Which Printer for the best photos?

[Amazingreys]

Since I am contemplating buying a SLR digital camera for my reference pictures, I'm also thinking of upgrading my printer as well.
I currently have an HP PHotosmart 7760 which does an ok job, but I'm not totally happy with it.

I've been told that Epsons are the best, but also take a look at the Canons.
I want to be able to get good detail in those blown up pictures!

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thank you :)

[Nancy]

Hi Dana!! I use an HP photosmart 8450 and I love how it prints out photos!!! The only downside is that you have to ahve three different ink cartridges in it: one for tri-colored ink, one for black ink, and one for photo ink (which won't smudge and blur after it dries like ink jet ink will. It's made specifically for printing out photos). If you run low on just one of these cartridges, you have to go out and buy another or it won't print out correctly, even with the other color cartridge in it. Weird. :confused: But it's really good and I've been using it for about 6 months now. I have no other complaints about it except for the one above. Check it out on the internet. It's got all kinds of neat little tricks it can do that I've never bothered to try out.

Hope that helped a little.

[Bill Merrick]

Hi Dana
Sorry for being so late, if you have not bought a new printer yet, the magazine I subscribe to Digital Photo puts the Canon PIXMAiP4000 at the top of its 5 best buys list for A4 printers in the November Issue.

"A modern looking five ink jet system with some very fast print times and stunning image quality.This A4 printer is made for success."

A Quote from the Magazine I hope this helps, my printer is a Epson 895 which I am very happy with, but it is ancient in digital technology terms and no longer available.

Bill

[Arlene]

which though is the best for prints for art? that's different then for photos...i have the epson 1280 which is ancient now but it's a wonderful printer...and a wider format.

[Amazingreys]

which though is the best for prints for art? that's different then for photos...i have the epson 1280 which is ancient now but it's a wonderful printer...and a wider format.

Yes, I would like to know the answer to that as well, Arlene. Not only for printing out enlargements of my ref. photos.....but maybe doing some prints of a piece (when I get good enough!) I like to plan ahead..... :p

[Bill Merrick]

which though is the best for prints for art? that's different then for photos...i have the epson 1280 which is ancient now but it's a wonderful printer...and a wider format.

A inkjet printer prints a digital image by putting dots of ink (the more dots the higher the resolution) onto the support in various colours which the eyes merged together to make the picture ,so if the image is good for photos it should be good for art, after all when the painting as been photographed or scanned and its loaded into the computer in becomes a digital image therefore no different from a photograph, so if the monitor screen as been calibrated to the printer either with Photoshop’s built in Gamma utility or something like Colorplus it then comes down to the media used to print the image on, whether High Gloss, Matt, Water colour paper and canvas all at several different weights, then we come to the different formats as you said you have a A3 and mine A4, a professional like yourself needs the bigger format, I am quite happy with my A4 as the price for a complete set of inks for the latest Epson R2400 A3 printer costs £90 then again it takes 9 cartridges so its about average at £10/cartridge, I read somewhere that some manufacturers are claiming that there inks will last for 100years before fading that must be an extrapolated figure, I can fully understand that you would want your works to last for a considerable time after you have sold them, but for myself if the good Lord gives me another 30years I will be 97 and more worried about what day it is, or whether I will get to the toilet on my zimmer frame before I wet my trousers than whether my prints are fading.

So what is good for photos should be be good for art prints.

I am not an artist so if the above is a load of cods wallop Please Please Arlene remember my age and don’t hit me to hard.

Bill

[Brenda]

I can fully understand that you would want your works to last for a considerable time after you have sold them, but for myself if the good Lord gives me another 30years I will be 97 and more worried about what day it is, or whether I will get to the toilet on my zimmer frame before I wet my trousers than whether my prints are fading. **Laughing!!!!**

My bil is somewhat of a photographer. He tells me to be sure your printer uses a separate cartridge for each color. That way if the cyan runs out, you don't have to replace all the colors. The cartridges that have the three colors in one will have you replacing ink even though there is still some left.

