Need a commercial printer but I am clueless....

[ChowChi-Ching]

I am looking for a printer that I can use on location..... I am wanting to set up a shoot with Santa but need to be able to give the people prints immediately but I just have a basic printer that won't work well for what I am wanting.

My biggest issue is price, I need to keep it reasonable but I also want to keep the quality there....... Can anyone help me???

THANKS!!!

[Photo-John]

How big do you want to prnit? What's a reasonable price for you? I've found HP photo printers to be really easy to set up and the print quality is excellent if you use their good paper. Paper and ink will always be the biggest cost. You can get a good 8.5x11 photo printer now for $100 or less. But the ink cartridges and paper are going to cost you much more in the long run. It's been said that the printer business is really the ink and paper business...

[Robusto]

ive asked the same question have been considering the HP 8750 or HP B8550

or the very portable Cannon IP100

any other suggestions

[SmartWombat]

Do you want quality and durability as well as speed ?

At the last Focus on Imaging show (next one is at the NEC 22 - 25 Feb http://www.focus-on-imaging.co.uk/) someone in a seminar said it was well worth him buying an 8" wide roll-fed dye sublimation printer.
Yes, the printer was expensive, yes, it's a bit large to carry, but as far as he was concerned it was printing £20 notes !! One for each 10x8

Any printer is going to be as portable as the AC power supply it runs off.

This Fuji example is even more expensive http://www.imageprointernational.com...xd.asp?id=1743

But if each page costs £1 to print and you sell them for £10 I can see how the guy at the seminar was making money !
His use was at wedding receptions or other parties; set up a backdrop, lights and tethered camera to the laptop, and print photos of the guests almost immediately.

I reckon it would be hard to justify this if you're just starting out - but it's where you might end up if it's successful !

[Robusto]

well thats the idea thats what we have been doing back lack of a great printer meant we were doing proofs for order later

for the last 5 years when we have been at football events thats the way its done i end up spending a few quid on photos started at £6 now they are up at £10

done a load for our football club before xmas for a adults school disco and could only print proofs for them to take away sold a few but i know i would have sold a few hundred on the night especially as once everybody was well drunk they wanted more and more

http://www.woodfordyouthfc.com/apps/...lbumID=3332867

think i may pop along to the nec to see the show

thanks

[rongarrett]

I use Epson. I have four of them. Never had a moments trouble out of any of them. Top of my line is a Pro 3800. Having said all that, the best bang for the buck in my opinion is the little R280. Claria ink. Does up to 8.5 X 11. Outstanding quality for under a hundred bucks. I bought the one I have to print on DVD's that I market. Boy what a pleasant surprise I got!

Sounds like you guys are from the UK? Don't know if you have them over there, but Office Depot sells glossy 8.5 X 11 heavy weight photo paper that rivals Epsons best for less than half price.

[Robusto]

We are going to go along to the show and see what we can get have a buget of up to £1000