or the print head will clog and dry out. It is very very hard to get this fixed once it happens, sometimes even impossible, and you will have to pay the money to get a new print head. Very $$$. You have to commit yourself to at least once a week doing some printing.

- A bulk ink system is the only way to go if you're looking for saving on ink costs! Believe it or not, printer companies do not make their money on the printers, they make it on the ink. It's brutally expensive no matter which brand you buy, but bulk ink systems save a bit cause it's just a re-fillable bottle hooked up to a tube, not a new cartridge every time you need one. We have one for our epson 9600 and it's great. It's not epson ink, which some people will say voids your warrenty, but our epson tech that we use doesn't care and honors our warrenty anyways.

- And another cost to consider is media. The good stuff adds up quickly. My 17x22 paper is $100 for 25 sheets. $4 a sheet isn't bad but you dont know how quickly that adds up if you're in the middle of a print and your printer starts to band. At a photo place, if that happens, you dont get charged. When it's now more paper and more ink coming out of your own pocket, you're starting to pay a lot more just for one print.

- There are soooo many brands out there, and when we were doing our research, it seemed Epson was the best idea for us. Ink and media are readily availiable everywhere (haha unless you're us who aren't using epson ink lol) We did a TON of research before deciding and then we went looking for who sold it. Turns out the camera store had it so we went there. We still took the time to look at everything else they carried incase there was something better, but in the end, we were still pretty set on the 9600 and they were very helpful in making all of that happen. We dealt with peter at the camera store, he really knew his shit!

- $1000 isn't a ton when you're talking pro quality printers, but if you're only looking for 13x19 it might be possible. If you're unsure of what you are looking for and don't want to do the research and reading ahead of time, I'd head out to the camera store and just ask them what they recommend. Vistek downtown also used to carry photo printers, they probably still do, I just haven't been there in a while, so you have a few options.

Good luck, let us know what you decide on!

[clem24]

Originally posted by Melinda
Where the heck are you getting 8x10's for $8??? Go to costco, they have awesome quality 8x10 prints for $1.50.

+1.

After adding up all the costs, it's just not worth it. My old Epson's ink was something like $30 for a color cart and then another $30 for a black cart. *GOOD* media is EXPENSIVE. Then, everytime before I print, I had to unclog the heads and calibrate, which took FOR FREAKIN' EVER and wasted sooooo much ink (though I hear Canon is better for this). I n any case, by my calculations, it was waaaay more than $2 to print 8x10 and even at 1440dpi (which is a waste of ink btw, stick with 720), the prints still didn't quite look as natural as the Costco prints.

Costco's largest size is 12x18 I think, and that is something rediculous like $2.99. You mention that you're using this for yourself. With that in mind, Costco should be more than good enough. Their printers are really good (i.e. real photo paper) and you can download ICC profiles for specific stores here:

http://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/Pro...rofiles.htm#CA

[ex1z7]

Costco sounds like an awesome place..


However I'm in Thunder Bay, my choices are as followed.

Black's (where I go, have a lot of people I know there, and they've always been awesome to me..)

Primary Foto (I hear their printing is amazing, and you get discounts in bulk - it's cheaper.. Have yet to go there, they're always closed when I have time )

Wal-mart (No thanks)

Future Shop (No thanks even more)

Either way, I paid just over $35 to have 2 8x10's printed in glossy, framed in 11x14 at Michaels, with a simple matt.

See, the thing is - I want the printer so I can print my own stuff when I want, how I want, including any sort've "risque" work I might do in the future - not something I'd feel too cool bringing to Black's or something ..

I'm going to check out Primary Foto, might do some comparisons and see what comes out on top and for the price as well.. Aside from that.. I found this, and it doesn't look too bad.. ?

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ufacture=Epson

Any idea's what I should look for when looking for a printer? like what kinda 'make or breaks' a good one..?

[svtlight]

If you are going to get one make sure it is a dye sub printer.. not these crap printers people are talking about like epsons

http://www.vistek.ca/details/details...ProPhotoDyeSub

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by svtlight
If you are going to get one make sure it is a dye sub printer.. not these crap printers people are talking about like epsons

http://www.vistek.ca/details/details...ProPhotoDyeSub

Did you just recommend a $3,500 printer to a guy with a $1,000 budget?

[ex1z7]

Originally posted by svtlight
If you are going to get one make sure it is a dye sub printer.. not these crap printers people are talking about like epsons

http://www.vistek.ca/details/details...ProPhotoDyeSub

You win..

[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by ex1z7
There are 3-5k + printers out there but I'm not that rich haha. .

