What's a good $100-200 printer for printing up digital pics?!

[StageLeft]

$200 is a pretty hard ceiling. $100 would be nice

Quality is important, but I also want to get cheap supplies. The beautiful thing about my Canon S330, for instance, is that new black cartriges are under $7 retail. So, a photo printer I would love if the cartriges were not too expensive.

It would be nice to have one with a built in scanner, but that will probably mean corners cut elsewhere, so it's not a necessity. The little screens are cute on them, but for me I can't see how they'd be of any use, and dito on the ones with built in card readers. So, ideally I just need something streamlined without extra crap, with cheap cartriges, and high quality. Thanks!

EDIT: 5X7 is probably as big as we need. I wonder is the IP5000 by canon a good score? (Oh, I see scorpio recommended it. Nice!)

 

[Jotho]

I can't recommend a specific model, but I've been pretty happy with my Espon Stylus C80 for photos from a 3.1 MP camera. Also, I have been VERY impressed with Epson's customer support - prompt, friendly, and ready to help!

 

[SKORPI0]

Canon Pixma iP5000 9600 x 2400 color dpi, street price $199.99.


Newegg - $178 + 7.50 shipping

 

[Griffinhart]

I'm using the Epson R200. I'm very happy with the quality of the prints. Added bonus is that it will also print directly onto Printable CD's and DVD's.R200

 

[randomlinh]

the ip4000 would probably do well too, or the 3000 even. canon paper is expensive though. On my s820, Office Depot paper worked very well as a substitute. Not sure on these newer ones tho, if you check the dpreview.com forums, you should find some info on what alternative paper works best.

 

[StageLeft]

Oh, also are these printers going to offer better quality prints than what you get at the normal $.30-per-print booths in walmart, costco, etc.?

 

[StageLeft]

OK the IP3000-5000 all look good. I think the 3000 is probably better than the 4k because it's about $50 cheaper and only a slight loss of dpiXdpi. The 5000 of course offers nice, high quality. The r200 I'm very interested in though because printing on cds is neat, plus it's cheap. I suppose ink costs would be the clincher.

 

[Mem]

OK the IP3000-5000 all look good.

I would go with one of the Canon models ,which one depends on your price and exact requirements,also Canon inks for both own brand and third party are cheapest you can buy,plus no head clogging problems like you get on Epson printers.

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
OK the IP3000-5000 all look good. I think the 3000 is probably better than the 4k because it's about $50 cheaper and only a slight loss of dpiXdpi. The 5000 of course offers nice, high quality. The r200 I'm very interested in though because printing on cds is neat, plus it's cheap. I suppose ink costs would be the clincher.

My mom has the Pixma 3000 with her powershot A400 and the 4x6 prints look great. We've printed out about two dozen photos (4x6 only) so far and all of them have come out excellent. Very nice color, nothing looks washed out or saturated. Pretty easy to use regardless of if you're printing directly from the camera (only works with certain canon models) or through a computer. I highly recommend it.

 

[montag451]

i use an epson r300, the compatibles don't differ greatly from the original cartridges, and are about 1/6th the price!

can also print directly from the memory card [sd/cf/xd] and use the printer as a memory card reader when it is connected to the pc

 

[Zepper]

The Canon iP4000 is very good and has sold for as little as $100. in recent days. The iP5000 can give you a bit of extra sharpness, but I'm not so sure it's worth the extra $$$s over the 4000. IAC, be sure to grab the latest drivers off the Canon site to install in case the ones on the CD are still the originals.
.bh.

 

[dino8031]

I have an IP4000 and love it. The best part is that the ink cartridges are very reasonable. Buy good quality photo paper in bulk packs of 60 or more. HP Premium Plus paper also works fine as the Canon paper is very expensive.

The printer is fast, quiet and produces great quality prints. I think I paid around $135 for mine from NewEgg just before Christmas.

 

[StageLeft]

I bought the IP4000. I wanted the 3000 but bestbuy didn't have it and I had some serious gift certificate action on the go. Frankly I'm still not sure how the 4000 is better than the 3000 besides a marginal increase in printing speed and an extra ink tank. Can somebody say how it's better? Anyway, off to unpack it now!

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Mem]

an somebody say how it's better?

