Posted by Andrea Hadley on February 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
Okay, I've posted this a lot now, but this time I've gone on B&H Photo Video and have picked 5 of the decently priced printers that have at the very least 4 stars, now I am going to write them on here with the prices and let you all decide and state your opinions. This week I plan on purchasing a printer for my photo printing, finally.
First one:
1: CB051A#B1H Officejet 6000 Color Inkjet Network-Ready Printer
4 stars with 2 reviews at $53.95
2: iP3600 Pixma Inkjet Photo Printer- 5 stars with 5 reviews at $59.95
3: WorkForce 30 Color Inkjet Printer- 4 stars with 4 reviews at $68.19
4:iP4700 Pixma Inkjet Photo Printer- 4 and a half stars with 14 reviews at $89.95 (this one I'm looking hard at)
5: Photosmart D7560 Printer- 4 stars with 7 reviews at $82.19
6: Epson Artisan 50 Inkjet Printer- 5 stars with 13 reviews at $113.79
Okay I had a little more, but I decided to stop it there, I will be looking myself at the reviews and doing research.
I am going to throw a fly into the ointment and ask a question...
What are your goals for your printing? Is your ultimate goal to make the highest quality, wide gamut, long lasting prints with great blacks and excellent color?
If the answer is 'yes', then the products listed above, while inexpensive, will not satisfy that requirement. These printers are 'consumer grade-office/home office' printers and are not designed for 'professional quality' printing. Also, the inks for these printers are expensive, so their cost efficiency is questionable
My suggestion would be to save your pennies and purchase one of the 'fine art' quality printers from Epson, Canon, or HP. Yes, they will cost you bucks for a 13x19 printer, and the paper and inks are more expensive, but, if you want the best quality, and a printer that you can 'grow in to', you might want to rethink your options.
If your budget is such that a printer of the types listed above is the best you can do, then I would suggest either the iP4700 or the Epson Artisan. I have an Office Jet 6000 that will make an 'ok' color print, but it does not meet my need as a 'fine art' printer. I use my Epson R2400 for making fine prints.
I am sure others will have suggestions/comments, as well.
--P
Posted by Michael Elenko on February 17, 2010 at 5:38 PM
Hi Andrea,
I will second strongly Preseton's wise words here. These consumer-level printers are oriented towards outputting Excel charts and PowerPoint presentations. I have one of these dedicated to that kind of output and text.
For serious photographic printing you need a dedicated photo printer. It may take you some time to save up the $500-600 for hardware and paper, but the quality is worth it.
I've owned printers from Epson, HP, and Canon over the recent years and would recommend any and all. Just depends on your requirements.
Consider a self-assessment about what your photographic printing needs are: color or B&W, output size, frequency of printing, and available desktop and office real estate for printer placement and storage of paper.
ME
Posted by Andrea Hadley on February 17, 2010 at 6:43 PM
I competely agree, I have my first assignment this spring, I could save more than that now, but was planning on buying an even better printer after I was paid. But I will look at some more with the idea of 13X19 and higher price range.
I think I'm going to take a look at Best Buy also.
Posted by Keith Bauer on February 17, 2010 at 6:53 PM
I'll chime and and agree 100% with Preston's advice. For printing quality images, any of the printers you listed are simply not up to the task. Do you have a grasp on color management and have a color calibrated monitor? Do you have a color calibrated workflow? If not, spend some time and learn those components first, and save for a solid, quality printer. The two Epson's you've listed in your reply are getting closer but depending on your needs or goals, may still not make it. In the meantime, hook up with some local printing sources (Costco comes to mind) to get some decent prints out.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on February 17, 2010 at 7:52 PM
Assignment? Um, are these photos for pay or classroom work? In the former case, I think you would be better to go for a higher level printer now or look at third party printing options. While the listed printers are not bad, they are several levels below what would be really appropriate for paid work.
I know that does sound a like photo snobbery (and I suppose it is, a bit) but you really don't want to present a client with second rate prints, either in quality or longevity.
