what photo printer?

[binbeto]

What is the photo printer that you used now? Strength and weakness?

What is the printer that you regreted not buying instead of the present one? Why?

What is your new printer should you upgrade?

 

[enivre]

I donno if it's exaclty called a photo printer but I'm using the HP 1220C, it's an A3 printer...

Bought it not long ago, pretty happy with it... so far not much problems if any.. does wonderul prints even on plain paper, with photo paper it's almost like a photograph...

Oh got an A3 one coz I do a lot of design work...

Think it cost 600-700 bucks.. can't remember exactly how much

 

[Fundee]

i'm still using the epson photo 700...dunno how many years oredi. bought during the launch...planning to buy the 1290 to print A3 size...spec looks ok to me...

 

[Zoomer]

Epson 810

Colour photo prints are good, as advertised. Can't really see the dots at all, but that's to be expected. The colour is rather nice too - but depends on paper.

Disadvantages:
Sucky text printing, at least on plain paper. But text should be printed on plain paper anyway. No fight as compared against my old HP Deskjet 810. Can see noticable bleeding/ill defined, soft edges. No such thing on the hp, using the same paper. Note that this is at the quality setting - which is SLOW. At the draft setting too the quality totally sucks.

And if you don't print frequently, the print heads tend to clog up. :angry:

Epson........

 

[tanjk]

Actually, I'm eyeing the old Canon S800 since challenger is selling them at $328. I've seen the sample printouts for the Epson 810, looks pretty impressive for the price it commands. Then again, it is a well known secret that you have to 'sayang' (as in print something, just anything) the printer, otherwise high chances the head will clog. Bitten by Epson once, so now forever shy of buying another Epson ..... :embrass:

Regards,
JK

 

[Wai]

HP's new series of printers are good....tested and confirmed

much better than 9XX series in terms of photo quality

but then the ink cart also smaller than 9XX series

 

[roygoh]

Using Canon S9000.

13X19" size. Very fast (8X10 photo in less than 2 minutes). Beautiful prints.

The print head is removable. There has been many testimonials on the internet from people who managed to "de-clog" the print heads by running water through it.

I keep mine powered on all the time, make sure I print at least 1 page per week just to keep the ink flowing, and I have never had any problems with clogging since I've got it in May this year.

By the way, I am using Camel UltraFlo continuous inking system from www.weink.com. The cost of ink is about 1/10th the retail price of Canon ink catridges here in US.

- Roy

 

[pyre]

hi roygoh,

ahhh i am looking for a CIS system. is there a shop that brings these in? i admit i haven't tried looking at those specialty shops in SLS that handles printer ink carts.

out of curiosity do u also get banding issues with the s9k? i did a few test runs on a sample printer and did see slight banding problems even on high qual photo paper.

 

[Wai]

Originally posted by pyre

out of curiosity do u also get banding issues with the s9k? i did a few test runs on a sample printer and did see slight banding problems even on high qual photo paper.

this is print head fault or ink going to run out

sometimes even a brand new cart also can have this problem

 

[chenwei]

just wonder is it worth to get a photo printer? i feel that the printer, ink and paper price is much more expensive than develop right?

 

[roygoh]

Originally posted by pyre
hi roygoh,

ahhh i am looking for a CIS system. is there a shop that brings these in? i admit i haven't tried looking at those specialty shops in SLS that handles printer ink carts.

out of curiosity do u also get banding issues with the s9k? i did a few test runs on a sample printer and did see slight banding problems even on high qual photo paper.

So far no banding that is visible to the naked eye.

Due to the halftoning process used by canon printers, you will be able to see bands using a loupe. This has not bothered me. At normal viewing distance, there is no visible banding as far as I am concerned.

I think the Epson printers actually dither the dots so that there is no (micro-)banding.

Not sure about CIS systems' availability in Singapore. Sorry about that. I am staying in US and bought my ystem from www.weink.com. You might want to check if they ship overseas. Another company that I have heard of is inkjetgoodies.

