A printer from which to print digital

[siberia1997]

I'm looking for a GOOD printer from which I can print my digital photographs. I've been shooting a 35mm SLR for about 5 years now, but have recently purchased a fully controllable, non-SLR digital. I expect to get a digital SLR some time in the future. I want to get a GOOD printer to print my digital images on. I've looked at a lot on this Web site, as well as e-pinions.com. Every time I find something that looks pretty good, there will be a user or two who points out some seemingly big technical problem with the printer.

Any good ideas for some GOOD printers that I can at least begin to research, and not waste a lot of time on the dogs?

Thanks.

[Lionheart]

I'm looking for a GOOD printer from which I can print my digital photographs. I've been shooting a 35mm SLR for about 5 years now, but have recently purchased a fully controllable, non-SLR digital. I expect to get a digital SLR some time in the future. I want to get a GOOD printer to print my digital images on. I've looked at a lot on this Web site, as well as e-pinions.com. Every time I find something that looks pretty good, there will be a user or two who points out some seemingly big technical problem with the printer.

Any good ideas for some GOOD printers that I can at least begin to research, and not waste a lot of time on the dogs?

Thanks.

Almost all inkjet printers today are capable of good to excellent photographic quality prints when printed on photoquality inkjet paper. It all depends on your standard of what is photo quality and how much you want to invest. Inkjets, like pc's come and go with the seasons, and the cartridges cost almost as much as the printer itself.
Personally, I quit inkjet prints 2 years ago, and print from an Olympus thermal dye sub printer. Photo quality, waterproof, 75 year life expectancy on prints. Expensive to print, but inkjets aren't cheap either when printing on photoglossy paper at the highest quality settings. Just my $0.02

[EmbeddedMatt]

Go to your library and look it up in Consumer Reports. They rate photo printers fairly often. They may not have the lastest models, but then again you can often get better deals on last year's model.

I have been very satisfied with the quality of my ink jets prints as compared to Ofoto and Winkflash, but of course the Ofoto and Winkflash prints will last while I don't think the ink jet prints will. Of course Ofoto and Winkflash are cheaper than doing it yourself but you have to wait.

[another view]

The Olympus Dye-Sub puts out really nice prints, and another very popular one is the Epson 2200. Personally I've given up printing for the time being; I can have it done for the same price and I don't have to deal with the headaches.

If you don't use an inkjet every day or two, the nozzles will clog and you'll wind up with bad prints and a lot of wasted ink trying to clean them out. My very inexpensive Epson 820 did a great job when it was new but I didn't use it enough and now it's a big paperweight. I don't know if the same thing is true with dye subs though.

I just started using mpix.com and am very happy with them.

[Erik Stiegler]

If you don't use an inkjet every day or two, the nozzles will clog and you'll wind up with bad prints and a lot of wasted ink trying to clean them out. My very inexpensive Epson 820 did a great job when it was new but I didn't use it enough and now it's a big paperweight. I don't know if the same thing is true with dye subs though.

Epsons seem worse about this than other brands. IMO, Hewlett-Packard inkjets are more reliable. Their print head is part of the ink cartridge, so you get a new one every time you replace an ink cartridge.

I loved the prints from my Epson, but at the end, I didn't love using more ink and paper cleaning it than printing with it.

[mjs1973]

I have thought about doing my own prints, but the more I read and think about it, it just isn't worth it. Seems like you would have to print a lot to make it worth while. That being said, I have seen some really nice prints out of the Epson 2200 and the Canon i9900. I think they both do a really great job, as long as you have quality ink and the paper that is best matched to those inks.

[Seb]

I'm looking for a GOOD printer from which I can print my digital photographs. I've been shooting a 35mm SLR for about 5 years now, but have recently purchased a fully controllable, non-SLR digital. I expect to get a digital SLR some time in the future. I want to get a GOOD printer to print my digital images on. I've looked at a lot on this Web site, as well as e-pinions.com. Every time I find something that looks pretty good, there will be a user or two who points out some seemingly big technical problem with the printer.

Any good ideas for some GOOD printers that I can at least begin to research, and not waste a lot of time on the dogs?

Thanks.

Hello Siberia,

I am in the same boat as I am also looking for an high quality printer. High quality inkjet printers such the Epson's R800, 1280, 2200 and 4000 will definately provide you with rewarding results. 2 months ago, I have seen an exhibition from a photographer who used an Epson 4000 for all is prints and they looked as good as anything I have ever seen. Also, Espon inks for these printers are archival, which give them an advantage over most others inkjet printers.

Now a typical issue with inkjet is banding and clogging which usually occurs if you don't print on a fairly regular basis. I can't say if Epson's are worse than other inkjet printer for that matter. I have heard both people complaining about them and people saying that they were less prone to problems than other printers so go figure...

Another option which is on top of my list right now is dye sublimation printers. These make archival prints and there is strictly no maintenace involved. They works with dedicated papers and ribbons (a plastic film covered with thin layers of coloured wax). The printing head which is an heating head runs along the clean (waxless) face of the ribbon causing the wax to sublimate on the paper. Then the picture laminate and comes out of the printer. The only thing that could go wrong would be if there was dust on the paper. The printer would laminate over dust causing unwanted spots or stripes. Anyway, this is unlikely to happens and you will lost a print at worst. I am considering the Kodak Profesional 1400 which is a brand new generation dye sub printer. It is the only dye sub printer which can makes true 8x12 prints as far as I know (others are limited at 8x10). It is said to outperform older dye sub printers although it remain to be proven. This printer should hit the market within few weeks.

Seb