? photo printer question

[Lady Camille]

My husband and I have no experience with instant photo printers. We are wondering, if we want to connect our Cannon EOS 30D directly to a printer, to take photos (at an event) and print them out for people on the spot, WHICH kind/type of photo printer should we get? We are figuring we may need to take up to 1,000 photos at this event, and want to be able to have on-hand some means to instantly print out photos and get them into the people's hands right there on the spot.

Any suggestions? Also, how many (sets?) of printer ink cartridges might we need for X brand printer, any thoughts?

Thank you SOOOOO much for taking the time to read and reply to this, it's very much appreciated!

Sincerely

[Franglais]

Now I have no experience of this either, but I think that you're talking about a Pictbridge connection. You plug the camera directly into the printer via a USB cable instead of plugging the camera and printer into a computer via the USB connection.

Most printers and cameras sold today are Pictbridge compatible (there is no "instant" photo printer - they all put out a dry print). A few printers have batteries so they are truly portable. However if you're thinking about doing a large number of prints then you'd better think about finding a mains power supply for the printer AND for the camera.

If I were you I would start by looking at Canon printers - best guarantee of no-surprises compatibility with your camera. The number of prints you get from a cartridge depends on the print size, but it's indicated on the Canon web site.

[gryphonslair99]

I would suggest that if you want to do this, you consider getting a laptop and shoot either tethered if it fits what you are shooting or print from the lap top. I have played around with my printer and pic-bridge and frankly, the small little LCD screen sucks for trying to crop a photo to print. With a small laptop you will be able to reasonably see how you are adjusting the image to fit the size your are printing.

[Lady Camille]

Now I have no experience of this either, but I think that you're talking about a Pictbridge connection. You plug the camera directly into the printer via a USB cable instead of plugging the camera and printer into a computer via the USB connection.

Most printers and cameras sold today are Pictbridge compatible (there is no "instant" photo printer - they all put out a dry print). A few printers have batteries so they are truly portable. However if you're thinking about doing a large number of prints then you'd better think about finding a mains power supply for the printer AND for the camera.

If I were you I would start by looking at Canon printers - best guarantee of no-surprises compatibility with your camera. The number of prints you get from a cartridge depends on the print size, but it's indicated on the Canon web site.

Okay, "Pictbridge", a word I shall remember, thank you! Didn't even really know where to begin. If one exists (Canon, will search) and seems like it's going to be able to handle the use/abuse we plan on putting it through a few weekends from now, that'll be the way to go, thank you

[Lady Camille]

I would suggest that if you want to do this, you consider getting a laptop and shoot either tethered if it fits what you are shooting or print from the lap top. I have played around with my printer and pic-bridge and frankly, the small little LCD screen sucks for trying to crop a photo to print. With a small laptop you will be able to reasonably see how you are adjusting the image to fit the size your are printing.

We're unfortunatly not going to have the kind of time to fix up the pictures even on the laptop for printing, (thank God I have 20/13 vision!) so as soon as it looks presentable on the LCD behind my camera, it's going to have to do, I'm going to need to be able to get it from camera to printed-out ASAP, as we'll likely have a line of people to photograph in this one spot. Prior to the event, I'll take some test shots there (it's indoors) and just tweak the camera settings as best I can figure to get the best possible pictures of the spot, but after that it's all going to be a photo/printing madhouse for a few days.

If I can figure out a high-quality printer which will print out 8 X 10 color pics BOOM that fast and which will be able to handle possibly churning out 700+ pictures over this one weekend (granted I'll need a multitude of ink refills, etc)... I could do it from the laptop. I just thought, if there was an easier way, camera-to-printer it *might* save time or a step. But I am completely clueless thusfar. I have a few weekends to figure something out though amen! Thanks for your suggestion(s) though!