Seeking photo printer with specific reqs.

Hi all,

I'm about to plunge into buying my first photo printer. I started
investigating reviews of the Canon Pixma iP6220D first, mostly because
I saw it on sale, but the more I research the more questions/concerns
I have, particularly about cost and quality of output. As for this
particular printer, I've seen wiiiiiiiildly ranging reviews about the
photo quality, ranging from "crappy" to "indistinguishable from
commercially produced prints." (Then again, I've seen some crappy
commercial prints.)


For starters:

I'm seeking an affordable (say, under $120 or so) printer with
AFFORDABLE usage costs. The above-mentioned Pixma requires two
cartridges, the Canon CL-51 (about $29 on sale) and the CL-52 (about
$20 on sale). These are not incredibly expensive cartridges if they
last. However, I can't find evidence of how long they last in this
printer or, say, how many 4x6 images they can produce before dying.

My camera is a Canon A520. I plan to do all/most of my editing/
cropping/red-eye reduction on my PC. Therefore, I need a printer that:

--allows you to print from the computer as well as from an SD card
--accepts large paper (5x7, 8x10, as well as the usual 4x6), because I
plan to use commercial printing for the 4x6 stuff for reasons of
affordability
--has excellent output...not too grainy, no crazy enhancements to make
people look "natural" rosy, allows me to override what the printer
might think is good color (that is, if I want to Photoshop the sun so
it's green, so be it), etc.
--non-smeary output...waterproof would be good
--last, I don't really care about printing text. I'll use my regular
inkjet for printing text, since photo printers in general are very
costly as text printers.


I want to use this printer for experimentation, larger prints that are
worthy of hanging on my wall, etc. -- I can always use the drugstore
for snapshots for friends and family.

Any advice would be great. What have your experiences with a
particular printer been? (Specific model numbers would be useful to
me.) Does it do great with a particular brand of paper, but terribly
with another? Rough costs (say, how many prints do you get out of the
cartridges, paper expense, etc.)?

Thanks!

--deetee

On Sun, 03 Jun 2007 14:49:55 -0700, deetee wrote Re
Seeking photo printer with specific reqs.:

I'm seeking an affordable (say, under $120 or so) printer with
AFFORDABLE usage costs.

IMO You can stop right there.

If you want to spend a reasonable amount for prints, have them
commercially printed. However, if time-to-print is an important
consideration then I believe you will have to spend a bit more for
something that will produce high-quality archival prints.

--
To email me directly, remove CLUTTER.

On Sun, 03 Jun 2007 14:49:55 -0700, deetee wrote:

Hi all,

I'm about to plunge into buying my first photo printer. I started
investigating reviews of the Canon Pixma iP6220D first, mostly because
I saw it on sale, but the more I research the more questions/concerns
I have, particularly about cost and quality of output. As for this
particular printer, I've seen wiiiiiiiildly ranging reviews about the
photo quality, ranging from "crappy" to "indistinguishable from
commercially produced prints." (Then again, I've seen some crappy
commercial prints.)


For starters:

I'm seeking an affordable (say, under $120 or so) printer with
AFFORDABLE usage costs. The above-mentioned Pixma requires two
cartridges, the Canon CL-51 (about $29 on sale) and the CL-52 (about
$20 on sale). These are not incredibly expensive cartridges if they
last. However, I can't find evidence of how long they last in this
printer or, say, how many 4x6 images they can produce before dying.

My camera is a Canon A520. I plan to do all/most of my editing/
cropping/red-eye reduction on my PC. Therefore, I need a printer that:

--allows you to print from the computer as well as from an SD card
--accepts large paper (5x7, 8x10, as well as the usual 4x6), because I
plan to use commercial printing for the 4x6 stuff for reasons of
affordability
--has excellent output...not too grainy, no crazy enhancements to make
people look "natural" rosy, allows me to override what the printer
might think is good color (that is, if I want to Photoshop the sun so
it's green, so be it), etc.
--non-smeary output...waterproof would be good
--last, I don't really care about printing text. I'll use my regular
inkjet for printing text, since photo printers in general are very
costly as text printers.


I want to use this printer for experimentation, larger prints that are
worthy of hanging on my wall, etc. -- I can always use the drugstore
for snapshots for friends and family.

Any advice would be great. What have your experiences with a
particular printer been? (Specific model numbers would be useful to
me.) Does it do great with a particular brand of paper, but terribly
with another? Rough costs (say, how many prints do you get out of the
cartridges, paper expense, etc.)?

Thanks!

--deetee

According to the releases, the new KODAK all-in-one units are supposed to
have a consummables (ink) cost about 1/2 of the competitors. I would
expect the quality to be quite good.

deetee wrote:
Hi all,

I'm about to plunge into buying my first photo printer. I started
investigating reviews of the Canon Pixma iP6220D first, mostly because
I saw it on sale, but the more I research the more questions/concerns
I have, particularly about cost and quality of output. As for this
particular printer, I've seen wiiiiiiiildly ranging reviews about the
photo quality, ranging from "crappy" to "indistinguishable from
commercially produced prints." (Then again, I've seen some crappy
commercial prints.)