Posted by Andrea Hadley on February 17, 2010 at 8:50 PM
It is a paid assignment, I'll be doing outdoor portraits of people and their dogs at our City dog park, the Dog Park Group is hiring me for the fundraiser, I am a member and part of the fundraising team so I agreed to providing my services as photographer for a price.
Posted by David Bostedo on February 17, 2010 at 9:06 PM
Andrea - Have you considered outsourcing your prints? If you only occasionally print, a good pro style print shop or website can provide great results, with as little as a day or two turn around time for shipping. (And of course less for a local place.) If you want to print yourself, great - I do it and like doing it - but it's not the best answer for everyone.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on February 17, 2010 at 10:06 PM
Here are a couple of other considerations.
You are also considering the purchase of a higher end printer after being paid for the job. What you will essentially be doing, by going this route, is making your better second printer anywhere between $70 and $200 more expensive.
How did I arrive at that? First is the cost of the first printer itself. Realistically, that is money which you will never recover.
Second, check into the cost of inks. The less expensive printers can cost a fortune to run. I think I figured that my old Epson 1270 was running close to $3 a print. Granted, costs have come down a lot since then but the less expensive printers cost a lot more to operate. Look at the price of ink cartridges and try to research how many prints they make.
I know that once you do that for the two higher end models, those prices will be a bit scary as well but keep in mind that they are probably a lot cheaper per ml of ink. My the cartridges for my Epson 4000 run about $90 per ink and it requires 8 of them. Fortunately, they seem to run forever.
Another issue is the ability to use printer and paper profiles. I don't think the first set of printers will allow you to do this (verify this!). These make a huge difference in the quality of the output. I believe the second two, especially the 1900, do allow you to use profiles (again, verify).
Do you need portability of the printer, such as at event printing?
How many prints will you need for this event, and at what size? If money is really tight, you weren't anticipating the purchase of the higher printer until the end of the summer and you don't need too many prints, the first list of printers might make more sense. In this case, I'd still check out local or even on-line printers.
Also, what is the timetable between the event and when prints are needed? If you will need 150 8x10's by Monday from the event on Friday, don't even consider anything other than the second two printers.
Another possibiilty which might work will depend on how networked you are into the local photographic community. It might be possible to "rent" a better printer for the weekend. Hey Bob, could I run off 100 prints on your printer Sunday? I'll give you $90 for ink and I'll provide the paper! Seriously, if you go the self-print route, you'll still need to cover ink costs and paper anyway and you might be able to save a bit for a better printer without buying cheaper one first. What part of the country do you live in (southwest Ohio, for example, rather than a specific city will work)?
Posted by Mark Stahlke on February 17, 2010 at 10:23 PM
Dan Borzynski wrote:
What you will essentially be doing, by going this route, is making your better second printer anywhere between $70 and $200 more expensive.
This is an excellent point. Buying the cheap stuff only makes the good stuff that much more expensive. If I had a dollar for every time I "learned" that lesson....I wouldn't need to learn it.
Posted by Andrea Hadley on February 17, 2010 at 10:27 PM
I live in Evansville, IN and I'm more interested in being independent and having my own printer, but I will definitely check those online choices. I'm still doing a lot of research, but thank you all for your advice.
Posted by Michael Elenko on February 18, 2010 at 1:22 AM
Andrea, the Epson 1400 is a dye-based printer while the other one is pigment-based. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Generally, the colors rendered by dye-based printers are slightly more vibrant and intense. While both types of prints can be archival (+75 years let's say), your paper choices to achieve the level of archivability tends to be more numerous with pigment printers.
Do note that the Epson R1900 is considered a very good printer for color glossy output. It is not preferred for either matte or black and white output. You can obtain B&W output, but you have to really tweak away subtle color casting. Plus glossy B&W are more challenging to achieve unless one is using baryta papers. And the ink carts are on the small side, resulting in higher operating costs.
ME
Posted by Gene Lugo on February 18, 2010 at 6:54 AM
If you are providing a small number of prints - then it could make sense to buy a printer, but if you are going to provide 100s of prints, then a lab is the best alternative. An important part of getting a printer for production purposes is that you will need to somehow make certain that your image on screen is reflected in the final paper output - you will have to profile your display and your printer/paper/ink combination. Otherwise, you will be spending hours and $$$ on ink and paper trying to get it right. At the very least regardless of what you decide on a printing solution, you must profile your display.
