Hi,
I'm looking into getting a good quality photo printer, but don't want to spend $2,000. Can anyone recommend a good, affordable printer? I've never printed any of my photos and would like to start, especially after I learn to calibrate my monitor.
Also - do you need the longevity of pigment inks (>100 years) or can you use dye inks (>30 years)? (Those numbers are guesstimates depending on printer model and ink type. Some dyes are much better, some are much worse.)
Do you intend to market prints?
How many prints do you see yourself making weekly?
Do you have a preference for matte or glossy papers?
What is your intended use of the photos?
Sorry to swamp you with question, Scott - but these are important depending on the answers...if you don't know, simply tell us. Things like prints per week and matte or glossy were complete unknowns to me when I bought my printer. I simply wanted to make my own prints. However - the more you can answer, the more it helps narrow down the range of printers to consider.
For now I have friends and family that want prints of some of my photos. But I'm planning to launch a website in a little bit with my photos for possible sale. So in the end I'm looking for something to print professionally. But I also don't anticipate making so many prints right off the bat since I'm still new at this(I'm sure it will average <1 per week for quite some time). I don't know the difference between printing glossy and matte. Can I print both? As far as print sizes, I'm thinking the largest could be 12x17 and I could send out anything larger.
As far as inks, I want something that will last 100 years or longer. I really want the colors to match the photo.
My budget is around $1,000.
Thanks so much for your help. People have been asking for copies of my photos for a while now, and I'd like to take this to the next level.
I'm thinking the largest could be 12x17 and I could send out anything larger.
OK - that means a 13x19 printer, which could range anywhere from about $200 to $800
I want something that will last 100 years or longer.
Then you want to focus on pigment ink printers, which brings up the next item...
I don't know the difference between printing glossy and matte. Can I print both?
Yes, all of the printers out there can print both. But Epson is the leader in pigment ink printers, and on some of their models it uses a different black ink for matte than for glossy. Since there is a switch to be made, there's some ink wastage and possible cartridge switching. It's something to look out for.
The other small drawback of pigment inks is that they tend to clog more often than dye inks. So be prepared for some cleaning cycles, or getting in the habit of printing/maintaining regularly. They've gotten better, and some people have no problems, but it's still much more prevalent than with dye.
I really want the colors to match the photo.
The most important things in order to get colors to match is to have your monitor well calibrated, and to have the proper paper/printer profiles. If you don't have a hardware calibration system for your monitor, that should be the very first thing you get.
That all being said, there are a few printers for you to look at that are pigment ink and 13x19 :
Epson R1900
Epson R2880
HP B8850
HP B9180
Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mk II
Check out the reviews of most of these on Photo-I. All of them give good results with varying levels of options, features, and customer satisfaction. (I, personally, have the first gen, dye ink version of the Canon - and I love it. Zero issues, great results and usability.)
A few other notes :
-- You might want to consider how you present you photos if you start selling more. Matted? Mounted? etc.
-- Some printers do much better with black and white than others, although they've all gotten pretty good in this range.
-- There's a LOT of papers available out there. If you're interested, look for sample packs and deals and you can probably try a lot of smaller sized samples for not too much money.
-- Custom profiles are available and can apparently help greatly if you want perfect print matches for color, and usually cost about $25 for each paper/printer combo. The manufacturer profiles are often very good though, but every individual printer is a little different.
Thank you so much for your help. That was very useful.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on July 20, 2010 at 10:12 PM
I am going to elaborate on something that David said above and tends to catch new printers by surprise.
You said that you wanted the prints to match the monitor and David very strongly encouraged profiling your monitor. That is an absolute necessity. Without the colors on the monitor matching the colors in the file, you don't have a chance of getting a correct print. You can correctly adjust a file to the screen but instead of sending a beautiful blue sky to the printer, you could be sending something with pinkish tones (or greenish, or your favorite color). The color in the file your started with might have actually been right but since the monitor wasn't showing it correctly, you made adjustments to make it look right on screen but those adjustment actually really messed the color.
But to what I actually wanted to say: Keep in mind that the way an image appears on screen will be different from a print in hand, even if everything is set perfectly. The more or less correct reason is that a monitor emits light while a print reflects light. It gives a very different character to what you are looking at. If you are ever really in doubt about the accuracy of a print, try looking at it outdoors on a sunny day. (Okay, that still won't be perfect but it eliminates a lot of the casts that exist on indoors lighting).
Matte vs glossy papers: Definitely buy a bunch of sample packs. There is no other way to see how papers react to your images and they are a lot cheaper.
I have two frames of mind on paper choice. For prints in hand, I prefer a luster paper. The color is a lot more vivid (not saturated - it just "pops" more - don't worry, that will make more sense when you start testing). For prints that I intend to be framed behind glass, I prefer a matte paper. These papers won't have a secondary reflection that a shiny paper will have and I feel that a matte really "pops" when properly framed behind glass and well lit.
Your mileage will vary - I know people who prefer exactly the opposite and having seen their work, it is really hard to disagree.
In short, find a couple of papers that work well for you, which may not necessarily be the first ones you pick up.
(p.s. I can send you some sample Epson samples if you want - the Premium Luster, Premium Ultrasmooth and Archival Matte are all usually lying around - shoot me an email with an address)
I was going to start with calibrating my monitor. A friend recommended X-rite i1Display 2. It's good, but frustrating to know that the print won't match the monitor picture. At least this will save me countless hours of headaches trying to get it to match.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on July 20, 2010 at 11:49 PM
Just to be clear, if everything on the printer and monitor is set up correctly, there should be little difference, if any, in the appearance of color to a mechanical device. Okay, there may be the out of gamut color issues and a 6, 8, or 12 ink inkset is never going to reproduce 16 gazillion colors perfectly to the 11'th decimal place. However, if you could completely take the psychology of color perception completely out of the picture, a correctly calibrated monitor and a print from a correctly profiled printer w(sh)ould have the same appearance in terms of color. We're not mechanical devices and not very well profiled so the two mediums will appear different to our eyes.
