Photo Printer Advice

[natebarnz]

I don't know much in this area but I want a really great printer that produces high quality photo prints. I would like it to be capable of printing at least 8x10 but larger is great.

I would like to keep the price no greater than $300 but I do not want to sacrifice on quality in the end.

I only want this printer for printing photos and these photos will mostly just go on the wall and to family and friends.

Also I think the price and quality of ink is important. Any advice on that would be greatly appreciated as well.

Thanks!
-nate-

[Nesster]

Nate, the two recommendations are Epson and Canon. I think there may be a high-end HP that's suited for b&w especially.

I have an Epson R1800, which may be a generation or two old by now. It prints larger than 8x10, which has come in handy, but far less than I expected. There's only so much wall in this world!

It used to be Epson had the longest life inks, but I think Canon's caught up some.

Basically, look for a printer that has many color cartridges as these tend to print better photos than ones with fewer. Ink and paper can get expensive, but then, so's a night at the pub.

[natebarnz]

Thanks for the advice Jussi.

Does anyone have experience with the following two printers? Any thoughts which is best?

Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II
Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Large Format Photo Printer

Thanks
-nate-

[symphonic]

I'm interested in the same. I've heard great things about the Epson R1800 and the Pixma Pro9000 too. Unfortunately, 300$ US for the Pixma Pro9000 Mark II translates to 600$ US in my country, so I'll have to see for myself if that much is worth it.. I'm thinking something cheaper that prints A4 nice enough, like the Epson PX700W, might be good enough. If anyone has a word of advice on that price category, I'd appreciate it.

[natebarnz]

Any recommendations on the finest paper to use? finest Ink?

I'm leaning towards the Canon PIXMA Pro9000 MKII as of now.

[pst]

I've got the Pixma Pro 9000 MKII.

I use the "normal" Canon ink and the "standard" Platinum Paper.
Using Art Paper is too expensive for me.

[wintoid]

Before choosing paper, you need to know whether the printer uses dye or pigment inks. In general, the high end printers these days are using pigment inks, and therefore there is a much better selection of paper for pigment ink printers.

I'm using a dye based printer. It's every bit as good, but I am much more restricted in paper choice. I vaguely recall that the Canon 9000 series are dye based whereas the Canon 9500 series are pigment based. Most Epsons are pigment, but not sure about the lower models (1400, 1900).

Sorry I can't answer your query exactly, but hopefully telling you what to look out for will help you to make a more informed choice.

[pst]

Wintoid is right about taking into consideration the differnt ink types!

The 9000 uses 8 Dye inks, the 9500 10 pigment inks. The latter are more stable (UV resistant, etc....). But supposedly the pigment inks clog up a bit easier.

The paper I use (Platinum) was originally developed for pigment inks, but Canon recommends it for dye ink now also. I did some research in the Internet before I bought the 9000 Pro, and it's really possible to print on most every paper! I don't think the choice of printer limits your paper choice!
(Except for thickness maybe!)

Try a internet search about the Canon 9000, I'm sure you'll be able to find some of the same pages I found. Unfortunatly I don't have the links anymore.

[Nesster]

I'll reiterate what I said about the R1800: I far over estimated how many large prints I'd really make, and be able to use. (I'm not trying to sell prints or anything like that.)

A good quality printer with a smaller foot print, making 8x10's, will cover a very large portion of typical printing needs. When you need larger, send it out to be printed.

That said, printing large - and learning about the process, getting the tonality etc just right - is fun, amazes people, and costs a lot of time and money In other words, perfect for a photography geek

[pst]