With all that said, if you go the buy the printer route, take a look at the Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II. It produces stunning output, is quite fast, and should a head get clogged beyond repair, it is user replaceable. It has a very wide gamut and works well with Canon's own papers, as well as Moab's offerings. On the downside, it does drink ink on rag papers, because it lays down so much ink to provide those beautifully saturated colors, and the ink cartridges are pretty small. This is a dye-based printer. If you need better B and W I would suggest the pigment version, which would be the 9500.
Posted by Mike DiRenzo on February 18, 2010 at 8:39 AM
Andrea, if you are planning on making alot of Black and White prints I would stay away from the Epson 1400. It only has one black ink cartridge and in my experience with this printer it is incapable of producing good quality B&W prints.
Posted by Andrea Hadley on February 18, 2010 at 10:25 AM
Thank you all again, I will definitely take a look at those you spoke of Gene, and thank you ME and Mike.
Posted by Andrea Hadley on February 18, 2010 at 11:07 AM
Okay, I've thought about it, a lot. I am not going to buy a printer yet, I'm going to save up and make sure I get one for the price, for the quality, and the ink of course. Now I'd like some advice on who to look at, and what I would type in google to search for places I can have print my photos for me. One of you probably said it in your replies but I'll probably see that after this post.
Posted by conrad Rowe on February 18, 2010 at 11:23 AM
Andrea,
Make sure you check out Fine Print in Fort Collins, CO. They have done my prints for 25 years. Conrad Rowe
Posted by David Bostedo on February 18, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Andrea - There are quite a few threads on this if you do some digging, and the answers haven't changed much that I know of the last couple of years. (There are actually TONS of good online printing options now, and even CostCo does a good job for cheap. It will largely depend on you checking out the places and maybe ordering a couple of small prints to see what you like. Some places will also send free samples.) The most common places :
MPix
West Coast Imaging/Aspen Creek
White House Custom Color
My Photo Pipe
Calypso
H&H
more that I can't think of...
On a little less professional vein, but still good results depending on what you want/order are :
MPix
Winkflash
Shutterfly
The things to look for are the ability to get color profiles for the particular printer/paper option you choose, and the ability to have the printer NOT do color/sharpening correction. If they do you lose a lot of control over the process. Some of the higher end places will also do all correction and sharpening for you (and any other PS work you want) but for a steep price.
Posted by Andrea Hadley on February 18, 2010 at 12:59 PM
There's a place in Evansville called Schmitt Photo, I talked to them and an 8X10 Glossy (they have other options other than glossy) is $5.00 each. I like the idea of them being right here only 5 or 10 minutes from where I live and work. But I will take a look at the other places as well.
Posted by Taylor Reed on February 19, 2010 at 2:22 PM
Andrea, I went through this same process recently. Here's something to consider. You listed the R1900 as $550, but right now BH has it for $484 and there is a $150 rebate. $334 for a printer of that quality is a pretty amazing deal.
Good to see others on here from this part of the country. I'm about an hour away in southern IL. I have some family in Evansville.
Posted by Andrea Hadley on February 19, 2010 at 3:46 PM
Well I think I'm going to go with WHCC and see what happens, too many people are saying they're the ones to go to for printing. Their prices don't seem too bad either, hopefully by the end of this year or sooner, I'll be able to afford my own quality printer.
I have had an Epson Stylus Photo 2200 since it came out. I love it dearly, and it never fails to give me perfect prints. I print a lot on the Epson watercolor paper, and it's fantastic.
FYI -- ONLY use Epson approved fine papers and ink. When I first got the printer, I tried several other papers....Canon, Kodak... But the ink smeared on all of the luster and glossy prints, and did not get the colors even close!
But, I'd like to be able to go someplace local in Houston to make bigger prints. Does anybody know of a place? I'd like to be able to have "hands on" input for the final product.I live in Richmond, so I'm on the SW side of Houston.
