Santa's Coming!

[mickeybb]

Santa just asked me what kind of printer he should bring me for Christmas and I said - 'Hold on, let me check the Zo!'. I've read all the threads regarding this issue but I've noticed some of them are quite old by technology standards. My first thought was one of the Canon i9000 series, but after reading the posts, it sounds like the Epson 2200 might be a better purchase, um gift from Santa. I will probably be printing smaller pictures for the most part, but would like to print out a quality large print occasionally and maybe even a panorama too. Does the same advice I've read still hold true or have there been any new developments?

[keithbales]

the question is, are you on the naughty or nice list, you may just get a lump of coal lol

Keith :cool:

[Infin8]

I'll bet you're nice Mickey :-D and I shall watch with interest to see what others recommend as i was toying with the same idea. ;-)

[trtjazz]

Mickey this is kind of a cool one, thought I am not a huge Epson fan, this one does soem pretty nice prints that I have seen and also prints directly on CDs, so if you put your photos on cds for others, you can also print a cd for them too.

LINK (http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0936857398.1100403 219@@@@&BV_EngineID=caddccfifkhdbfdmcfjgckidnf.0&cookies=no&oid=47915738)

Link edited by SHOUCHEN

Of course you can do the same thing with any other printer and cd labeling software, just not directly on the cd if that floats your boat.

I have seen the prints from the HP photosmarts too and the printing quality is very good too.

[Jan]

Mickey, The new Epson inks and paper are guarenteeing for 100 years, Don't know if this will help.
You must use Epson paper, the prints don't come out right on other paper. I think all companies are doing this now, so you have to buy their products.

Hope this may help! I am happy with the epson.

Cheers Jan

[CathieT]

Very nice for you Mickey..... Santa's bringing me a wide angle lens!!


Cheers
C

[Throughmyeyes]

If you get the 2200 make sure to do some net research on roll paper for panoramas, I've seen a large gap in prices for a 100' roll.

Also with Epson I have found that it will only do good prints on Epson paper while Canon can use epson, canon or many other high quality papers.

[JimL]

As I'm not selling anything that I personally print I just made a major change in the way I use printers. I have an Epson C-82 which uses archival ink and makes very good prints. Most of my printing was done making 4x6 or 5x7 prints and handing them out to family and friends. The rest was done for making CD labels and inserts for my personal mix CDs and back up photo CDs along with some business letters. I was at Walmart with $60.00 worth of ink replacements getting ready for my Christmas card printing splurge when I walked by this little Lexmart Z515 inkjet that was selling for $34.00 including two ink cartridges. There was a similiar deal ($39.00) for a Canon and a HP printer.
I figure that I can pay 29 cents per 4x6 at any kiosk (I prefer Fugi) which is cheaper than I can print them at home (including wasted prints) and pay a little premium for professional printing of the few larger photos I need to have made. I may buy a Brother Laser (model 1500 or 1700) black and white printer which costs 1.5 cents per page to print any documents I want to have a professional appearance.
In short I am just tired of the printer companies triying to steal from the poor (that would be me) and give to the rich (themselves).
I know that you can reload ink easily (I have a chip recharger and refill ink) but the printer companies are going out of their way to make sure that the personal user is held hostage to their ink and paper supplies if we want top quality prints. This is simply because we do not have the buying leverage to get bulk deals and why the kiosks can provide their ink, paper, and an assistant to help you get good quality prints at reasonable prices.
If you still want a good printer any of the top line printers will work well. Just buy the model that does what you want that has the least expensive consumables (making sure you are getting one that uses archival inks (not dye based).
JimL

EDIT:
I have been going to Walgreens drugstore and they just installed a $250,000 printing set up by Fuji that delivers 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 photos in one hour and I can't tell from the photo if it was made from film or digital. The editing software allows easy crops if needed (and you will need it if your camera doesn't take 3:2 ratio shots for your 4x6 prints). They still charge .29 cents for 4x6 and run sales every week or so for .20 cents.

[steveh552]

Although I agree with the above poster that you can get prints at Walmart or any of those other places very cheaply made, and that ink prices are way over priced, I also have a disagreement.

I notice that when I print my own, the shots come out, just as I want them to. When I go to Walmart, I may get a few the way I want, which would be what I have my created as a final result, BUT then quite a few that does not come out as I created.

Also, the convience. Have you tried to get into Walmart to print photos since the holiday season started? I was in our Walmart today and could not beleive the line to the Kiosk.

Another thought is that .29 per print is cheaper than the .60 it cost me, but after I figure my time, my gas and such, its not as cheap as doing it myself.

Steve

[jgreve]

Had to add my .02 about Wal-Mart... I have been using them and Sam's Club quite a bit here lately and the key to getting consistent prints from them is to find out what model lab they use and download the printer profile for that unit...there was a link to it on a previous post here...do a search on printer profiles and you should find it. Secondly, I always upload my photos to an online album and order my prints from that...you pay for them at the same time you order and you can order one hour or 2-3 day processing for store pickup. After that, it's a breeze to walk in and pick up your prints...they are all paid for and waiting for you. I am still looking to upgrade my printer so that I can make larger prints at home, but for the money it just doesn't make sense to me to print my own snapshots and the like when I can get good quality prints for a fraction of the cost. Sam's does the 4x6 prints with one hour pickup for .18 most of the time...that's a hundred snapshots for the album printed up for less than 20 dollars. At that price it's no big deal to get doubles or triples to give to family and friends... just one guy's opinion :-D

[steveh552]

Had to add my .02 about Wal-Mart... I have been using them and Sam's Club quite a bit here lately and the key to getting consistent prints from them is to find out what model lab they use and download the printer profile for that unit...there was a link to it on a previous post here...do a search on printer profiles and you should find it. Secondly, I always upload my photos to an online album and order my prints from that...you pay for them at the same time you order and you can order one hour or 2-3 day processing for store pickup. After that, it's a breeze to walk in and pick up your prints...they are all paid for and waiting for you. I am still looking to upgrade my printer so that I can make larger prints at home, but for the money it just doesn't make sense to me to print my own snapshots and the like when I can get good quality prints for a fraction of the cost. Sam's does the 4x6 prints with one hour pickup for .18 most of the time...that's a hundred snapshots for the album printed up for less than 20 dollars. At that price it's no big deal to get doubles or triples to give to family and friends... just one guy's opinion :-D


I did not know that Walmart did that service, good info for me, as my Walmart is always to packed to deal with.

Thanks for the tip.
Steve

[joelw135]

Hopefully the printer manufactures will see people using outside photo printers and catch on and lower there consumable prices.

[Janika]

I have an inkjet and a laser printers and still take my files to the store to develop. 0.25 cents for a 4x6 0.99 cents for a 5x7 and $2.99 for a large 8x10, than why should I bother with a printer which requires expensive toners and paper?! However I am pretty sure there are awesome photo printers out there. By the way technology is heading, I see some great progress in printer development.

Mickey I heard a lot of good things about the Canon photo printers.