Photo specific printers...?
Discussion
I'm looking to buy a dedicated photo printer (I have an everyday do-it-all model).
I would like to be able to produce high quality b&w as well as colour images on gloss paper. A3 will be large enough, although I'd probably look at something smaller if it was good. Wifi connectivity would be a plus. I don't need a preview screen, "print from camera" or a card reader. I guess I'm looking for something aimed specifically at photographers.
The Canon Pixma Pro-1 seems to be mentioned a lot, but it's at least 6 years old and (I think) doesn't offer wifi connectivity. The Pro-10S version might suit me better? I'm not sure if the difference between 10 and 12 inks is meaningful.
It's hard to find good info/reviews of niche products like these.
Thoughts/experiences welcomed. Thank you in advance.
I would like to be able to produce high quality b&w as well as colour images on gloss paper. A3 will be large enough, although I'd probably look at something smaller if it was good. Wifi connectivity would be a plus. I don't need a preview screen, "print from camera" or a card reader. I guess I'm looking for something aimed specifically at photographers.
The Canon Pixma Pro-1 seems to be mentioned a lot, but it's at least 6 years old and (I think) doesn't offer wifi connectivity. The Pro-10S version might suit me better? I'm not sure if the difference between 10 and 12 inks is meaningful.
It's hard to find good info/reviews of niche products like these.
Thoughts/experiences welcomed. Thank you in advance.
Craikeybaby said:
It is far cheaper and much less stress to send prints off to a lab for printing.
+1Unless there's a specific reason you need to get the prints immediately, better off sending them to a lab.
I got sick of firing up the printer to find the ink had yet again dried on the nozzles so needed half the cartridge to clear it.
Also it worked out more expensive, took more time, and didn't have the flexibility (e.g. had A4 printer, but on occasion may want A3 print).
Even using a relatively expensive lab like Loxley works out better value than the printer, ink, paper etc..
WindyCommon said:
It's hard to find good info/reviews of niche products like these.
Have you looked at the dpreview website:https://www.dpreview.com/products/printers
Craikeybaby said:
It is far cheaper and much less stress to send prints off to a lab for printing.
True ..... but it was easier and cheaper to send films off for D&P, and to get a lab to do any enlargements. It didn't stop people setting up darkrooms and doing their own D&P at home though.With the costs involved in setting up a Colour darkroom I never got to develop and print colour film at home, but I did have fun with B&W.
To me, and I get that I'm in the minority here, printing at home is no different than printing from film was .... it's part of Photography as a hobby.
There's something very satisfying watching a A3+ print appear out of the printer, it's very similar to the satisfaction that I used to get from printing B&W at home.
Certainly not a cost effective activity (now or then) but good fun.
sgrimshaw said:
Craikeybaby said:
It is far cheaper and much less stress to send prints off to a lab for printing.
True ..... but it was easier and cheaper to send films off for D&P, and to get a lab to do any enlargements. It didn't stop people setting up darkrooms and doing their own D&P at home though.With the costs involved in setting up a Colour darkroom I never got to develop and print colour film at home, but I did have fun with B&W.
To me, and I get that I'm in the minority here, printing at home is no different than printing from film was .... it's part of Photography as a hobby.
There's something very satisfying watching a A3+ print appear out of the printer, it's very similar to the satisfaction that I used to get from printing B&W at home.
Certainly not a cost effective activity (now or then) but good fun.
GetCarter said:
sgrimshaw said:
Craikeybaby said:
It is far cheaper and much less stress to send prints off to a lab for printing.
True ..... but it was easier and cheaper to send films off for D&P, and to get a lab to do any enlargements. It didn't stop people setting up darkrooms and doing their own D&P at home though.With the costs involved in setting up a Colour darkroom I never got to develop and print colour film at home, but I did have fun with B&W.
To me, and I get that I'm in the minority here, printing at home is no different than printing from film was .... it's part of Photography as a hobby.
There's something very satisfying watching a A3+ print appear out of the printer, it's very similar to the satisfaction that I used to get from printing B&W at home.
Certainly not a cost effective activity (now or then) but good fun.
paul.deitch said:
Not worth buying one unless you go for a dye sub printer and for 20 x 30 they are not cheap.
Have to disagree with this. If you are doing event photography and want to sell prints there and then, dye sub has a role but probably only up to about 9 or 10 inch prints.If you want the best colour prints then it's inkjet all the way. Top end inkjets from the last few years on good paper and properly set up produce stunning results.
The cheaper good printers cost an arm and a leg in ink per print, the more expensive printers cost less in ink per print but when all the high capacity cartridges need replaced it is seriously painful.
sgrimshaw said:
True ..... but it was easier and cheaper to send films off for D&P, and to get a lab to do any enlargements. It didn't stop people setting up darkrooms and doing their own D&P at home though.
To me, and I get that I'm in the minority here, printing at home is no different than printing from film was .... it's part of Photography as a hobby.
There's something very satisfying watching a A3+ print appear out of the printer, it's very similar to the satisfaction that I used to get from printing B&W at home.
