Photo printer help

[stirinthesauce]

For you other photographers, got any recommendations on photo printers that won't break the bank?  I need one that can print 8x10's as that is primarily what I print.  I'm really frustrated, as living in rural area, I'm relegated to either the drugstore or wallmart    for my print needs.  Too many times I get home and after examining, prints are smeared, ink drips, etc. that makes them unusable. 

I've heard Epson's are fantastic, but which one?  The one I've been looking at was $319 at Best Buy.  Out of my budget.  Any other brands or another epson model (lower price) that I should look at or another place to order cheaper?  I'm really at a loss. 

[stirinthesauce]

fuckit, went to Wallmart (after the drugstore ruined $30 worth of prints).  Ordered my prints, no option for glossy or matte.  The guy at the counter "we only do matte here"    

Bought a canon pixma iP800.  Hope it doesn't suck to bad.  Says it does up to 8.5x11 so all my needs.  I figure I shoot a canon, a canon photo printer can't be that bad, right?  Well, hope it doesn't go to ebay next week.  Anyone with experience with the pixma line?



Edited to add:  Photo print quality is very nice.  Looks to be a good printer.  Price of ink, now that will be another story I'm sure 

[eric.B]

fuckit, went to Wallmart (after the drugstore ruined $30 worth of prints).  Ordered my prints, no option for glossy or matte.  The guy at the counter "we only do matte here"    

Bought a canon pixma iP800.  Hope it doesn't suck to bad.  Says it does up to 8.5x11 so all my needs.  I figure I shoot a canon, a canon photo printer can't be that bad, right?  Well, hope it doesn't go to ebay next week.  Anyone with experience with the pixma line?



Edited to add:  Photo print quality is very nice.  Looks to be a good printer.  Price of ink, now that will be another story I'm sure 

hey hey.. Ive been using a canon pixma 300 for a couple years and like the results with 8x10's..  I think you'll like the 800..

[phanophish]

Canon and Epson are pretty much the way to go for quality photo printers.  Even the cheap ones output very good quality images.  The ink will kill ya though.  I've pretty much given up printing my own photos.  I just get too good of quality from places like White House Custom Color and MPix.  I can upload prints and have them in the mail in about 48-72 hours.  8x10s cost about $2 shipping is reasonable and the image quality blows any of the mini lab type (WalMart/Drugstore) places away.  I also like the option of paper types and larger prints.  I personally don't care for glossy prints, the reflections drive me nuts.  I really like the e surface that Mpix and others offer.  Not glossy, but still has great saturation.

[stirinthesauce]

Canon and Epson are pretty much the way to go for quality photo printers.  Even the cheap ones output very good quality images.  The ink will kill ya though.  I've pretty much given up printing my own photos.  I just get too good of quality from places like White House Custom Color and MPix.  I can upload prints and have them in the mail in about 48-72 hours.  8x10s cost about $2 shipping is reasonable and the image quality blows any of the mini lab type (WalMart/Drugstore) places away.  I also like the option of paper types and larger prints.  I personally don't care for glossy prints, the reflections drive me nuts.  I really like the e surface that Mpix and others offer.  Not glossy, but still has great saturation.

Thanks for the feedback and +t.  I'll check into those sites as there are some prints I want bigger than 8x10.

[Frank in JC]

fuckit, went to Wallmart (after the drugstore ruined $30 worth of prints).  Ordered my prints, no option for glossy or matte.  The guy at the counter "we only do matte here"    

Bought a canon pixma iP800.  Hope it doesn't suck to bad.  Says it does up to 8.5x11 so all my needs.  I figure I shoot a canon, a canon photo printer can't be that bad, right?  Well, hope it doesn't go to ebay next week.  Anyone with experience with the pixma line?

Edited to add:  Photo print quality is very nice.  Looks to be a good printer.  Price of ink, now that will be another story I'm sure 

The price/performance ratio of printers today is ridiculous.  I recently bought a Canon Pixma i6700D for $90 (after rebate).  I just wanted something to mess around with for the time being, and I was amazed to find the results were far better than what I consider "messing around" quality. 

As people have mentioned, color calibration is an issue... something I need to learn more about.  My prints always look a bit different than what I anticipated.  The screen on my laptop doesn't help--it produces a beautiful image but the contrast changes dramatically with the viewing angle so it's nearly impossible to say what's "right." 

It's obviously a better idea to have photos printed on a Fuji Frontier, but it's so much fun to do them at home.  Hey, it's cheaper to buy recorded music instead of recording it ourselves, but that's no fun.  (To be honest, that's not a fair comparison since a concert recording is often/usually BETTER than any commercial product, but I digress...)

[stirinthesauce]

Just remembered something from the photog workshop I was in the summer.  There is a spray to put over all your home prints (forget the name) that can be had at any hobby/art supply shop.  It is used for watercolors or your chalk style artwork, to keep the colors from smearing.  Supposed to be great on glossy prints.  Anybody remember the name of what I'm talking about?

