Question on Printers


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larlee

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Nov 24, 2004
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Hi all,

Can someone please advise on the difference between a normal colour printer and a photo printer?

I understand those normal printers usually comes with 3 colours and 1 black whereas those photo printers come with 6 colours.
 

larlee said:
Hi all,

Can someone please advise on the difference between a normal colour printer and a photo printer?

I understand those normal printers usually comes with 3 colours and 1 black whereas those photo printers come with 6 colours.
Not necessary. Canon advertises some of their 3 colours 1 black printers like iP3000, i850, i560, i550, i475D as photo printers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, with improvements in inkjet technology, the difference in quality between so-called normal and photo printers has decreased and the term photo printer is more of a marketing term.

There is no fixed defination to a photo printer but my guess is that a photo printer should be able to accept different variety of media, have sufficient print quality to give photo-like results, may accept direct printing from camera or memory card and may have individual ink tanks or more more than 4 inks (CMYK).
 

CY_OH said:
Not necessary. Canon advertises some of their 3 colours 1 black printers like iP3000, i850, i560, i550, i475D as photo printers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, with improvements in inkjet technology, the difference in quality between so-called normal and photo printers has decreased and the term photo printer is more of a marketing term.

There is no fixed defination to a photo printer but my guess is that a photo printer should be able to accept different variety of media, have sufficient print quality to give photo-like results, may accept direct printing from camera or memory card and may have individual ink tanks or more more than 4 inks (CMYK).
I thought that with the extra 'colours', the colour space of the printer might increase or something and also the graduation of colours would be better... Otherwise all printers would just use 3 colours! :bsmilie:

Cheers,
Nick
 

nickmak said:
I thought that with the extra 'colours', the colour space of the printer might increase or something and also the graduation of colours would be better... Otherwise all printers would just use 3 colours! :bsmilie:

Cheers,
Nick
Yes, 6 colours will give a better image than 4 colours but the difference is quite small. I myself own Canon i850 with 4 inks.The 4 colours image may have less shadow detail and lighter blacks but the print looks photo realistic by itself with hardly any signs of ink droplets.

I believe it would be quite difficult to tell whether a inkjet print comes from a 4 colour of 6 colour printer without anything to compare to. The differences show when you look closely at 2 identical images printed with different printers.
 

But how come 4 colours like the iP3000 is so much cheaper than iP6000? It should have some difference in terms of picture quality right?

If we compared it with the photo development shop, will there be any difference in terms of picture quality?

If I am not wrong, I believe that printing 4R in the shop would be cheaper rather than printing it yourself whereas if you print bigger pictures, it would be cheaper to print it yourself. Am I right?

If I have a Canon Digicam, must I use a Canon printer? Can I still use HP or Epson? what's the diff between these printers?
 

larlee said:
But how come 4 colours like the iP3000 is so much cheaper than iP6000? It should have some difference in terms of picture quality right?

If we compared it with the photo development shop, will there be any difference in terms of picture quality?

If I am not wrong, I believe that printing 4R in the shop would be cheaper rather than printing it yourself whereas if you print bigger pictures, it would be cheaper to print it yourself. Am I right?

If I have a Canon Digicam, must I use a Canon printer? Can I still use HP or Epson? what's the diff between these printers?
The best way to compare is to have to same image printed on 4 ink, 6 ink printer and photo lab and see for yourself the differences. I have seen different images printed using different Canon printers on display and could not notice a significant difference at normal viewing distances. The differences would probably show comparing the same images, or viewing under a loupe or at close viewing distances.

It is cheaper to print at lab for 4R and cheaper at home for 5R and larger.

If camera and printer are both Pictbridge compliant, their brands do not matter and the camera can be connected directly to the printer to obtain prints. If either device is not Pictbridge compliant, they would only work with the same brand.
 

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