OT - need and inkjet photo printer

[Chris French]

Want to get a printer for printing out photos. (we have a colour laser for general printing)

We normally get any photos we want printed out done by mail order in or one of the supermarket automatic machines.

But eldest daughter is doing some photography as part of an art course and it would be useful to be able to decent prints at home.

I last bought an inkjet printer about 15 years ago and have no idea of what would be a good choice right now? Any recommendations?

I realise the whole basis of the economics of inkjet printers, so that is an issue, but this will only be used for photos so not so much of a concern as for a general printer.

Only requirement is for a wired network or wifi connection.

Thanks

[Graham.]

Given that this will be a dedicated photo printer, it might be a good idea to look at 8X10 dye sublimation printers.

[Chris French]

In message , Graham. writes

A quick search doesn't seem to turn up anything much, other than things like the little Canon Selphy, expensive to run and only 6x4 or expensive (multiple x £100's) things

[alan_m]

The cost of a print may be more important than absolute quality.

I find it hard to tell the difference between prints made on my fairly cheap (4 colour) Epson 'photo' printer using compatible ink cartridges costing around £1.50 per cartridge and prints of the same made by way of a photo print service.

You can get a inkjet printer and use the manufactures branded paper and inks and have a guarantee that the prints will not fade for n months/years. You could use the same printer with cheaper photo paper and 'compatible' inks at a tenth of the cost but maybe the print will fade or subtly change colour in half the time. As part as an arts course prints submitted in a folder and kept out of direct sunlight maybe will be OK with the cheapest of papers/inks.

Epson have a reputation that the print heads clog up but in my experience is that if you print a couple of times a week using all colours the print heads remain reliable.

[cl]

Does it matter much if the prints fade as long as you keep the digital original safely?

[Old Codger]

My experience suggests that is probably true. However, I didn't print every week so always found the heads clogged, often uncleanably. I eventually threw it away and bought a cannon (actually I ended up with two cannon printers one up to date at the time and one a bit older). It doesn't seem to matter how long these Cannon printers are left unused (one is rarely used) they always clean their heads and produce good photo prints. I use cheap compatibles from 7DayShop.com so am not too worried about the amount of ink used in cleaning the heads. These are not network printers and are now out of date but I will buy Cannon again when I need a new printer.

[Nightjar]

As a general rule, the more ink colours, the better the print quality. I would consider six colours to be the minimum for a dedicated photo printer, but more will be better. Assuming it will get fairly regular use, I would go for an Epson printer, as you can get good compatible cartridges (I recommend G&G, which I imported when I was in the business) at a reasonable price.

[Mark]

Im biased as i have 4 Canon printers and never had a printhead clog the Canon Pixma pro 100 is what i would be looking to buy if i had to get a new photo printer or a Pixma IP7250 if the pro is more then you want to pay.

-

[Nightjar]

On 09/11/2014 23:59, Mark wrote: ...

I've had about a dozen Epson printers and never had a print head clog.

[Adam Aglionby]

My Epson 600 clogged regularly but lasted 10+ years, Epson R200 was six col our that printed in the 10s of thousands of sheets with little cleaning , c urrent Epson WF someat is an over featured pile of plastic crap that can`t keep a nozzle clean for 3 days straight.

Wasn`t a consumer orientated 6 colour Epson at time R200 jammed its last sh eet. Mebbe Epson have improved range and quality again in last 18 months.

Epson are piezo head Canon are thermal as far as remember.

[Adam Aglionby]

Gonna have to do somewhat better than this, did someone say Canon , what are current crop of HPs like?

Inkjet Printers

Now showing 1 - 0 of 0 products

[Martin Brown]

How decent do you want them? And at what maximum size.

The hard one is to do neutral monochrome prints and printers that can do that really well tend to be a lot more expensive.

I am reasonably pleased with my new A3+ Canon Pixma iX6500 (which I got to replace my ageing i9000 after it lost its magic smoke last year).

I chose it because it will accept clone inks BC525/6 and if you don't chose the cheapest and nastiest they seem to work pretty well. Print quality is about the same as its predecessor.

Some of the combo scanner printer devices that use the same inks are also not a bad choice for this sort of thing. Basically they will get you on the consumables if you are not careful so it is worth researching for ones that will work well on clone inks.

Worth also finding a cheaper glossy or matt paper that is "Good enough" and sticking with it. The prints might not last as long but the original Canon papers are only worth using for best.

[Martin Brown]

Only if you keep them in the dark. I have used both OEM inks and clone inks at various times and there is visible fading after about two weeks outside in sunlight under Perspex or a month under window glass.

Magenta fades first followed by yellow. The cyan image survives almost indefinitely - it is all that is left on a 10 year old print.

It is certainly true that clone inks are not as accurately calibrated nor as stable. But you can test the photo stability by putting a print on a S facing windowsill and monitoring it.

My Canon has never clogged with intermittent use (but then neither did my Epson before it). Choice media and clone inks to match is key to keeping the running costs down. I think Canon does have a slightly better reputation for print heads staying clean.

[HarpingOn]

I have a Selphy CP-510 that I've had for a long time. Still can get consumables and the 6x4 quality is excellent. It's not quick mind. I tend to use it for photo montages for gifts, and for prints to go in my shoe box of physical archive prints.

[spuorgelgoog]

It may be worth checking with the institution.

I've known people desperately trying to find a laser printer on the afternoon of submission day having just realised that the university would not accept inkjet-printed theses.

I have laser-printed photos (A4 size) framed behind glass (included fake monochrome and sepia effect) and people don't realise or don't believe they're laser prints. I don't know if that's good enough for an art degree though.

Owain

[Chris French]

Oh it's nothing as fancy as a degree :-) and there are no particular requirements.

She doing an Arts Award course

Our laser printer doesn't do particularly well with photos though

[Chris French]

Thanks, wondering how I would identify the make of cartridge when buying though, as that tends not to be given.

[Nightjar]

This is the business I sold. SFAIK, Martin is still buying from G&G, but you could always telephone and ask him.

[whisky-dave]

I've had less than that and they do get clogged. But the utility usually sorts it out but wastes a bit of ink. I find leaving teh printer on, even when I'm not using it for days helps.

I've heard the Epson Stylus Photo R2880 and Epson Stylus Pro 3800 depending on the size print you want and the price are good photo printers perhaps ask on a photo group.

[Nightjar]

My printers generally only get turned off when I'm going on holiday for a week or more and they get regular use, so fresh ink flows through the heads most days. They have also never been used in very dry environments; too dry an atmosphere can encourage the ink to dry out in the heads.