[phanophish]

The price/performance ratio of printers today is ridiculous.  I recently bought a Canon Pixma i6700D for $90 (after rebate).  I just wanted something to mess around with for the time being, and I was amazed to find the results were far better than what I consider "messing around" quality. 

As people have mentioned, color calibration is an issue... something I need to learn more about.  My prints always look a bit different than what I anticipated.  The screen on my laptop doesn't help--it produces a beautiful image but the contrast changes dramatically with the viewing angle so it's nearly impossible to say what's "right." 

It's obviously a better idea to have photos printed on a Fuji Frontier, but it's so much fun to do them at home.  Hey, it's cheaper to buy recorded music instead of recording it ourselves, but that's no fun.  (To be honest, that's not a fair comparison since a concert recording is often/usually BETTER than any commercial product, but I digress...)

Color calibration is why I finally gave up on printing locally.  I have a Pantone Huey that I calibrate my displays with and the color matching from the printer is just not there.  You can buy a coloromiter for print but they run in the neighborhood of $400-500 for the basic ones and you need to calibrate regularly (every 2-3 weeks).  I purchased my Huey for the monitor for about $100 and am so glad I did.  I color correct on screen and then just send it to the lab for print.  Also be sure to stay aware of varying color spaces as the have an impact on how color is reproduced.

[Frank in JC]

Also be sure to stay aware of varying color spaces as the have an impact on how color is reproduced.
[/quote]

That brings up a good question.  I've been using the D200 set to Adobe RGB, color mode III but I'm not sure if that's the best setting since I haven't experimented much.  What's your experience?

[stirinthesauce]

Just remembered something from the photog workshop I was in the summer.  There is a spray to put over all your home prints (forget the name) that can be had at any hobby/art supply shop.  It is used for watercolors or your chalk style artwork, to keep the colors from smearing.  Supposed to be great on glossy prints.  Anybody remember the name of what I'm talking about?

Got it.  Workable fixatif by Krylon. 

[it-goes-to-eleven]

I've tried the krylon crystal clear. It provides good protection but is prone to delamination if the print is flexed at all, etc.

[stirinthesauce]

I've tried the krylon crystal clear. It provides good protection but is prone to delamination if the print is flexed at all, etc.

Thanks for the feedback.  I'll give that some consideration when using the fixatif.  Hopefully won't be an issue as what I actually do print, goes into a frame, into a local gallery.

[phanophish]

Also be sure to stay aware of varying color spaces as the have an impact on how color is reproduced.

That brings up a good question.  I've been using the D200 set to Adobe RGB, color mode III but I'm not sure if that's the best setting since I haven't experimented much.  What's your experience?
[/quote]

I'm not 100% sure the "best".  I shoot sRGB I believe, I'll have to look when I'm at home. I believe there are spaces that can represent a larger gamut of colors (Adobe RGB and the ProPhoto RGB) but this is where you can have conversion probelms.  The key issue is if a application or printer interprets the color space improperly you can wind up with washed out looking images.  If your printer does not accept and convert images in Adobe RGB properly then they will often look flat and lack contrast and saturation.  If you use Photoshop or Lightroom or whatever to convert the color space when the image is rendered for output then it gets the correct profile and conversion and will look fine.  Here's a few quick links, but this is one of those religion issues in the digital photo world, lots of opinions and none of them right for all situations.

http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/software/Adobe_digital_workflow/index-68.html

http://www.tipsfromthetopfloor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=93329&sid=b90266843d35a0ef0194eb1782e1369c

[stirinthesauce]

just wanted to update this.  I've decided, once again, to outsource my prints.  I want to publicly thank phanophish for the mpix recommendation and for the pantone huey recommendation.  I have finally recieved prints that I am truely happy with.  I was very anxious with opening the mail tonight as I was hoping for a decent pics.  They turned out perfect!  Extremely pleased.  Still yet to have checked with white house custom, I have to send in some test images so I will be doing that soon. 

Thanks phanophish for the excellent recommendations!   

+t

[Frank in JC]

just wanted to update this.  I've decided, once again, to outsource my prints.  I want to publicly thank phanophish for the mpix recommendation and for the pantone huey recommendation.  I have finally recieved prints that I am truely happy with.  I was very anxious with opening the mail tonight as I was hoping for a decent pics.  They turned out perfect!  Extremely pleased.  Still yet to have checked with white house custom, I have to send in some test images so I will be doing that soon. 

Thanks phanophish for the excellent recommendations!   

+t

When you say perfect, does that mean the prints look exactly like, or very close to, what you see on your screen?  With my my photo printer I always have to do some additional tweaking after the first print.  Maintaining a consistent color-space from shooting to printing is a bigger challenge than I expected.