What is a Good Qualtity Photo printer and cheap to run

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Adam G

Iam looking for a good photo printer to use in a home office. It needs
to be of high qualtity and also have low runing cost. I already have a
laser for all my black and white printing needs so this will be only
used for photos. I have a sony Digital cammera 2 megapix. These will
be the main photos that i need to print.

Thanks for your Help(In advance)
 
I have an Epson C80 here at home, and have been pretty happy with it. It's not the
absolute greatest top-of-the-line photo printer, but it's quite a bit better than my HP at
work that cost about $150 more.

The C80 has been replaced by the C82, if I remember correctly.

It has separate ink tanks for each color, so you don't have to buy a whole 3-color
cartridge when you are low on just one ink.

Seems like you should be able to get a C82 for around $120 or so.
 
Iam looking for a good photo printer to use in a home office. It needs
to be of high qualtity and also have low runing cost. I already have a
laser for all my black and white printing needs so this will be only
used for photos. I have a sony Digital cammera 2 megapix. These will
be the main photos that i need to print.

Thanks for your Help(In advance)
Click to expand...


Probably Canon's i950 printer will best suit your needs. Cheap to run,
low ink costs, extremly sharp and vivid output, 6-ink printing,
doesn't clog, replaceable printhead, very fast.
I don't know about those 2MP on your camera, perhaps the quality would
be higher if you had a 3MP camera.

OR

Epson 950/960. The quality is on par with Canon i950. It's also cheap
to run, can print on wide variety of Epson papers, can print on a roll
and then cut it so you will get 4x6" pics.
The problem here is that it may seriously clog if you don't use it for
2-3 weeks. Another thing is the speed. It is sloooooooow when compared
to Canon i950. You may wait even about 20 mins for highest quality A4
photo (2-3 mins on Canon).

Personally I recommend Canon i950 - you won't have to baby sit it like
Epson and there are less problems with it (as mentioned: doesn't
clog!).

Finally, the costs. Epson is more expensive than Canon and its inks
run out a bit faster... But Epson has a wide variety of papers which
are quite cheap. (Archival ratings almost the same).


Here's a link to compare Canon i950 and Epson 960(950) photo
quality:

http://www.dp-now.com/cgi-bin/forum/forum.pl/read/5661

Well done Canon i950 review:

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Canon i950/page_1.htm



Wayne
 
On 28 Jun 2003 14:59:17 -0700, (e-mail address removed) (Wayne) wrote:

but between the i950 & the Epson 950/960 -- which has the longer life
of the prints b4 they begin to fade?

also, are these both 2 picoliters (is that the correct term)?
Probably Canon's i950 printer will best suit your needs. Cheap to run,
low ink costs, extremly sharp and vivid output, 6-ink printing,
doesn't clog, replaceable printhead, very fast.
I don't know about those 2MP on your camera, perhaps the quality would
be higher if you had a 3MP camera.

OR

Epson 950/960. The quality is on par with Canon i950. It's also cheap
to run, can print on wide variety of Epson papers, can print on a roll
and then cut it so you will get 4x6" pics.
The problem here is that it may seriously clog if you don't use it for
2-3 weeks. Another thing is the speed. It is sloooooooow when compared
to Canon i950. You may wait even about 20 mins for highest quality A4
photo (2-3 mins on Canon).

Personally I recommend Canon i950 - you won't have to baby sit it like
Epson and there are less problems with it (as mentioned: doesn't
clog!).

Finally, the costs. Epson is more expensive than Canon and its inks
run out a bit faster... But Epson has a wide variety of papers which
are quite cheap. (Archival ratings almost the same).


Here's a link to compare Canon i950 and Epson 960(950) photo
quality:

http://www.dp-now.com/cgi-bin/forum/forum.pl/read/5661

Well done Canon i950 review:

http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/interactive/Canon i950/page_1.htm



Wayne
Click to expand...

((.)) '))
((((((((
))(/)((
 
2nd question: do you need to use special photo cartridges on either
of these? (Canon or Epson)
((.)) '))
((((((((
))(/)((
 
Judy said:
2nd question: do you need to use special photo cartridges on either
of these? (Canon or Epson)
Click to expand...

The Canon i850 is a very good (not just good) photo printer. There
are just the four standard colors (4 separate cartridges), no special
photo cartridges. Running this printer becomes dirt cheap if you
refill it yourself. I use quality bulk ink.

