Looking for a good photo printer

[fLum0x]

Even though these have been out for some time, I have never researched any of them. I am looking for a normal printer and a nice photo printer for home/personal use. Where should i start? Anyone have any suggestions?

I am also assuming i could get a really good one for under $300. Is that correct?

 

[mruffin75]

I personally gave up on the whole photo printing at home option a long time ago... not because of the print quality..I was impressed with the quality (HP Deskjet 5550 at the time), but it didn't make sense dollar wise..
When you can get photos professionally done these days for 15c each, you could print 2000 prints to reach the cost of the printer (say $300). Then when you factor in the cost of the paper and ink... it didn't really seem worth it to us...

If you're after the convenience of printing at home...then by all means...but the quality you get from a photo printer will never quite be the same as from a professional photo place..

 

[callmesteve]

They say the Canon Pixma series are good but as mruffin75 has stated, why go that route when you can get perfectly high quality pictures for 15cents at the KodakGallery. If you do a package you can get them for 12cents at shutterfly.

 

[Rottie]

If you are in a hurry to print photo then get a Canon Pixma series printer. If you have so much time then go for Shutterfly or KodakGallery.

 

[mruffin75]

I'd like to also mention mpix.com as a good place to get photo's done....their matte paper gives the best impression of professional photo quality I've seen. We've used matte paper from other places but it doesn't look or feel as professional.

I don't have any financial links to mpix...just a satisfied customer..

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: mruffin75
I personally gave up on the whole photo printing at home option a long time ago... not because of the print quality..I was impressed with the quality (HP Deskjet 5550 at the time), but it didn't make sense dollar wise..
When you can get photos professionally done these days for 15c each, you could print 2000 prints to reach the cost of the printer (say $300). Then when you factor in the cost of the paper and ink... it didn't really seem worth it to us...

If you're after the convenience of printing at home...then by all means...but the quality you get from a photo printer will never quite be the same as from a professional photo place..

It can be the same... but you need to drop a few more $$$. I've seen some $600 printers do just as well as the lab. Even the cheaper ones will blow away most 1 hour places.

But I used to feel the same way about the lab verus home printing. But I can do a much better job on my 4X6's than Walgreens or Sam's club (two closest decent 1 hour places). I paid $39 shipped for a new previous model Epson picture mate personal photo lab. I can buy a 100 sheets/ink kit for $25.

So its 8-10 cents more per print... but I love the convenience. I can also control the color a lot better. With Walgreens and Sams its hit or miss depending on who is running the machine.

For larger prints or orders, I use Mpix. Great quality, awesome color control so I know what I am going to get back. Plus, I have submitted $300 orders at 2:00 in the afternoon and had the prints on my doorstep the next day.

 

[alfa147x]

I dont know much about printers but my canon pixma does a good job

 

[mruffin75]

Originally posted by: rudder

So its 8-10 cents more per print... but I love the convenience. I can also control the color a lot better. With Walgreens and Sams its hit or miss depending on who is running the machine.

For larger prints or orders, I use Mpix. Great quality, awesome color control so I know what I am going to get back. Plus, I have submitted $300 orders at 2:00 in the afternoon and had the prints on my doorstep the next day.

I don't think I'd *ever* go to Walgreen's/CVS/Sam's Club for photos...ever again at least...

We had to submit some photos once quickly...so we decided to upload them to the Walgreens website and pick them up at the closest store...

Well...luckily they didn't *have* to be good quality...because the pictures looked as if they were printed on an inkjet that hadn't been used in 3 years and half the colors had dried up and resulted in lots of color banding.

Kodak Gallery are fine for photos...but their shipping (at least to us), is really slow..

Mpix on the other hand usually gets them to us a lot quicker...and their photo paper quality is awesome..

 

[QueBert]

I don't know the exact per picture cost, but I have a Canon with a CIS (Continous Ink System) and if I get paper when it's on sale, or just for a good price I think I can pretty much beat the price of any printing service. The quality might be slightly less, but I don't have to drive anywhere. And the finished product if it is worse, it's not enough for anyone to notice. I have 4 ounce ink bottles on my printer and I can probably churn 4x6's out for about 12 cents I'd extimate. The ink NEVER runs out, I can print like 100 in a week and my bottles all still look full. If you wanna do a lot of printing and don't want to hassle with going to a store to get prints, CIS's are amazing if you get the right one. I've seen 32 ounce ink bottles, you could probably print about 20,000 with that much ink

 

[Jawo]

Originally posted by: QueBert
I don't know the exact per picture cost, but I have a Canon with a CIS (Continous Ink System) and if I get paper when it's on sale, or just for a good price I think I can pretty much beat the price of any printing service. The quality might be slightly less, but I don't have to drive anywhere. And the finished product if it is worse, it's not enough for anyone to notice. I have 4 ounce ink bottles on my printer and I can probably churn 4x6's out for about 12 cents I'd extimate. The ink NEVER runs out, I can print like 100 in a week and my bottles all still look full. If you wanna do a lot of printing and don't want to hassle with going to a store to get prints, CIS's are amazing if you get the right one. I've seen 32 ounce ink bottles, you could probably print about 20,000 with that much ink

Huh....I might look into that. Can any Canon printer be rerofitted to use the CIS?

