Question Color photo printer recommendations

[IndyColtsFan]

I'm looking to buy a new color printer. I currently have a Canon MG6620 I picked up a few years ago. It has excellent print quality, never really clogs, and accepts generic ink, but the really annoying issue that it has developed is that it won't feed paper without me often giving it a "push." I've updated the firmware, changed some recommended settings, cleaned the rollers, tray, and bed and it still has this issue. I'm getting a little tired of it. What do you guys recommend for a good photo printer? Let's say budget is under $300. It's a hobby but I don't want to go for a $1000+ prosumer printer. The key for me is that if the printer sits for months between prints, I don't want the head to be irreversibly clogged. That's why I finally gave up on Epson and this Canon has been awesome in that regard.

I'm also not opposed to a color laser and maybe spending a little over my budget, but AFAIK, ink jets still produce better photo prints and people mainly use the color lasers for quick proofs. If I'm wrong, I'd love to hear suggestions. Also, if you guys know of an actual fix to the paper feed issue, I'm happy to do that and keep using my MG6620.

Thanks!

 

[corkyg]

After a few years, the rubber rollers harden and loose some of their ability to move paper. It may be possible to replace them. That's worth a look, however, it may be more cost effective to replace the printer.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

After a few years, the rubber rollers harden and loose some of their ability to move paper. It may be possible to replace them. That's worth a look, however, it may be more cost effective to replace the printer.

I tried recleaning them with alcohol. It seemed to fix the roller issue, but then the printer wouldn't print black. I tried reinserting the ink and it is now throwing a 6000 error. Sigh. I only paid $60 for this printer and it was a great printer for that price but now I'm just looking to replace it. Maybe I'll see if I can get another similar model which uses the same ink.

 

[Paperdoc]

Let me comment on colour lasers. Well, on the one I actually have been using for several years - a Lexmark C543dn. It prints colour photos VERY well in terms of resolution and colour density, etc. But it can NOT print on high-gloss "photo paper", and I doubt it would do well on special Matte finish photo paper either. And of course the normal paper used in the colour laser printer is not heavy weight as photo papers usually are. So I do use it for family pics to put on the wall in a frame behind glass (makes high-gloss paper finish much less noticeable) but I would not use if for best-quality photos.

I have used HP and Canon colour inkjets over the years and was happy with both. An "advantage" of the HP units I have used is that the inkjet printhead is also the ink cartridge, so that every time you replace the ink cartridge, you are replacing the ink jets also and that can solve a persistent plugged jet problem. But that also can get more expensive. I used to refill my HP carts from a generic refill kit to save costs. The Canon printer / scanner i had did photos very well, too. It used six ink cartridges (the basic CMYK plus light versions of magenta and cyan), and had a separately-replaceable print head. You could not really refill the ink carts - they each had a chip on them that was used to track ink content and there was no good way to reset them. However, I did buy third party ink carts that came with chips already reset so they worked just fine, and the prints were good. But eventually the Canon developed a fatal board failure and I had to discard it.

For 4 x 6 snapshot printing I have used for years an Epson PictureMate, and it does a great job! I could buy replacement third-party ink cartridges for that and they always worked well. But eventually it wore out also. I was very pleased with it, so I bought a newer-model similar printer from Epson, their Picture Mate Charm, but I have not used it yet. However, these printers are dedicated to ONLY the 4" x 6" photo size, so they are NOT suited to general use if you're doing big prints.

I would not buy an inkjet printer that uses only one ink cartridge that contains three colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) or even four (Black added) for photo printing. You need at least the six-colour system (see above re Canon) for good colour accuracy, and to make replacement of individual ink colours possible.

Also look closely at the resolution they specify, and this can be hard to check at the store, especially for the scanner portion if you get a multi-function unit. They will tell you "up to xxxx dpi" with some impressive number, but look for the detail of the "native" resolution. That is the max the mechanism can do in terms of placement of fine dots of ink. Beyond that the "better" resolution really is software interpolation and colour blending, not actual improved image sharpness. To do colour prints well you need at least 300 dpi in each colour, but 600 dpi is noticeably better. Higher is slightly better and pros will certainly go 1200 or more, but many home users will be happy with 600.

 

[sdifox]

Why not just print at a kiosk in a pharmacy or walmart when you do need to print? You cannot win against that if you are talking low volume printing.