To really badly abuse an analogy, you could have exactly the same color in a latex paint for your walls and an oil paint for the baseboards, but it is just going to look a bit different because it is a different medium.
If what appears on screen looks right and what appears in print using daylight looks right, then it basically is right. Don't get too hung up on an exact 6 decimal place match between the two in a room at night lit by 3 75 watt light bulbs. It ain't going to happen. But both should look right when viewed on their own terms.
Discussion
10 repliesI'm looking into getting a good quality photo printer, but don't want to spend $2,000. Can anyone recommend a good, affordable printer? I've never printed any of my photos and would like to start, especially after I learn to calibrate my monitor.
Thanks!
These kinds of questions are pretty open ended without more specific info regarding your needs.
For example: How large will the largest size prints be? Will you print color, B&W, or both? What is your budget?
--P
How many prints do you see yourself making weekly?
Do you have a preference for matte or glossy papers?
What is your intended use of the photos?
For now I have friends and family that want prints of some of my photos. But I'm planning to launch a website in a little bit with my photos for possible sale. So in the end I'm looking for something to print professionally. But I also don't anticipate making so many prints right off the bat since I'm still new at this(I'm sure it will average <1 per week for quite some time). I don't know the difference between printing glossy and matte. Can I print both? As far as print sizes, I'm thinking the largest could be 12x17 and I could send out anything larger.
As far as inks, I want something that will last 100 years or longer. I really want the colors to match the photo.
My budget is around $1,000.
Thanks so much for your help. People have been asking for copies of my photos for a while now, and I'd like to take this to the next level.
OK - that means a 13x19 printer, which could range anywhere from about $200 to $800
Then you want to focus on pigment ink printers, which brings up the next item...
Yes, all of the printers out there can print both. But Epson is the leader in pigment ink printers, and on some of their models it uses a different black ink for matte than for glossy. Since there is a switch to be made, there's some ink wastage and possible cartridge switching. It's something to look out for.
The other small drawback of pigment inks is that they tend to clog more often than dye inks. So be prepared for some cleaning cycles, or getting in the habit of printing/maintaining regularly. They've gotten better, and some people have no problems, but it's still much more prevalent than with dye.
The most important things in order to get colors to match is to have your monitor well calibrated, and to have the proper paper/printer profiles. If you don't have a hardware calibration system for your monitor, that should be the very first thing you get.
That all being said, there are a few printers for you to look at that are pigment ink and 13x19 :
Epson R1900
Epson R2880
HP B8850
HP B9180
Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mk II
Check out the reviews of most of these on Photo-I. All of them give good results with varying levels of options, features, and customer satisfaction. (I, personally, have the first gen, dye ink version of the Canon - and I love it. Zero issues, great results and usability.)
A few other notes :
-- You might want to consider how you present you photos if you start selling more. Matted? Mounted? etc.
-- Some printers do much better with black and white than others, although they've all gotten pretty good in this range.
-- There's a LOT of papers available out there. If you're interested, look for sample packs and deals and you can probably try a lot of smaller sized samples for not too much money.
-- Custom profiles are available and can apparently help greatly if you want perfect print matches for color, and usually cost about $25 for each paper/printer combo. The manufacturer profiles are often very good though, but every individual printer is a little different.
You said that you wanted the prints to match the monitor and David very strongly encouraged profiling your monitor. That is an absolute necessity. Without the colors on the monitor matching the colors in the file, you don't have a chance of getting a correct print. You can correctly adjust a file to the screen but instead of sending a beautiful blue sky to the printer, you could be sending something with pinkish tones (or greenish, or your favorite color). The color in the file your started with might have actually been right but since the monitor wasn't showing it correctly, you made adjustments to make it look right on screen but those adjustment actually really messed the color.
But to what I actually wanted to say: Keep in mind that the way an image appears on screen will be different from a print in hand, even if everything is set perfectly. The more or less correct reason is that a monitor emits light while a print reflects light. It gives a very different character to what you are looking at. If you are ever really in doubt about the accuracy of a print, try looking at it outdoors on a sunny day. (Okay, that still won't be perfect but it eliminates a lot of the casts that exist on indoors lighting).
Matte vs glossy papers: Definitely buy a bunch of sample packs. There is no other way to see how papers react to your images and they are a lot cheaper.
I have two frames of mind on paper choice. For prints in hand, I prefer a luster paper. The color is a lot more vivid (not saturated - it just "pops" more - don't worry, that will make more sense when you start testing). For prints that I intend to be framed behind glass, I prefer a matte paper. These papers won't have a secondary reflection that a shiny paper will have and I feel that a matte really "pops" when properly framed behind glass and well lit.
Your mileage will vary - I know people who prefer exactly the opposite and having seen their work, it is really hard to disagree.
In short, find a couple of papers that work well for you, which may not necessarily be the first ones you pick up.
(p.s. I can send you some sample Epson samples if you want - the Premium Luster, Premium Ultrasmooth and Archival Matte are all usually lying around - shoot me an email with an address)
To really badly abuse an analogy, you could have exactly the same color in a latex paint for your walls and an oil paint for the baseboards, but it is just going to look a bit different because it is a different medium.
If what appears on screen looks right and what appears in print using daylight looks right, then it basically is right. Don't get too hung up on an exact 6 decimal place match between the two in a room at night lit by 3 75 watt light bulbs. It ain't going to happen. But both should look right when viewed on their own terms.
Scott - I got your postmail. Yep, can do!