Reccomendations for a good Photo Printer for modest $$

After paying for a D70, lenses, housing, etc. funds are somewhat limited, but alas, my old printer gave up on me. Any suggestions on a decent photo printer with a modest price tag? I do like the idea of having seperate ink tanks that can be replaced independently. I would sure appreciate some input based on your experiences.

Cheers,

Sieg

Probably not the answer you were looking for, but when I upgraded to the D70, I decided it was probably worth getting my prints done on exposed photo paper by a camera shop.

It's a lot cheaper than you'd think, and the quality is amazing!

Try looking at the canon brands. I have an s9000 which is large format but the have a newer models out that have two extra inks in them. Canon printers are very nice and haven't had aproblem with mine since I bought it over a year ago. I agree try to stay away from the supposed cheap printers like Lexmark. They have good print quality but the inks will eat you up in price.

If you spent that much money on your digital camera what's two or three hondo more to put your artwork up on the wall..

Tony

I prefer Epson printers.....I use the 1280 at my office and the 960 at home....both give stunning prints

Today, I'd get the R800 for the house.....$370 at B&H

Karl

Canon, Epson and HP all have some excellent photo printers, especially if you are willing to hit about $300. A couple of the HP 6-color ink printers now use a photo gray ink cartridge as well, which reportedly produces outstanding, lab-quality B&W prints in addition to superb color. The newest Canons produce excellent prints, and are the speed champs. Epson offers probably the widest range of paper choices and, with the pigment-based ink cartridges, superb print longevity. Canon and Epson also offer their top-line technology in wide-format printers as well, for printing borderless up to 13 inches wide. In general, I don't think you can go wrong with any of today's inkjet photo printers. They all produce excellent prints. Sort of like trying to choose a digital SLR. It really comes down to your personal preference on a number of small things.

I also highly recommend you calibrate your monitor/display so that your final prints will match what you see on your display. Check out www.colorvision.com. You can get a calibrator and the software for around $100 today, and it will save you a lot of wasted paper and ink. If you use Photoshop, be sure that you accurately set printing and color space preferences for whatever printer you are using. With proper monitor calibration and the right settings in Photoshop, you should get impressive results from any good printer.[/url]

What happens to the quality of the print after it's printed? I have learned that if you do not frame the print using glass (using good quality paper like Illford smooth Pearl), it will fade terribly. I have tried all sorts of paper and they all fade within a month or so if in brightly lit rooms. However, I have tried putting glass in front of them and am awaithing some results under the same lighting condiotions to see if the glass blocks out the light enough to allow a better life of the print. Some paper manufacturers claim that a print on their paper with their ink will last 20 years, but I have found that to be misleading in my case, using Canon Photo Paper Pro with a Canon S9000 printer.

What do labs recommend on their ink jet print outputs? Frame with glass or else? Or are their printers far superior than consumer brands?

Joe

Dye-based inks are far more prone to fading than pigment based inks. Epson makes a range of pigment based inks that has a wide gamut of colours (the ultrachrome inks) and a long lifetime, up to 70 years if handled properly, ie under glass to avoid UV exposure etc etc. This is the same life expectancy as many of the traditional silver halide processes.

Canon's PIXMA i4000 looks like a very sweet little printer. It's almost throwaway cheap (like $149 at my local OfficeMax), has separate removable ink tanks, and uses pigment based inks. It only does four colours, so the gamut is a bit less than the 6/7/8 colour printers (like the expensive Epsons and Canon's i8500 printer), but it is hard to argue with the price.

If you have your prints made at your local WalMart on their Aladdin machine, you'll get a silver-halide based print that has the same longevity as traditional film based prints.