Decent photo quality printers
Discussion
Thought I'd ask this here rather than in the general computers section, as I'm sure you guys have opinions on the following.
I'm thinking buying a decent photo quality printer. I'll probably keep my cheapo Canon for day to day 'text' print jobs, but want something that will produce good quality prints for framing, etc. A4 size should be fine, unless I can get A3 without spending silly money. I don't need it to do fax/scan/copy.
Have not set a budget yet, as I'd like to judge what sort of kit is available. It won't be megabucks though. Also needs to have readily available ink at not extortionate proces.
Any advice/suggestions, as I don't really know where to start.
I'm thinking buying a decent photo quality printer. I'll probably keep my cheapo Canon for day to day 'text' print jobs, but want something that will produce good quality prints for framing, etc. A4 size should be fine, unless I can get A3 without spending silly money. I don't need it to do fax/scan/copy.
Have not set a budget yet, as I'd like to judge what sort of kit is available. It won't be megabucks though. Also needs to have readily available ink at not extortionate proces.
Any advice/suggestions, as I don't really know where to start.
Some brief thoughts.
Affordable at A4 probably means using dye based rather than pigment inks. Most printers that claim a 'photo' capability will moe than likely be able to provide output that you would feel Ok to frame. List prices probably up to £200, around half that if you get a deal and there are usually some about.
A3 printers are large and you need space. Media is very expensive over A4 size comopared to the deals available up to A4. You might want one (I do) but do you need one? And can you afford to use it when you get it? They also start to get somewhat specialised in terms of perhaps needing to be left on rather than switched off and, possibly, somewhat expesnsive on ink usage when not even printing due to conditioning cycles keeping the heads clean. Some have concerns about ink wastage if you print both gloss and matt output since you have to swap the Black inks.
Other than compatible inks - take your chances with those, some may be OK, others less so - the idea of low cost inks has been pretty much non-existent for the last year to 18 months. You probably know that already. At one point tanks for my Canon were as low as £7-8 per cartridge. They leapt to £13-14, are now back to around £11-12 with one source I have found back to £10. Paper costs also vary hugely. I reckon an A4 print, one way or another, costs at least £1.25 per sheet used producing it, perhaps as much as £2.50. Also you will get head-cleaning waste (of ink) if you use it just for the odd print now and again. My printer uses 6 tanks, more recently they seem to be 5 tanks for the high end A4 printers in the Canon range. Not sure about Epson or HP.
You may be better advised to find a reliable local print service - it's certainly worth considering in my view.
However, if you do want to have your own printer check out the models available at the tope of the A4 printer ranges and then see what you can get from the refurb outlets on eBay. I picked up my Canon from the Canon Outlet some years ago for very little more than the cost of the set of inks that came with it. About half the retail price at the time. It has been fine - I have no clue as to why it was classed as a refurb.
Affordable at A4 probably means using dye based rather than pigment inks. Most printers that claim a 'photo' capability will moe than likely be able to provide output that you would feel Ok to frame. List prices probably up to £200, around half that if you get a deal and there are usually some about.
A3 printers are large and you need space. Media is very expensive over A4 size comopared to the deals available up to A4. You might want one (I do) but do you need one? And can you afford to use it when you get it? They also start to get somewhat specialised in terms of perhaps needing to be left on rather than switched off and, possibly, somewhat expesnsive on ink usage when not even printing due to conditioning cycles keeping the heads clean. Some have concerns about ink wastage if you print both gloss and matt output since you have to swap the Black inks.
Other than compatible inks - take your chances with those, some may be OK, others less so - the idea of low cost inks has been pretty much non-existent for the last year to 18 months. You probably know that already. At one point tanks for my Canon were as low as £7-8 per cartridge. They leapt to £13-14, are now back to around £11-12 with one source I have found back to £10. Paper costs also vary hugely. I reckon an A4 print, one way or another, costs at least £1.25 per sheet used producing it, perhaps as much as £2.50. Also you will get head-cleaning waste (of ink) if you use it just for the odd print now and again. My printer uses 6 tanks, more recently they seem to be 5 tanks for the high end A4 printers in the Canon range. Not sure about Epson or HP.
You may be better advised to find a reliable local print service - it's certainly worth considering in my view.
However, if you do want to have your own printer check out the models available at the tope of the A4 printer ranges and then see what you can get from the refurb outlets on eBay. I picked up my Canon from the Canon Outlet some years ago for very little more than the cost of the set of inks that came with it. About half the retail price at the time. It has been fine - I have no clue as to why it was classed as a refurb.
Edited by LongQ on Wednesday 28th April 12:13
Even though I have a posh A3 Epson photo printer, I use www.photobox.co.uk most of the time. It's cheaper (set of pukka inks and proper paper for my printer cost silly money), results are very slightly better, and I can get them in any size (up to 30" x 20").
Clincher though, is next day delivery (even to IV54).
Clincher though, is next day delivery (even to IV54).
GetCarter said:
Even though I have a posh A3 Epson photo printer, I use www.photobox.co.uk most of the time. It's cheaper (set of pukka inks and proper paper for my printer cost silly money), results are very slightly better, and I can get them in any size (up to 30" x 20").
Clincher though, is next day delivery (even to IV54).
Sounds like a no brainer then really. Spend money on other stuff, get photos delivered next day. Fair enough! Clincher though, is next day delivery (even to IV54).
mybrainhurts said:
The only way to keep up to date on stuff like this is to read reviews.
Yes.Ish.
Many reviewers seem to have come to the conclusion that, to all intents and purposes, print quality has pretty much plateaued for the hobbyist and self printing pro and the economics are much the same which ever way you turn.
I noticed that even at Focus on Imaging this year the endless rolls of outpur being strewn across the floor in ultrawide format prints seemed much less in evidence. I think everyone knows that superb results are possible - it's a question of how to achieve them at least cost. The large scale printers seem to have pinned that down quite well.
However, if anyone wanting to trawl through some reference material for educational could browse for hours at the Luminous Landscape web site or photo-i.co.uk or maybe northlight-images.co.uk if you are into black and white.
It's a sad thing to say but my mate has a fairly elderly Epson office printer running on compatible inks that, for most purposes, produces very adequate prinited output for people's photo albums and wouold probably be fine for A4 on the wall.
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