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What printer type?
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Barbusdel
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 Posted: Fri Nov 4th, 2005 11:14 am
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What printer is best for printing digital photographs? At the moment I have a Dell all in one. I see that some printers have more than one colour cartridge. which type is best? Are laser printer any good for photos? The lasers I have looked at only seem to have 2400 dpi, my Dell a i o. will do 4800.

Any advice on printer choice will be appreciated.

Many thanks

Del

anthony
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 Posted: Mon Nov 7th, 2005 09:27 pm
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Del - what it comes down to is what your usage will be

- nothing more than A4 and a few snaps to give to grandma then pretty much any of the a4 epson hp and canon photo printers will be fine

- a3 or greater and fine art prints then you are looking A3+ printers like the epson Stylus Photo R1800 or the Canon equivalent with the longer life ink sets - or even up to the larger format printers such as the epson Stylus Pro 4400 and beyond - HP also make a larger format printers like epson the designjet series which may also fit the bill here

not sure about the laser printers for photography - i haven't any experience with them but i do know that most photographers use inkjet printers

as with most things in life you need to clearly work out what you what it for and that will narrow down the field very quickly

Barbusdel
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 Posted: Tue Nov 8th, 2005 01:37 pm
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Anthony, thanks for the reply. it was most helpfull. What woud give the best reproduction, a printer that has 1 colour cartridge or one that has 4?  I think it's 4 in some printers.

Thanks again

Del

Last edited on Wed Nov 9th, 2005 01:11 pm by Barbusdel

anthony
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 Posted: Tue Nov 8th, 2005 07:51 pm
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Del - there are really 2 different things here - cartridges and colors - epson for example has printers with 4, 6 & 8 colors - the more colors the greater the color gamut, think in terms of tonal range, and the better they tend to do b&w and color and hence color reproduction - thats why most of the more expensive printers have more colors they provide a greater tonal range and better reproduction - that said the output from many 4 color printers is very good and more than adequate for prints for family and friends - again it comes down to what purpose you are going to create prints for.

cartridges doesn't necessarily = colors some printer manufacturers create cartridges with more than on color sometimes CMY & black for example - so 2 carts - this forces you to buy a cart even though not all the colors have been exhausted - when you buy a printer with individual carts for each color you quickly realise that some colors run out much quicker than others so this is definitely something to consider when buying a printer - my general preference is to have them as single carts but these are often the more expensive printers - but if you are printing lots of images then this will pay off as the consumables are often the most costly in the long run - so buying carts with 3 colors together may actually waste ink

when pricing printers don't just consider the printer but cost the consumables as well

:P

Barbusdel
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 Posted: Wed Nov 9th, 2005 01:08 pm
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Anthony, I get the picture now. I fully understand what you are saying. It would seem that the printer I have at present is probably good enough for my needs. I print some of my photos to A4 then hang on the walls at home, then take them down after a while and replace them. As you might have guessed I quite new to digital photography.

Once again thanks for your help and advice

Regards Del

Last edited on Wed Nov 9th, 2005 01:12 pm by Barbusdel

anthony
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 Posted: Wed Nov 9th, 2005 07:27 pm
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Del - as long as you are happy with the prints are making then - yes :D

Barbusdel
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 Posted: Thu Nov 10th, 2005 01:38 pm
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Anthony, I think at the end of the day my hardware out performs my skill as a photographer.:D

Regards Del

Last edited on Thu Nov 10th, 2005 01:39 pm by Barbusdel

anthony
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 Posted: Thu Nov 10th, 2005 09:53 pm
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Del - there aren't too many who can say otherwise ;)

williamkazak
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 Posted: Sat Nov 12th, 2005 01:02 pm
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I just bought the Canon ip8500.It has multiple inks.This works right out of the box with the Canon papers.I suggest the gravity feed paper option for pics.The lower cassette causes a jam.The reviews are great for this model.Helix,in Chicago has a Canon seminar next Friday.For ten bucks, I can learn all of the "tricks" with the Canon rep.Some of the Epsom models were not reviewed as well as this model.

gfoz
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 Posted: Sun Dec 11th, 2005 11:22 pm
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And if you're interested, the Canon i9950 (8 colours) is superb. It's won a bunch of the awards and will print better than your local photo developer can... but it costs a few pennies more. When you're done with your A4 and you're ready for a new toy, you'll be able to pick these up nice and cheap on eBay no doubt.

Happy snapping!

Gordon
Product Photography: http://www.southphotography.co.uk

williamkazak
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 Posted: Mon Dec 12th, 2005 12:35 am
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The Canon ip8500 is doing a fine job for me.I use the bottom cassette tray only for regular printing and I use the top gravity feed for all of my photo printing.


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