You can probably find the roller kit if you are inclined to try that.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

It isn’t the roller that’s the issue. I flipped it over and cleaned the rollers but something broke when I did that.

I like having a color printer. I ended up buying another Canon. I think Epson prints better photos but I got burned too many times on head clogs.

 

[sdifox]

It isn’t the roller that’s the issue. I flipped it over and cleaned the rollers but something broke when I did that.

I like having a color printer. I ended up buying another Canon. I think Epson prints better photos but I got burned too many times on head clogs.

Too bad Xerox discontinued the soild ink printers they acquired from Tektronix. Those print nice colours.
Comme ça

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[dlerious]

It isn’t the roller that’s the issue. I flipped it over and cleaned the rollers but something broke when I did that.

I like having a color printer. I ended up buying another Canon. I think Epson prints better photos but I got burned too many times on head clogs.

I had 3 Epson printers R-400,R-800, and R2000. Loved the quality - even took photos and ran them under water to check waterproof claims. The biggest downside for me other than the head clogs, was whenever you replaced a cartridge - the charging would use ink from other cartridges. It got pretty expensive when you have 8 cartridges wasting ink on head clogs and charging. Not to mention you couldn't use the printer with an empty cartridge even if you weren't using that color.

I use a kiosk for what little I still print and a B&W laser for regular printing.Been looking at a few Brother color lasers, but I'm not quite there yet. Just remembered why I went Epson instead of Canon originally was for CD/DVD printing. The Canon models sold in the US couldn't do CD/DVD because of some Epson patent or something.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I had 3 Epson printers R-400,R-800, and R2000. Loved the quality - even took photos and ran them under water to check waterproof claims. The biggest downside for me other than the head clogs, was whenever you replaced a cartridge - the charging would use ink from other cartridges. It got pretty expensive when you have 8 cartridges wasting ink on head clogs and charging. Not to mention you couldn't use the printer with an empty cartridge even if you weren't using that color.

I use a kiosk for what little I still print and a B&W laser for regular printing.Been looking at a few Brother color lasers, but I'm not quite there yet. Just remembered why I went Epson instead of Canon originally was for CD/DVD printing. The Canon models sold in the US couldn't do CD/DVD because of some Epson patent or something.

My new Canon has a CD/DVD tray, but I’ll never use it. My old Epson R340 had one too but I think I might have used it once. I don’t print much but when I do, it’s typically large batches of photos. I just enjoy having a color printer - they aren’t too expensive and generic inks make the cost manageable. I was also shocked the other day to see how far quality photo paper has dropped in price.

And you’re right about inserting new cartridges in an Epson - I had forgotten about that. I loved my Epson printers but they all developed frequent head clogs and eventually clogs I couldn’t clear without taking the printer apart. At least on my previous Canon, I could go months between prints and I could fire the thing up and it would clean itself and then print with no issues. I would hope Epson is now at that point but I didn’t want to risk it yet.

I have a Brother monochrome laser and it’s having some print quality issues. I’m hoping a cartridge swap will fix it, but if not, I don’t think I’m going to try replacing the drum and will probably get a new laser. I might even go color laser as well, just for quick proofs.

 

[sdifox]

My new Canon has a CD/DVD tray, but I’ll never use it. My old Epson R340 had one too but I think I might have used it once. I don’t print much but when I do, it’s typically large batches of photos. I just enjoy having a color printer - they aren’t too expensive and generic inks make the cost manageable. I was also shocked the other day to see how far quality photo paper has dropped in price.

And you’re right about inserting new cartridges in an Epson - I had forgotten about that. I loved my Epson printers but they all developed frequent head clogs and eventually clogs I couldn’t clear without taking the printer apart. At least on my previous Canon, I could go months between prints and I could fire the thing up and it would clean itself and then print with no issues. I would hope Epson is now at that point but I didn’t want to risk it yet.

I have a Brother monochrome laser and it’s having some print quality issues. I’m hoping a cartridge swap will fix it, but if not, I don’t think I’m going to try replacing the drum and will probably get a new laser. I might even go color laser as well, just for quick proofs.

The home colour lasers are not all that good.

Brother drums are supposed to be replaced at 30k print I think.

 

[Rottie]

I love all of Canon printers in the past and most of them have no major issues. I think yo will not go wrong with new Canon AIO printers.
Good luck!