Best printer for home photography business?

[Kaido]

My wife's side business of digital photography has really taken off and she would like to offer prints as a convenience to customers. We have an Epson R220 that we really like, but the cartridges don't last long (it's a consumer printer) and it can only print out an 8.5x11" print at maximum. I'm looking for something in the 13x17" or 13x19" range that does excellent black and whites as well as color prints. The prints, of course, need to last a long time. I have a small dye sublimation printer and the results have been spectacular, it's just a size issue - I can't do larger prints. Budget is around $500, can go up as high as $1,000 with some savings. A higher-priced printer than that would just take longer to save up for, which isn't a big deal. Just looking for something good that will be easy for her to use with her Mac 🙂

Any suggestions?

 

[foghorn67]

FredMiranda.com has an excellent Printer forum. I wish I could offer more than that for advice, but I don't know much about mid-grade printers.

 

[ElFenix]

the canon 9000 series is pretty highly regarded. i really wish i'd have picked one up with my 40D from dell ($500 - 20% off coupon - $100 rebate - $100 rebate, but i didn't see the second $100 rebate).

 

[nismotigerwvu]

I used to be pretty deep into this but biochemistry pretty much consumes my free time now Back in the day it was all about dye sublimation but I kinda doubt it is the shiz any longer

 

[Kaido]

This HP Photosmart 8750 looks awesome; it's a couple hundred cheaper direct from HP but OOS atm 🙁

http://www.shopping.hp.com/web...14110944&ci_sku=Q5747A

 

[ObiDon]

the HP b9180 is another nice one.
because of the ink this printer uses, you'll get the best results (print quality and longevity) using the "advanced" line of HP paper versus "premium" or "premium plus"

 

[virtuamike]

I use an Epson 2400 but the cartridges are on the small side. I've seen used 4000's go in the $500-700 range.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: ObiDon
the HP b9180 is another nice one.
because of the ink this printer uses, you'll get the best results (print quality and longevity) using the "advanced" line of HP paper versus "premium" or "premium plus"

Wow nice! 13x19" prints come out in less than 2 minutes! Cartridges are a standard $29.99 too. I'll add that one to the list, thanks! 😀

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu
I used to be pretty deep into this but biochemistry pretty much consumes my free time now Back in the day it was all about dye sublimation but I kinda doubt it is the shiz any longer

Maybe it's Pigment I'm thinking of. My little 4x6" Epson photo printer is dye sub-based and does produce great results however!

 

[punchkin]

HP's direct prices to consumers are in general a ripoff. For example, the B9180 is in stock at Amazon for $597 right now.

 

[twistedlogic]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
the canon 9000 series is pretty highly regarded.

My mother has the PIXMA Pro9000 and it creates some awesome looking photos. After seeing a Ricoh printer advertised in Shutterbug I decided to do some looking of my own on a 13X19" capable printer. From what I've read the Pixma is getting rave reviews with vibrant colors.

One review says "Dye vs. Pigment. Pro9000 dye print is more vivid with darker blacks than the HP B9180 pigment print."

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Budget is around $500, can go up as high as $1,000 with some savings. A higher-priced printer than that would just take longer to save up for, which isn't a big deal.

Consumer-class printers are priced very misleadingly these days, because the price of consumables dwarfs the cost of the device over time. With pro/semi-pro devices, the cost/page starts to come down as the ink cartridges become higher capacity. So, I strongly consider taking that into consideration, and to consider a higher start-up price to be both a reduction of the overall cost and an improvement in the printer.

Epson, Canon, and HP are all strong players in pigment-based printers these days. http://www.photo-i.co.uk/ is a source of some detailed reviews and comparisons. Key parts about ink costs and consumption rates are harder to figure out, but you can safely assume that actual consumption would be likely higher than standard vendor benchmarks, and the prices you'd pay per ml of ink is not a bad indicator of running ink cost.

Here's a direct link. I suggest recalculating for price and availability in your area.

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Revie...nters/Pigs/page_2.html