Originally posted by BerserkerCatSplat
Did you just recommend a $3,500 printer to a guy with a $1,000 budget?

... That's all I can say...

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Ha guys, get a dyesub printer or you can kiss my as!!!

[Melinda]

Originally posted by BerserkerCatSplat


Did you just recommend a $3,500 printer to a guy with a $1,000 budget?

Yeah, Epson printers and all that other "crap" are absolute junk, capable of nothing good or worthwhile...didn't you know that?

Haha not only did he go $2,500 out of the budget, but he recommended one that can only do a max of 8x10 instead of the 13x19 he requested. Haha helpful

[svtlight]

I wasn't recommending a printer.. it was just a link to a random dye sub printer

[Melinda]

Originally posted by svtlight
I wasn't recommending a printer.. it was just a link to a random dye sub printer

Then the point of putting that in a thread where the OP was looking for printer recommendations was....?

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by svtlight
I wasn't recommending a printer.. it was just a link to a random dye sub printer

Hold on, I hear a beeping noise... yep, it's my bullshit detector going off!

[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by BerserkerCatSplat


Hold on, I hear a beeping noise... yep, it's my bullshit detector going off!

If you got time to play with your bullshit detector, you got time to come paintballing...

[turboMiata]

Printmaking isn't cheap but nothing really beats the convenience of making your own prints using your own paper. Most of the sub $1000 printers are very high quality and can do 13X19 but their achilles heel is the smaller ink cartridges. Take the Epson R1800 and R2400, fantastic printers with great colour gamut and fine black and whites (R2400 with K3 inks) but their small ink carts require constant changing and are more expensive in the long run.

If you can spend a little bit more than $1000, you are going to run into the Epson Stylus Pro 3800 territory. These guys can print from 4X6 to 17x22. The big advantage here is the 80ml ink carts, which is more than 4 times the size of the R2400 but alot cheaper. It also has an Ethernet port which allows for networked printing.

If you are going to be doing alot of printing, i'd suggest going with the 3800. If not, I'd suggest going with the new Epson R1900, which replaces the R1800. If you do decide on the 3800, check out B&H and if you use the coupon code posted on this forum, you can get it for about $1100.

I have an R1800 myself and had a lot of problems with ink clogs. I think it was because there was a defect with my capping seal on my print head. I was going to throw it out the window but Epson shipped me a replacement unit. The new printer was flawless and I experienced zero ink clogs since I received it.

Dye sublimation printers truly have a more vibrant image compared to pigment. However, tests have shown that they do not have as good archival properties. I personally feel pigment ink printers are superior because of this.

Remember also that paper plays an important part in the equation as well. As Melinda had stated, good quality paper ain't cheap. Even the 8.5X11 Epson Premium Glossy runs at about $45 bux for a deck of 50. For something special like the Museo Silver Rag or Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl, the price doubles or triples.

At the end of the day, I do not think you will be saving much money making your own prints at home. For the cost of a $1000 printer, you will have to make more than 120 8X10 prints to break even and this is not considering ink or paper costs.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I think it's important to really think if you can justify spending $1000 on a printer + ink and paper. I was going to buy a sweet printer (was looking at the Epson 3800 I think), but then after thinking about it for a bit, how often do I really make prints? I can only make so many prints before there isn't enough space any more. I could fill my house with 12X18's from Costco for way under $1000. I think if you are not going to be selling your work or have some other reason to constantly make prints, it is far more cost effective to just use Costco or another similar printing company. Also if your picture doesn't turn out how you wanted it to, you only wasted a few bucks. If there is nothing like Costco in your area, Smugmug offers very cheap printing as well, and shipping is fairly reasonable. The regular membership is $40/year. Everyone knows how much I like gear, and I don't even have a printer

[ex1z7]

I shoot a lot of cars for friends, as well as I get the random portrait of people that they/their family/significant others like enough to want a print of .. But they think it's a huge inconvenience to get it done, so people deny it. I get asked all the time if I print my own stuff and how much I charge and I just say I go elsewhere for it ..

After 150 prints, almost anything I buy will pay itself off, if I'm printing 2 or 3 prints of the same picture, one for archival, one for portfolio, and one for whatever - then a batch of 50 gets that done quickly..

Anything from other brands that's similar to a 3800 Epson? They look like they've got some beef to them, but I'd like to know the competition as well..

And again, there are only 2 places in town that do GOOD 8x10's and up, and they're 8+ dollars an 8x10.. It's just starting to get to me with how pricey it's getting, I'd rather break my bank for a few weeks, than repeatedly drain my wallet everytime I think I want something printed.