IP3000 is a 4 ink cart printer,IP4000 is a 5 ink cart printer(has two blacks one for text and one for photo printing plus the usual cyan,yellow,magenta(5 in total)..

IP4000 is also slightly faster on speed for both text and photo prints.

For more info
click here ,then in the models compare box.

 

[Zepper]

As per Mem, with the 4000 your photo printing should look a bit better and it's supposed to be faster but probably not enough that you would notice. The print head unit is completely different - much larger and has 256 more nozzles for the photo black. Plus you get - TADA - a parallel port as well as USB...
.bh.

 

[SynthDude2001]

I've had the iP4000 since September and I absolutely love it. :thumbsup:

 

[yhelothar]

canon i960

 

[MustISO]

For 4x6 prints you can't beat the Epson Picturemate. About .30 per photo.

 

[tm37]

I bought the wife a 500 for Xmas.

She loves it

 

[randomlinh]

in comparison to walmart photos.. it depends on the photo's, and how closely you plan on examining them. I can tell a difference if I sit there and try to look. Just flipping through for the purpose of enjoying photo's, works for me nicely. However... places like clubphoto and dotphoto are at .15/.19c each, plus some shipping. Costwise, I don't know if you can beat it these days, espeically if you throw in some misprints.

And I personally don't like 3rd party carts, they vary too much and the colors get off, and it's a PITA to calibrate.

 

[StageLeft]

Well I've only printed a few pics, and I'll compare the same ones done at a drug store later today, but first impression is excellent. Printing time is quite low. I'm still not sure if the $50 over the 3000 was worth it, but BB didn't have the 3k in stock, so that's that. In any case the 4X6 at least are pretty darn nice. In a few years I'll get a higher megapixel camera and upgrade the printer at that time, but for now it's very satisfactory. :thumbsup: Ink prices are not bad either. BB sells for $12/pop, which is $48 to replace the lot. That comparison link above actually claims 300-400 photos per set of ink. So that's about a dime per print in ink, and then the paper. It's no cheaper than a drug store, but convenience beats it out!

 

[Mem]

BB sells for $12/pop, which is $48 to replace the lot

I`m been using compatiable inks(Print Rite brand which are very good) cost me like £8 ($15) to replace the whole lot on my i865 Canon (5 ink printer),plus free delivery as well .


I`ve saved so much money over the years by buying good quality third party cartridges,FYI never had any head clogging problems with my Canon printer.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Well I've only printed a few pics, and I'll compare the same ones done at a drug store later today, but first impression is excellent. Printing time is quite low. I'm still not sure if the $50 over the 3000 was worth it, but BB didn't have the 3k in stock, so that's that. In any case the 4X6 at least are pretty darn nice. In a few years I'll get a higher megapixel camera and upgrade the printer at that time, but for now it's very satisfactory. :thumbsup: Ink prices are not bad either. BB sells for $12/pop, which is $48 to replace the lot. That comparison link above actually claims 300-400 photos per set of ink. So that's about a dime per print in ink, and then the paper. It's no cheaper than a drug store, but convenience beats it out!

I'd believe it. Maybe not quite as high as 300 or more, but still the ink usage is quite impressive. I bought my printer at the beginning of September, and since then I've printed out well over 100 photos, as well as hundreds of pages of text-type stuff (mostly lecture notes and the like). I'm still on the original ink cartridges, and finally within the past week two of them are shown as being low (although I looked and I can still probably get several more weeks of use out of them ).

 

[joanneL2]

I agree about the Epson PictureMate for $199 (deals if you look for them). BUT you ARE limited to 4x6's but I swear they are absolutely equal to a Kodak print in quality!!

 

[MrMiyagi]

I'm still not quite sure why anyone would buy a printer limited w/ 4x6 prints only. You can print 4x6's in a regular printer that are just as good and have a much, much more useable product.

Anyway, I just picked up the Epson R320 from best buy for $199. The picture quality is as good, if not better than the IP5000 and it's packed with extra features such as mem card reader, lcd screen for viewing pics, and prints directly on printable CD/DVD's.

I really looked close at the R300 vs the IP5000 and just couldn't pass up the bonuses on the Epson, I had no reasons to get the Canon.