Posted by Dave Tucker on July 23, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Hi
Sorry, I am sure this question has been asked lots, however I am looking for a printer, to print good quality prints, would like to pay upto $500 or £300.00p. Idealy upto A4 size.
Any help or advice would be gratefully apprieciated
Dave
Posted by David Bostedo on July 23, 2008 at 12:02 PM
At that size and price level there are lots of choices. You could even move up to an A3 sized printer pretty easily at that price (in the US anyway). Unfortunately, I've looked at a lot of 13x19" models, but don't really know anything about the smaller models. Photo-I is a good resource, but I don't know how many smaller printers they review.
In general, the first thing you'd need to decide is ink type. Do you want dye ink or pigment ink? Dye inks tend to have less problems, are much more common in the cheaper realm, but won't last nearly as long as pigment prints. They are still pretty good longevity-wise for a lost of people. Pigment inks may have clogging problems, or bronzing problems in prints, but are "archival" and will outlast you.
Beyond that, most of the big manufacturers of photo printers have gotten very good with their higher end lines. For me personally, quality wasn't a big issue amongst Canon, HP, Epson (and maybe Kodak or a couple of others in the smaller printer realm). Cost and speed were more important, but ink choice was the most important factor.
If you are going to sell your prints to the public I would suggest a pigment ink printer. It is nice to assure the customers that you are offering the longest resistance to image deterioration available. The newer pigment printers have a lot less problems than the earlier ones, and in my experience are as problem free as dye ink models.
Posted by Bill Brennan on July 23, 2008 at 8:51 PM
I recently went through the same decision process...and was settling in on the Epson 2400 as my choice...possibly refurbished to keep investment lower...then the 2880 was announced and I decided on it...since I plan to use it for a few years and rationalized that over time the additional investment was worth it. I like the 2880 very much.
Thanks for the help, now looking very closley at the Epsom 2880.
Dave
Posted by David Bostedo on July 24, 2008 at 10:02 AM
If want pigment and you're willing to go up to 13x19, there are a few good choices :
Canon Pro 9500
Epson R1900
Epson R2880
HP B9180
HP B8850
As far as quality, I believe these are all terrific in quality, and you could probably be happy with any of them. For good detailed info, I'd check the reviews on Photo-I. I've seen pretty glowing reviews of the HP's, but I haven't used them (I have a Canon 9000 myself - the dye ink version of the 9500). Two nice things the HP B9180 has are a colorimeter built-in for calibrating itself (NOT profiling), and an ethernet card so you can hook it into a network. (I have a laptop and would love to be able to print from anywhere rather than carry my laptop to my printer.)
The one drawback a lot of people have with the Epson is that you have to switch between matte black and photo black if you're switching paper types - and that wastes some ink since it has to be purged from the lines and head before printing on new media. If you aren't going to be switching a lot, though, it's probably not a big deal.
Fast high quality printing - Canon Pro models. Good quality hardware - good print longevity. Both have user removable printheads that are comparatively cheap to replace. While Epsons offer many of the above advantages, not being able to change a print head is a deal-breaker for me. Paying a facility to replace a printhead in an Epson is often almost as expensive as replacing the printer, which I am sure pleases the Epson sales team.
While Epsons offer many of the above advantages, not being able to change a print head is a deal-breaker for me. Paying a facility to replace a printhead in an Epson is often almost as expensive as replacing the printer, which I am sure pleases the Epson sales team.
While this is true, I think Epson print heads are also rated to last the life of the printer - having to replace one is not expected. I think Canon's on the other hand are only rated for a certain amount of time. I've had no luck trying to figure out what that is online though. I wonder if my manual has it...
Discussion
8 repliesSorry, I am sure this question has been asked lots, however I am looking for a printer, to print good quality prints, would like to pay upto $500 or £300.00p. Idealy upto A4 size.
Any help or advice would be gratefully apprieciated
Dave
In general, the first thing you'd need to decide is ink type. Do you want dye ink or pigment ink? Dye inks tend to have less problems, are much more common in the cheaper realm, but won't last nearly as long as pigment prints. They are still pretty good longevity-wise for a lost of people. Pigment inks may have clogging problems, or bronzing problems in prints, but are "archival" and will outlast you.
Beyond that, most of the big manufacturers of photo printers have gotten very good with their higher end lines. For me personally, quality wasn't a big issue amongst Canon, HP, Epson (and maybe Kodak or a couple of others in the smaller printer realm). Cost and speed were more important, but ink choice was the most important factor.
Bill Brennan
Dave
Canon Pro 9500
Epson R1900
Epson R2880
HP B9180
HP B8850
As far as quality, I believe these are all terrific in quality, and you could probably be happy with any of them. For good detailed info, I'd check the reviews on Photo-I. I've seen pretty glowing reviews of the HP's, but I haven't used them (I have a Canon 9000 myself - the dye ink version of the 9500). Two nice things the HP B9180 has are a colorimeter built-in for calibrating itself (NOT profiling), and an ethernet card so you can hook it into a network. (I have a laptop and would love to be able to print from anywhere rather than carry my laptop to my printer.)
The one drawback a lot of people have with the Epson is that you have to switch between matte black and photo black if you're switching paper types - and that wastes some ink since it has to be purged from the lines and head before printing on new media. If you aren't going to be switching a lot, though, it's probably not a big deal.
While this is true, I think Epson print heads are also rated to last the life of the printer - having to replace one is not expected. I think Canon's on the other hand are only rated for a certain amount of time. I've had no luck trying to figure out what that is online though. I wonder if my manual has it...