Having done both I struggle to find much similarity between home b/w D/P, which is an art, and hitting 'Ctrl/P'. Sorry!To me, and I get that I'm in the minority here, printing at home is no different than printing from film was .... it's part of Photography as a hobby.
There's something very satisfying watching a A3+ print appear out of the printer, it's very similar to the satisfaction that I used to get from printing B&W at home.
I do have a top tip for printers. I had an Epson colour photo printer that just stopped working, for no reason whatsoever. No amount of re-installing, lead changing, or swearing worked. So I threw it out of a second story window and left it out all night. The next morning (for a laugh and a bet), I bought it in, plugged it in, and bugger me... it worked.
Top tip. Just let them know who's boss.
Top tip. Just let them know who's boss.
Went through this a couple of years ago. Artist/photog chum wanted 30 x A3+ framed colour prints for an exhibition, plus 50 'unframed limited editions' for sale.
Checked on 'printerknowledge', asked all the gurus, got nowhere except buy a £500 pro model. I'd used Canon FINE Pixmas before, they have removable, washable and replaceable heads. So we bought 2 x IX6850 A3+ printers at £150 each, (they have wifi and ethernet), loaded one with Canon Chromalife ink at £50 a set, and the other with Chinese refills at £15 for four sets, for proofing crops.
Print quality is very good to the point of stunning. Grayscales are excellent.
We used Lightroom for final tweaks and exact crops for mounts, printed at A3+ on Ilford Pearl paper at £silly a sheet, with ChromaLife inks and framed them. Sold all the prints, so artist bought the second printer off me, I still have the original.
Since used the IX6850 for a run of 20x16 B/Ws for a 'famous photog'; it dragged more detail out of his neg scans than he'd ever seen from ancient 300Dpi scans.
A3+ means you can physically crop the print down to fit a pre-cut mat in a frame, or use full bleed for large borderless block mounts or surface mounting. Very useful.
Incidentally we found using the default 'greyscale' setting in the driver produced much better results than anything we did in LightRoom, so used that for all the B&W prints.
Re: ink, if you do buy a Canon something, they use more ink than is reasonable to re-prime at startup. So I use mine for batch printing, even if means leaving it switched on for a couple of days at a time. I've just fired it up after four months of non-use, and there are no blockages.
So I haven't had a problem with Pixma printers drying up, but they are heavy on ink priming and waste ink. The Chinese refills don't seem to cause any problems except:
I have two identical prints on the wall, framed under acrylic. The ChromaLife print hasn't faded, the Chinese ink one is starting to look like its 20 years old, after 2.
YMMV. Very good at the price if you can afford the ChromaLife. Or you spend three times that for a Pro.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-PIXMA-iX6850-Office...
Checked on 'printerknowledge', asked all the gurus, got nowhere except buy a £500 pro model. I'd used Canon FINE Pixmas before, they have removable, washable and replaceable heads. So we bought 2 x IX6850 A3+ printers at £150 each, (they have wifi and ethernet), loaded one with Canon Chromalife ink at £50 a set, and the other with Chinese refills at £15 for four sets, for proofing crops.
Print quality is very good to the point of stunning. Grayscales are excellent.
We used Lightroom for final tweaks and exact crops for mounts, printed at A3+ on Ilford Pearl paper at £silly a sheet, with ChromaLife inks and framed them. Sold all the prints, so artist bought the second printer off me, I still have the original.
Since used the IX6850 for a run of 20x16 B/Ws for a 'famous photog'; it dragged more detail out of his neg scans than he'd ever seen from ancient 300Dpi scans.
A3+ means you can physically crop the print down to fit a pre-cut mat in a frame, or use full bleed for large borderless block mounts or surface mounting. Very useful.
Incidentally we found using the default 'greyscale' setting in the driver produced much better results than anything we did in LightRoom, so used that for all the B&W prints.
Re: ink, if you do buy a Canon something, they use more ink than is reasonable to re-prime at startup. So I use mine for batch printing, even if means leaving it switched on for a couple of days at a time. I've just fired it up after four months of non-use, and there are no blockages.
So I haven't had a problem with Pixma printers drying up, but they are heavy on ink priming and waste ink. The Chinese refills don't seem to cause any problems except:
I have two identical prints on the wall, framed under acrylic. The ChromaLife print hasn't faded, the Chinese ink one is starting to look like its 20 years old, after 2.
YMMV. Very good at the price if you can afford the ChromaLife. Or you spend three times that for a Pro.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-PIXMA-iX6850-Office...
Edited by Slushbox on Saturday 14th January 12:31
GetCarter said:
I do have a top tip for printers. I had an Epson colour photo printer that just stopped working, for no reason whatsoever. No amount of re-installing, lead changing, or swearing worked. So I threw it out of a second story window and left it out all night. The next morning (for a laugh and a bet), I bought it in, plugged it in, and bugger me... it worked.
Top tip. Just let them know who's boss.
BTW... no surprise that the next time I log into PH... Epson photo printer is the banner ad.Top tip. Just let them know who's boss.
Big Bot Brother.
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