Or is there a website that consistantly gives great results.
Posted by Nancy Elwood on February 24, 2010 at 6:19 PM
I have been using a R1900 for a year now and love it! I use it with luster, matte and yes print B&W with great results. I have installed Epson's profiles that are specific for the R1900 and the different paper types Plus use Nik's Sharpener plug in for CS3 and I am very satisfied!! And I have had no clogging problems.
Discussion
22 repliesFirst one:
1: CB051A#B1H Officejet 6000 Color Inkjet Network-Ready Printer
4 stars with 2 reviews at $53.95
2: iP3600 Pixma Inkjet Photo Printer- 5 stars with 5 reviews at $59.95
3: WorkForce 30 Color Inkjet Printer- 4 stars with 4 reviews at $68.19
4:iP4700 Pixma Inkjet Photo Printer- 4 and a half stars with 14 reviews at $89.95 (this one I'm looking hard at)
5: Photosmart D7560 Printer- 4 stars with 7 reviews at $82.19
6: Epson Artisan 50 Inkjet Printer- 5 stars with 13 reviews at $113.79
Okay I had a little more, but I decided to stop it there, I will be looking myself at the reviews and doing research.
I am going to throw a fly into the ointment and ask a question...
What are your goals for your printing? Is your ultimate goal to make the highest quality, wide gamut, long lasting prints with great blacks and excellent color?
If the answer is 'yes', then the products listed above, while inexpensive, will not satisfy that requirement. These printers are 'consumer grade-office/home office' printers and are not designed for 'professional quality' printing. Also, the inks for these printers are expensive, so their cost efficiency is questionable
My suggestion would be to save your pennies and purchase one of the 'fine art' quality printers from Epson, Canon, or HP. Yes, they will cost you bucks for a 13x19 printer, and the paper and inks are more expensive, but, if you want the best quality, and a printer that you can 'grow in to', you might want to rethink your options.
If your budget is such that a printer of the types listed above is the best you can do, then I would suggest either the iP4700 or the Epson Artisan. I have an Office Jet 6000 that will make an 'ok' color print, but it does not meet my need as a 'fine art' printer. I use my Epson R2400 for making fine prints.
I am sure others will have suggestions/comments, as well.
--P
I will second strongly Preseton's wise words here. These consumer-level printers are oriented towards outputting Excel charts and PowerPoint presentations. I have one of these dedicated to that kind of output and text.
For serious photographic printing you need a dedicated photo printer. It may take you some time to save up the $500-600 for hardware and paper, but the quality is worth it.
I've owned printers from Epson, HP, and Canon over the recent years and would recommend any and all. Just depends on your requirements.
Consider a self-assessment about what your photographic printing needs are: color or B&W, output size, frequency of printing, and available desktop and office real estate for printer placement and storage of paper.
ME
1: Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Inkjet Printer - $299.99
2: Epson Stylus Photo R1900 Inkjet Printer - $549.99
I think I'm going to take a look at Best Buy also.
I know that does sound a like photo snobbery (and I suppose it is, a bit) but you really don't want to present a client with second rate prints, either in quality or longevity.
You are also considering the purchase of a higher end printer after being paid for the job. What you will essentially be doing, by going this route, is making your better second printer anywhere between $70 and $200 more expensive.
How did I arrive at that? First is the cost of the first printer itself. Realistically, that is money which you will never recover.
Second, check into the cost of inks. The less expensive printers can cost a fortune to run. I think I figured that my old Epson 1270 was running close to $3 a print. Granted, costs have come down a lot since then but the less expensive printers cost a lot more to operate. Look at the price of ink cartridges and try to research how many prints they make.
I know that once you do that for the two higher end models, those prices will be a bit scary as well but keep in mind that they are probably a lot cheaper per ml of ink. My the cartridges for my Epson 4000 run about $90 per ink and it requires 8 of them. Fortunately, they seem to run forever.
Another issue is the ability to use printer and paper profiles. I don't think the first set of printers will allow you to do this (verify this!). These make a huge difference in the quality of the output. I believe the second two, especially the 1900, do allow you to use profiles (again, verify).