For starters:

I'm seeking an affordable (say, under $120 or so) printer with
AFFORDABLE usage costs. The above-mentioned Pixma requires two
cartridges, the Canon CL-51 (about $29 on sale) and the CL-52 (about
$20 on sale). These are not incredibly expensive cartridges if they
last. However, I can't find evidence of how long they last in this
printer or, say, how many 4x6 images they can produce before dying.

My camera is a Canon A520. I plan to do all/most of my editing/
cropping/red-eye reduction on my PC. Therefore, I need a printer that:

--allows you to print from the computer as well as from an SD card
--accepts large paper (5x7, 8x10, as well as the usual 4x6), because I
plan to use commercial printing for the 4x6 stuff for reasons of
affordability
--has excellent output...not too grainy, no crazy enhancements to make
people look "natural" rosy, allows me to override what the printer
might think is good color (that is, if I want to Photoshop the sun so
it's green, so be it), etc.
--non-smeary output...waterproof would be good
--last, I don't really care about printing text. I'll use my regular
inkjet for printing text, since photo printers in general are very
costly as text printers.


I want to use this printer for experimentation, larger prints that are
worthy of hanging on my wall, etc. -- I can always use the drugstore
for snapshots for friends and family.

Any advice would be great. What have your experiences with a
particular printer been? (Specific model numbers would be useful to
me.) Does it do great with a particular brand of paper, but terribly
with another? Rough costs (say, how many prints do you get out of the
cartridges, paper expense, etc.)?

Thanks!

--deetee

I use an Epson R265, excellent print quality, 6-color ink system,
replacement cartridges around $14 a time (here in UK) , but you can buy all
six in a pack for $68 . It prints CD-rom's direct onto the disk and has
excellent software to do this in a few minuites.

Dennis.

Thanks, everyone, for your advice so far. I understand that there's no
way I can save money using a home printer versus printing at, say, the
drugstore. But I am hoping that I can save money (and do a little
experimentation) when I do larger prints of, say, 8 x 10. I don't want
to have to wait three or four days for each sample experiment to
return from the processors, and then I would wait another several days
for the next tweak, all the while racking up costs of $4-5 per print!
(Hence my desire for a home printer whose idiosyncrasies I can learn,
and then account for in my editing.)

If anyone has any specific suggestions for printers, that would be
great. Unfortunately, the printer Dennis recommended seems not to be
available through Amazon (but it's all over the place in Britain!),
though it sounds like a lovely printer.

I'm hearing good things (from random friends 3000 miles away) about
the HP D7360, the Epson 2400 or 1800, the Canon i9900 and its
replacement (9500?). I haven't yet had a chance to research any of
these yet (and I suspect they're already off the market, but again,
I'll have to research).

Anyway, I'm still taking suggestions. And thanks!

-deetee

deetee wrote:

Anyway, I'm still taking suggestions. And thanks!

Canon Pixma ip4300 $100 or less, and on Amazon. Very quiet. 3 separate
color ink tanks plus 2 black tanks. 3 colors are good enough for
occasional 8x10 prints. The improvement seen with 6-color printers is
rarely worth the extra ink costs.

"deetee" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks, everyone, for your advice so far. I understand that there's no
way I can save money using a home printer versus printing at, say, the
drugstore. But I am hoping that I can save money (and do a little
experimentation) when I do larger prints of, say, 8 x 10. I don't want
to have to wait three or four days for each sample experiment to
return from the processors, and then I would wait another several days
for the next tweak, all the while racking up costs of $4-5 per print!
(Hence my desire for a home printer whose idiosyncrasies I can learn,
and then account for in my editing.)

If anyone has any specific suggestions for printers, that would be
great. Unfortunately, the printer Dennis recommended seems not to be
available through Amazon (but it's all over the place in Britain!),
though it sounds like a lovely printer.

I think you will finf the R260 is the USA version of the R265 Dennis was
recommending.
Its $85 on Amazon.

deetee wrote:
Thanks, everyone, for your advice so far. I understand that there's no
way I can save money using a home printer versus printing at, say, the
drugstore. But I am hoping that I can save money (and do a little
experimentation) when I do larger prints of, say, 8 x 10. I don't want
to have to wait three or four days for each sample experiment to
return from the processors, and then I would wait another several days
for the next tweak, all the while racking up costs of $4-5 per print!
(Hence my desire for a home printer whose idiosyncrasies I can learn,
and then account for in my editing.)

If anyone has any specific suggestions for printers, that would be
great. Unfortunately, the printer Dennis recommended seems not to be
available through Amazon (but it's all over the place in Britain!),
though it sounds like a lovely printer.

I'm hearing good things (from random friends 3000 miles away) about
the HP D7360, the Epson 2400 or 1800, the Canon i9900 and its
replacement (9500?). I haven't yet had a chance to research any of
these yet (and I suspect they're already off the market, but again,
I'll have to research).

Anyway, I'm still taking suggestions. And thanks!

-deetee

I am sure you would find any of the printers you mentioned completely
satisfactory.
There are some VERY good printers out there.
You might also look at the new Kodak printers as the cartridges for them
are quite inexpensive.