A little help on selecting a photo printer please

[bernse]

I am getting into scanning and digital photography. I would like opinions on "relatively" inexpensive color inkjet printers. I have done a bit of looking at a Lexmark Z52 and an Epson 777. Something that can print "photo quality" the best at a reasonable price is what we are looking for...preferebly USB.

Thanks for any advice

 

[Tsaico]

Epson. I have had three different epson's (two for me, one for my sis) and have loved them. I found that the Epson's tended to have a little longer cartridge life than the lexmark's ( a friend had a similar class of Lexmark). I have teh old Epson 600 which is great and then I pruchased another 980 for better speed. Both I love... But as a side note, if you are mainly printing photos and few documents, I would suggest the color photo series from epson. They use a 6-color printing for better color matching than either of the two prionters you mentioned. And the entry printer for that class is about 150 bucks or so. WHile the resolution is a little lower on the "photo" classes, the color reproduction is better, but not a great idea if you do a fair share of document printing. Good luck

 

[Kwad Guy]

I have an Epson, and have used a number of Epsons, and I would
agree that if you want a consumer-grade inkjet printer, an
Epson printer (basically ANY current model Epson) and (this is
important) Epson photo paper will produce really good results.

But a warning: To get the best results on an Epson, you need to
print in the "super high res" mode, which will take about 15 minutes
or so PER PAGE.

Text on Epsons is only mediocre, though. IMHO, the Lexmark inkjets
produce the best text. MUCH better than the Epsons (and generally
faster, too). Good, but not quite as good as Epson photo quality,
though.

Best of all worlds would be to buy a cheap laser printer for text
and an Epson for Photos...

...Or you could try something like the Alps for photos. I have
never used one, but some people rave about them, and they use
a wax process for printing instead of inkjet. That means colors
don't fade, and you can print on a variety of media. (You can also
print "white", which means you can print on colored media).

Kwad

 

[Mal007colm]

Have to Agree with Epson as your choice. I had a Lexmark and had to exchange the printer 4 times. CSR's for Lexmark were extremely helpful and Lexmark makes the printers shipped with Compaq computers but since buying my Epson 740 I have had no problems.