When I need prints, I usually send them to Costco...16 cents/print and very fast turnaround. Last time I submitted the order at 12:15 am and got confirmation that they were ready at 1:45 am!

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: Jawo

Originally posted by: QueBert
I don't know the exact per picture cost, but I have a Canon with a CIS (Continous Ink System) and if I get paper when it's on sale, or just for a good price I think I can pretty much beat the price of any printing service. The quality might be slightly less, but I don't have to drive anywhere. And the finished product if it is worse, it's not enough for anyone to notice. I have 4 ounce ink bottles on my printer and I can probably churn 4x6's out for about 12 cents I'd extimate. The ink NEVER runs out, I can print like 100 in a week and my bottles all still look full. If you wanna do a lot of printing and don't want to hassle with going to a store to get prints, CIS's are amazing if you get the right one. I've seen 32 ounce ink bottles, you could probably print about 20,000 with that much ink

Huh....I might look into that. Can any Canon printer be rerofitted to use the CIS?

When I need prints, I usually send them to Costco...16 cents/print and very fast turnaround. Last time I submitted the order at 12:15 am and got confirmation that they were ready at 1:45 am!

Not sure how CIS's work with newer canons with the chips, the majority of CIS setups I see are for Epsons. There are a lot of crap CIS's out there, I recommend going to Google and searching for Niagara, their setups cost more but the quality is great, cheap CIS's are a nightmare when you have to constantly deal with clogging and air bubbles. I don't do a lot of printing, but I have at my disposal the configuration to print as much as I need.

I wouldn't say a CIS is a good investment for most, but I love mine and nothing beats having huge jugs of ink that seem to never run out.

 

[Jawo]

Originally posted by: QueBert

Originally posted by: Jawo

Originally posted by: QueBert
I don't know the exact per picture cost, but I have a Canon with a CIS (Continous Ink System) and if I get paper when it's on sale, or just for a good price I think I can pretty much beat the price of any printing service. The quality might be slightly less, but I don't have to drive anywhere. And the finished product if it is worse, it's not enough for anyone to notice. I have 4 ounce ink bottles on my printer and I can probably churn 4x6's out for about 12 cents I'd extimate. The ink NEVER runs out, I can print like 100 in a week and my bottles all still look full. If you wanna do a lot of printing and don't want to hassle with going to a store to get prints, CIS's are amazing if you get the right one. I've seen 32 ounce ink bottles, you could probably print about 20,000 with that much ink

Huh....I might look into that. Can any Canon printer be rerofitted to use the CIS?

When I need prints, I usually send them to Costco...16 cents/print and very fast turnaround. Last time I submitted the order at 12:15 am and got confirmation that they were ready at 1:45 am!

Not sure how CIS's work with newer canons with the chips, the majority of CIS setups I see are for Epsons. There are a lot of crap CIS's out there, I recommend going to Google and searching for Niagara, their setups cost more but the quality is great, cheap CIS's are a nightmare when you have to constantly deal with clogging and air bubbles. I don't do a lot of printing, but I have at my disposal the configuration to print as much as I need.

I wouldn't say a CIS is a good investment for most, but I love mine and nothing beats having huge jugs of ink that seem to never run out.

Huh, thanks for the info. I don't print much, but my Canon Pixma MP760 produces stellar images when done correctly.

 

[ProfJohn]

My Epson Photo R340 does a great job with photos.

Might cost a little more thant CVS etc but much easier.

And once you place it behind a piece of glass or in a photo album you will not notice much difference between a decent photo printer and lab prints.

Try your local CompUSA before the close, might find some good deals, if they have any printers in stock.

 

[Rio Rebel]

I have an HP 5180, and I'm pretty disappointed with the print quality. I wanted an all in one, and I was enticed by the fact that it was networkable, has a dedicated photo tray, and separate inks. Not only is the print quality less than I expected, I am using drivers for the 3100 series because I have an installation issue with Vista and they want to charge an outrageous amount for tech support.

I was one of the most loyal HP customers (for printers, at least) that I know. So much for that.

 

[Brainonska511]

My parents' HP Officejet 6110 (with a photo black cartridge instead of the normal black one) prints nice 4x6s; I don't know about anything larger on that. At school, I have access to an HP Designjet which I use to print up to 13x19" photos on (they make nice posters for my room).