Printing images

I have a question (yes another!) about image printing - I am a beginner and have been taking my "keepers" to a local digital imaging centre (actually the only one where I live) and having the images produced through a machine the size of two large photocopiers and have been very very happy with the results from the the photocentre - I am paying about $4.50 for an 8" x 10" print.

Its not always convenient to traipse off to the store with my scant few images from a weekends diving and was wondering if anyone could give me pointers with the following questions:

1) Can I get comparable (say 80% of professional produced photograph) quality with a home printer and photo print paper?

2) Discounting the price of the actual printer could I print an 8 x 10 significantly cheaper at home?

3) Any advice on what printer I should, maybe, buy?

Thanks!

1. I would say that with the latest photo printers (6 color) you will not be able to tell the difference between them and custom lab prints.

2. The larger the print the cheaper it is compared to a good custom photolab. If you are comparing the price to Walmart or those type of places then you will not be saving any money.

3. I like Epson printers. If you need one now and want large output get the 1280. I really think Epson will be coming out with a new printer this year to replace that one (in europe they released it as the 950 already).

Many Thanks!

I think your comment #1 has made the descision for me - I will now have to start investigating a purchase.

The 950 in Europ is only an A4 printer - very nice with the capability of printing direct to suitable CD media and automatically cuts your roll prints itself. Quite expensive for an A4 printer though - depends if you can use the additional features although most people also have a CD label applicator, etc.

I have just got the 1290 A3 printer which is fabulous - 6 inks , borderless printing, accepts roll paper as well. The prints I have produced so far have been excellent - just need to work slightly on the colour matching between printer and monitor.

I have a Canon S900. It has 6 ink tanks, prints edge to edge, and best of all, it can pring an 8x10 in like 40 seconds.

Cheers

James

1) Yes, given a high quality printer

2) Yes, my cost is $1.50-$2.00 per print in supplies for 8"x10"

3) The top performers right now are the Epson 1280 and Canon S9000. The Canon is significantly faster than the Epson. Epson has many papers available, whereas the options on the Canon are rather sparse. The Canon allows individual ink color cartridge replacement. The 1280 does not.

The new Epson 2200 will be even better once available, but will still be significantly slower than the Canon. If you do a lot of printing, the roll paper option on the Epson is quite handy.

I replaced my old Epson printer 2 years ago, although the quality of the prints was very good, because

- it was in failure mode every second time i needed it

- i always had to exchange all colors

- whenever i switched it on it needed to make several test prints waisting lots of ink

I guess that some of this has changed now, but i'd go for Canon or HP, especially if you also need to print other things like Word documents.

Sabine

I printed out about 40 4x6 prints yesterday for my GF. I use the Canon 900 and Qimage program for printing. If you don't have Qimage pro, you gotta get it!

Cheers

James Wiseman

I'm using a canon s600 for my digital photos and they print great! Had no problem with the quality whatsoever! Have fun!