High Quality Photography Printers

[ASHUTTERBUG]

Greetings:

Can anyone suggest a high quality photographic printer that would satisfy my needs? I am not a professional photographer however; I do appreciate high quality photos and am interested in learning what is working well with those of you who print high end photos. I probably will not exceed 13" width but if I can purchase one within my means, I would move up to 17" width. I plan to spend about 1000.00 USD on the top end. Is it better to go with a used, used rebuilt. Or brand new for that price range, or am I just barking up the wrong tree?

[gahspidy]

I would highly recommend going with Epson as they have been doing things right for so long and is considered to be the leader in the field.
I had started with the Canon 9900 and found that it did not meet my desires for print longevity or the flexiblity to print on many different type of media. I personally like to print on fine art papers ( paper choices is a whole other dialogue) and could not with the 9900 and so I sold it and got the epson 2200. That was an excellent printer that had been around for a very long time and used by pros and enthusiasts. The only problem with that printer was black and white printing. With only two black inks, it needed to use some color inks to create various shades of grays and this caused the prints to appear to have color shifts. The technical term for it is metamerism. the b&w print would seem to have a color cast depending on what light source you viewed it under.
then came the Epson 2400 with a new inkset called the K3 set which consisted of three shades of black ink. Black and what prints are now truly b&w and very impressive.
I wrote up a review about this printer if you care to view it
http://www.photographyreview.com/cat...2_1688crx.aspx
It can be had for a street price of about 800.00 If you want to go 17" then the Epson 4880 is what I would suggest, although they have a 3800 which is closer to your 1000.00 range and I think would be a great choice if the budget does not allow for the 4880. The 4880 is a faster printer and utilizes epsons latest Inkset which has somthing called "vivid Magenta" as well as gloss encapsulation amongst a few other desireable features.
I would go new, personally.

[Greg McCary]

My boss makes me a print from time to time and he has one of these.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/p...C7791C%2523A2L

A little higher than you stated but he does a little better job than MPIX.

[ASHUTTERBUG]

Greetings:

Well Gary I appreciate that fine reply and that generous amount of information. I have been zeroing in on the 3800 as it appears to have the features, functions and medium capability I expect go find in the market place.

Now I must save a bit more to buy one by late summer.

Thanks again,