[Bill Merrick]

Hi Brenda
I agree with your husband about the single colour cartridges,but when I bought my Epson 895 I don't think there was any about,as I mentioned earlier I subscribe to Digital Photo and they compared different inks with Epson originals and a make called Orink, manufactured in China and they are smartchipped, came out of the test equal to Epson I use nothing else and they are cheap a black cartridge £2.99 and colour £3.98 at that price I can experiment without worrying about the cost


Bill

[artfulscribe]

Ah, one of my favorite subjects! Personally, I love Epson. I just got a fairly new model, the R800. Photo lab quality, no joke. It has separate ink cartridges--and most importantly to me--uses archival ink that's lightfast/archival up to 80-100 years. Up until now, only the really expensive Epson's used archival dyes. (This printer also comes in a slightly more expensive wide format for larger paper) It's funny, I was on the Gary Greene's (famous cp artist) website recently, and I noticed he was offering prints of his work & described them as quality photo prints (or something like that) made with 'archival ultrachrome inks.' That's my Epson, LOL. If it's good enough for GG, it's good enough for me (he's also a professional photographer!) ;)

I invested in a digital SLR recently too, so it made sense to get a printer capable of reproducing the very best image possible. (At least, that's how I justified the expense to my husband, hehe)

Roxana

[purc]

Hi all. For what it's worth I do quite a bit of digital as well as traditional Film photography. I have a Canon i560 photo printer and am extremely well pleased with the results it gives.
I also picked up (at Costco) an Ink jet cartridge refill kit by Lexmark that came with regular ink jet as well as Photo ink refill bottles. It's a bit of work (not bad) to prep the cartridges for refilling, but once that's done it's a snap. AND, there is NO difference in the color reproduction.
It's just my opinion, but I've been very happy with it.
Bill

[artmasters]

I use an HP photosmart 8450 and I love how it prints out photos!!! The only downside is that you have to ahve three different ink cartridges in it: one for tri-colored ink, one for black ink, and one for photo ink (which won't smudge and blur after it dries like ink jet ink will. It's made specifically for printing out photos). If you run low on just one of these cartridges, you have to go out and buy another or it won't print out correctly, even with the other color cartridge in it. Weird. :confused: But it's really good and I've been using it for about 6 months now. I have no other complaints about it except for the one above. Check it out on the internet. It's got all kinds of neat little tricks it can do that I've never bothered to try out.

Hope that helped a little.

I just purchased an HP photosmart 8750. It can print borderless up to Super B (13 x 19). It does use three ink cartridges of 3 inks each for a total of 9 different colors. The color range is fantastic. The only down side is what everyone has already said about when 1 color is gone you have to replace the whole cartridge of 3 inks. But for me, I don't think that is a problem at all. The printer has alot more to offer to off set that. The inks are lightfast rated and archival. Also the print head is located on the cartridge. This eliminates having to clean the print heads, but it is why the HP inks cost a bit more. When you install a new cartridge, your print heads are automatically clean. No need to wory about smudged colors. This is something to think about if you print alot . If you only print occasionally, then you may pick a different printer with cheaper ink cartridges. What was the big selling point for me is that it can print on alot of differet media sizes and weights. The quality of photographs is incredible, but I use it mostly to make prints of my art. The key here is to use the right paper. I found that there is a good variety of digital fine art archival paper on the market now. I've tried a few of them with my printer and I cannot tell the difference between my prints and a giclee. So now I can print all my own prints "in house". So far none of my originals have been larger than 13 x 19 so my printer does the job for me. I also have an old Epson 1520. It can handle paper up to 17 x 22 or banner length. It can print up to 600 dpi but the color technology isn't up to date. It uses 1 tri color cartridge and 1 black cartridge. I use it now for printing large comps. Also it has a paper feeding problem. These are my experiences. I hope this helps a little.

Dave

[Dawn]

Hi I have an Epson 2200 and just love it. It was a little pricy and it could be that they have come down in price. I can print out reference photos or I can print images to sell. The quality is awesome. There are 7 colors and depending on weather you are printing “photo” or “art print” will determine your black inks. My printer is the smaller one, I can only print 13 inches wide but it has never been a problem. I heard about some people sharing the printer and sharing the cost.

I use my old HP for everyday printing. Hope this helped