I'd recommend staying away from Epson, their cartridges have electronic
security chips complicating refilling, and even causing erroneous
readings.
((.)) '))
((((((((
))(/)((
Click to expand...

What do the above mean, because I just don't see what I'm think I'm
supposed to be seeing.

-Taliesyn
 
The Canon i950 doesn't require you to swap cartridges, if that's what you're
asking; you load all six and leave them in. I'm pretty sure the Epson 960 is
the same, but haven't seen one.
 
but between the i950 & the Epson 950/960 -- which has the longer life
of the prints b4 they begin to fade?
Click to expand...

Almost the same 25-30 years (on the best Epson paper, prints can last
about 25-30 years, Canon - 25 years). But it heavily depends on the
conditions in which they are being stored so the may fade quicker or
last longer - generally both of them last 25 years.
2nd question: do you need to use special photo cartridges on either
of these? (Canon or Epson)
Click to expand...


No. They are PURE PHOTO PRINTERS so they don't need any additional
photo cartidges - they're shipped with the printer.
Canon has 6 inks (Cyan, Light Cyan, Magenta, Light Magenta, Yellow and
Black)while Epson 7 (two black inks - but when only one of them ends,
you will have to replace it and you cannot print with the second black
cartdige - strange).

Taliesyn said:
The Canon i850 is a very good (not just good) photo printer. There
are just the four standard colors (4 separate cartridges), no special
photo cartridges. Running this printer becomes dirt cheap if you
refill it yourself. I use quality bulk ink.
Click to expand...


Although the Canon i850 is a very good printer on printing photos, it
just doesn't match the quality of the 6-ink i950 or epson 960 - the
diffrence is quite big.
I850 is more an all-around printer than a dedicated photo printer so
if you need a printer that will print mainly photos, go with 6-ink
systems.
There are some exceptions though. I must say that i850 prints a lot
better photos than hp's 7150 and 7350 (6-ink printers) and is on par
with hp 5550 quality with 6 inks (i850 can be more vivid and the skin
tones (!) more realistic than those from 5550).
I'd recommend staying away from Epson, their cartridges have electronic
security chips complicating refilling, and even causing erroneous
readings.
Click to expand...

Yeah, those chips can sometimes be a bit inaccurate but almost
everytime they are right so it's not a big problem. They do complicate
refilling though.

Wayne
 
David Chien said:
Epson 825 (built-in card reader, prints w/o PC attached and with PC as a
regular printer). $129 or less
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=22708394

Otherwise, Epson 820 for $79
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/...ie=yes&oid=22966687&category=Ink+Jet+Printers
Even cheaper on www.ebay.com

These will have lowest printer costs out today.
Click to expand...

You've got to be kidding... Both of those Epson's have one black cartridge
and a color with all FIVE colors in it. So if light cyan runs out, you have
to replace the entire cartridge. The 820 seems much more prone to clogging
than other printers, from what I've read. No wonder it's only $50 now...
 
You've got to be kidding... Both of those Epson's have one black cartridge
and a color with all FIVE colors in it. So if light cyan runs out, you have
to replace the entire cartridge. The 820 seems much more prone to clogging
than other printers, from what I've read. No wonder it's only $50 now...
Click to expand...
I've an 825 and print quite a lot of glossy photos with it.
Ink colors all seem to run out about the same time. Since the
color cart typically is "on sale" at Fry's for $17 and it
typically seems to get about 100 borderless 4x6" glossy prints
from a cart this don't seem too bad. I knock off 4x6 give-aways
on the 825 and print 8x10 and larger on the 2200 for framing.
The seperate ink carts on the 2200 definitely do not run out
together. Each seems to be the same ink volume and costs about
$11 so this is a very good thing. I think the 870/825 cart has
different volumes for the differnet colors and seems to come out
about right most of the time.

I haven't seen any "cheap" printers with seperate carts and 6
colors.

Got my 825 for $80. $100 on sale from Best Buy with a $20 gift
card instant rebate at checkout.

No experience with the 820. Different printers use different
inks so its possible for some models to be turkeys! After all
Chevy made both the Nova and the Corvette!

--wally.
 
I would recommend the Epson 830U. I find it gives great quality prints and
is cheap to run, especially if you get your ink cartridges refilled.
Regards
Dave
 
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