Do you need portability of the printer, such as at event printing?
How many prints will you need for this event, and at what size? If money is really tight, you weren't anticipating the purchase of the higher printer until the end of the summer and you don't need too many prints, the first list of printers might make more sense. In this case, I'd still check out local or even on-line printers.
Also, what is the timetable between the event and when prints are needed? If you will need 150 8x10's by Monday from the event on Friday, don't even consider anything other than the second two printers.
Another possibiilty which might work will depend on how networked you are into the local photographic community. It might be possible to "rent" a better printer for the weekend. Hey Bob, could I run off 100 prints on your printer Sunday? I'll give you $90 for ink and I'll provide the paper! Seriously, if you go the self-print route, you'll still need to cover ink costs and paper anyway and you might be able to save a bit for a better printer without buying cheaper one first. What part of the country do you live in (southwest Ohio, for example, rather than a specific city will work)?
This is an excellent point. Buying the cheap stuff only makes the good stuff that much more expensive. If I had a dollar for every time I "learned" that lesson....I wouldn't need to learn it.
>2: Epson Stylus Photo R1900 Inkjet Printer - $549.99
Andrea, the Epson 1400 is a dye-based printer while the other one is pigment-based. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Generally, the colors rendered by dye-based printers are slightly more vibrant and intense. While both types of prints can be archival (+75 years let's say), your paper choices to achieve the level of archivability tends to be more numerous with pigment printers.
Do note that the Epson R1900 is considered a very good printer for color glossy output. It is not preferred for either matte or black and white output. You can obtain B&W output, but you have to really tweak away subtle color casting. Plus glossy B&W are more challenging to achieve unless one is using baryta papers. And the ink carts are on the small side, resulting in higher operating costs.
ME
With all that said, if you go the buy the printer route, take a look at the Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II. It produces stunning output, is quite fast, and should a head get clogged beyond repair, it is user replaceable. It has a very wide gamut and works well with Canon's own papers, as well as Moab's offerings. On the downside, it does drink ink on rag papers, because it lays down so much ink to provide those beautifully saturated colors, and the ink cartridges are pretty small. This is a dye-based printer. If you need better B and W I would suggest the pigment version, which would be the 9500.
Make sure you check out Fine Print in Fort Collins, CO. They have done my prints for 25 years. Conrad Rowe
MPix
West Coast Imaging/Aspen Creek
White House Custom Color
My Photo Pipe
Calypso
H&H
more that I can't think of...
On a little less professional vein, but still good results depending on what you want/order are :
MPix
Winkflash
Shutterfly
The things to look for are the ability to get color profiles for the particular printer/paper option you choose, and the ability to have the printer NOT do color/sharpening correction. If they do you lose a lot of control over the process. Some of the higher end places will also do all correction and sharpening for you (and any other PS work you want) but for a steep price.
Here are a few of those threads I mentioned :
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=51633&CGISESSID=92c186ee3e838c234684c6f1871afd8a&u=6437
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=51634&CGISESSID=92c186ee3e838c234684c6f1871afd8a&u=6135
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=47780&CGISESSID=92c186ee3e838c234684c6f1871afd8a&u=8351
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=44862&CGISESSID=92c186ee3e838c234684c6f1871afd8a&u=8351
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=15407&CGISESSID=92c186ee3e838c234684c6f1871afd8a&u=9625
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=17843&CGISESSID=92c186ee3e838c234684c6f1871afd8a&u=9625
Good to see others on here from this part of the country. I'm about an hour away in southern IL. I have some family in Evansville.
FYI -- ONLY use Epson approved fine papers and ink. When I first got the printer, I tried several other papers....Canon, Kodak... But the ink smeared on all of the luster and glossy prints, and did not get the colors even close!
But, I'd like to be able to go someplace local in Houston to make bigger prints. Does anybody know of a place? I'd like to be able to have "hands on" input for the final product.I live in Richmond, so I'm on the SW side of Houston.
Or is there a website that consistantly gives great results.