Printing and printers

I have been happy using the local photo shop for printing my underwater shots but, have thought about purchasing my own printer.

There are those times when I would like to avoid the hastle of going down to the local store to get my shots printed and waiting for them to be "developed".

What have been others experience in this field? What size do you need your home printer to print? Is there comparable quality to the local store.

I have looked at the Canon line that has separate ink cartridges as I can see the benefit of only replacing a specific colour cartridge. Do I need to get the printer that can go past 11x... and save those large ones for the photo store still?

Curious as to what others have experienced or found.

Hi Gang,

Before going any further, I'd like everyone to read this online article from Popular Photography entitled Mastering Digital Color.

http://www.popphoto.com/HowTo/ArticleDispl...sp?ArticleID=23

The bottom line is: "What you see on your monitor is rarely what you get in print-unless you use Color Management."

So take a gander through there and then we'll start talking about printers and profiles.

Cheers

James

My bottom line recommendations are the Canon S900, or the Epson 2200 (which I have).

The Canon S900 is REALLY FAST, and is good for letter-sized paper.

The Epson 2200 is for larger format printing. Fast for Epson, and more innovative (newer) than the S9000 (which is the larger version of the S900). Both have multiple ink cartridges and borderless printing, but the Epson has "light black" and "matte black," and does b&w printing -- supposedly as well as the Piezography system, which some people rave about. I haven't done b&w on my printer yet, so I can't say anything about it.

For color matching, I created a monitor profile with the Colorvision Spyder, and use the standard paper profiles that come with my printer. It works very well.

For more information on printers, I suggest that you visit Steve's Digicams or DPReview. They have reviews on all of the printers out there.

I use an Epson 1280 and get stunning results...........$500 delivered

Karl

I was very frustrated in the past with matching my monitor’s color to what was being printed out until I bought a Color vision Spider. It calibrates your monitor’s color and creates a printer profile that is right on the mark. I just bought the Canon S9000 which will print out a 13x19 inch print. I’m very happy with the quality and the cost factor of my prints. “ Highly Recommended “

Marc

for the very pictures I want in printed.. I use online print companies... upload to their site and 2 days later they arrive at your door in all their glorious colour zero overheads and look great.

just my 2p worth...

Also, if you want to step away from the consumer digi-printing sites, check out Pictopia. They do light-jet printing, onto Fuji Crystal Archive paper. Good stuff.

Dave Fleetham used their services for the b&w dolphin shot that was up in the gallery at DEMA.

On top of producing excellent prints, they are nice people.

I use an Epson 2200. Great printer. Blows away an Epson 1270 which I thought was a great printer. Love Epson's Prem. Luster Photo paper.

Another really good solution for color matching which I have been using since birth is being colorblind. My pictures almost always end up looking great to me and it isn't until a wife or friend sees them and asks some dumb question like: Why is that grey reef shark brown? that I realize I've done something wrong.

(In real news: I have an hp g55 multidevice that we use for color printing and have been really happy with for small pictures.)

norm

I too have been terribly disapointed with monitor/printer variations since changing to an LCD monitor. I have checked into the Colorvision Spyder that was recommended earlier. Would you recommend the Photocal or the Optical software package? Also do you think it's necessary to purchase one of the printer Profiler software packages since I generally stick with Epson paper for my Epson printer?

I've found my epson profiles (for the 2200) to be pretty good when combined with the OptiCAL software. I'm not sure how the PhotoCAL software works.

I too am in a quandry as to which printer to buy, i have narowed it down to the Canon S900 and Epson 950.

What i need to know is which will produce a good black and white image?

From what I have heard, the Epson 2200 is much better than any of the existing non-modified solutions, because of the addition of the light black and matte black cartridges.

I've had good luck with B&W on the 2200. However, it does cost a lot more than the printers you are looking at.

For B&W printing, neither the Epson 850 nor the Canon S900 will deliver anything close to what you can get on good paper from a modest B&W darkroom. Greenish casts are common. I agree with Eric C about the 2200 being good for B&W but even it is not as good as the Piezography on an old Epson 1200. But again it depends on what you want and what you are used to.

Bill

For B&W printing from inkjet printers, check out http://www.lyson.com. They do a range of B&W inks for various Epson and Canon models.

I have not tried them personally.

well if you are frustrated with your local print shops you can try speedypress.com, they do a lot of good work thats affordable.ive heard rave reviews.good luck with the printer

Hi guys,

I have an Epson r1800 and use a spyder 2 for calibration. I use Epson papers,and hence epson ICC profiles.

Getting printing right-especially in terms of colour management, is a huge subject! In my experience, read everything you can get hold of, but be prepared for some expensive (in ink and paper!) mistakes. There is a great tutorial series on the Luminous Landscape on Fine art printing-it is well worth the fee in my opinion if you are serious about getting good results.

Seeing your pictures rolling of a large format printer and looking great is a fantastic thing to do!

All the best

I think a question to ask yourself is whether you enjoy all this post processing on the computer and whether you ever enjoyed the old darkroom or not.

As some on this thread have expressed, they can not be bothered with it all, and if you feel that way then my advice is don't get started.

On the other hand, if you're like me, and you love all the digital darkroom stuff, then I would invest in it the way you do in your camera equipment, and buy the best printer, monitor, calibrator, you can afford, and learn everything you can about color management etc. I don't think taking on printing and doing it well is a cost effective undertaking, so the only reason to do it is because you love to do it.