One problem with photo printers is the colour profiling. I used to use original Canon catridges on Kodak Premium Picture Paper. Using the Canon Photo Paper Pro setting in the print manager, the output is horrible - with a lot of ink puddles. I then downloaded tan ICC profile for this paper and the ink puddling went away. I was very happy for a while until I switched to the CIS. The ink is supposed to be very close to Canon ink, but I could not get rid of the ink puddling even with the ICC profile.

So I got no choice and switched to using Epson Glossy Photo Paper. Thet got rid of the puddling but then there is a strong magenta cast. So now I have to tweek the colour adjustment manually in the print manager. I got pretty close to what I used to get but still not quite there yet.

The best solution for me now is to purchase the Profile Prism software (www.ddisoftware.com) and I can generate my own ICC profile for any ink-paper combination. The cost of that is US$69.

If you ask why I don't use Canon Photo Paper Pro, my answer is "price". Canon PPP cost about US$1 per 8X10 sheet (or even more). I can get the Kodak and Epson paper from Costco at US$0.20 per 8X10 sheet.

 

[pyre]

thanks for the feedback roygoh.

i know a fren of mine getting a CI system as well (another overseas chap). i will see what sort of experience he has with regards to the ICC (photo paper) profiling u mentioned earlier.

as for ordering CIS from overseas, yes it is possible - again depends on where u order from. but ur problems with the ICC profile is interesting and definitely requires further investigation.

again thanks.

 

[binbeto]

Originally posted by chenwei
just wonder is it worth to get a photo printer? i feel that the printer, ink and paper price is much more expensive than develop right?

if you buy to print 4R size. thne stick to developing labs... The saving comes with bigger saving as labs charge more for a huge print.

The saving might not be obvious in the initial stage as you will be wasting ink "testing" and figuring how to get the best result.

 

[roygoh]

Originally posted by binbeto


if you buy to print 4R size. thne stick to developing labs... The saving comes with bigger saving as labs charge more for a huge print.

The saving might not be obvious in the initial stage as you will be wasting ink "testing" and figuring how to get the best result.

That's very true.

I went for the CIS because I was printing a family album of my parent's visiting me in the US a few months back. I printed 2 5R photos on each 8X10 sheet, and filed the sheets using a ring folder with clear letter-sized pockets.

Before I got the profile for th Kodak paper, I wasted at least 30 sheets of 8X10 and approximately half a set of catridges trying to get the colour to be right...to no avail.

So you really need to think about how much of 8R and above do you intend to print before making the decision to buy.

 

[binbeto]

Anyone tried the hp 5550 or canon S750?

Read that this hp5550 print head comes with the cartridge. So, if the head is clogged. Just changed a cartridge.
Sound good to me who dun print often.

 

[nivlekx]

Originally posted by binbeto
Anyone tried the hp 5550 or canon S750?

Read that this hp5550 print head comes with the cartridge. So, if the head is clogged. Just changed a cartridge.
Sound good to me who dun print often.

I saw some demo prints... Quite good I must say for a $275 printer... But you do have to buy an extra photo cartridge though so that amounts to approximately $325... Hoping to get a discount at the upcoming COMEX... Any comments from someone who has first hand experience with it??...

 

[ckiang]

Whatever you choose, just avoid Lexmark. They are super duper cheap (<$100 for some models). But when the ink runs out, you can buy a new printer coz the cartridges cost something like $70.

Regards
CK

 

[erwinx]

canon photo paper pro costs about s$1.30/sheet in singapore.
i also use canon glossy photo paper which is about $0.75/sheet


banding issues etc.... test by printing image set at the 'native' resolution of the printer (eg: 300 dpi for canon, 360 dpi for epson) for important pics, better to interpolate (and sharpen) rather than sending a 274 dpi image for the printer driver to deal with.

 

[binbeto]

Originally posted by ckiang
Whatever you choose, just avoid Lexmark. They are super duper cheap (<$100 for some models). But when the ink runs out, you can buy a new printer coz the cartridges cost something like $70.

Regards
CK

$70?!!!

I know lemark and HP use the same theory that the cartridge came with the head.

Is hp cartridge as expensive?

 

[enivre]

My HP one cost 50 bucks for colour..

But for the amount I print it's pretty worth it...