Favorite printers?

[Swampy]

Anyone have a favorite printer for up to 8x10 sizes?

Right now I am using a Sony UD-PR100 DyeSub (http://www.sonyprinter.com/up-dr100.htm) and am producing some really nice prints (mine only goes to 5x7, but they make one for 8x10 as well).

I really dislike the inkjet printers since most of the prints look funny unless viewed direct. You kinda get a negative looking picture from the sides.

[paco]

What can you tell us about pricing of the unit and consumables?

[Iain]

I use an Epson Stylus Photo 810. It produces lovely prints at A4 (I've been getting great comments about the quality of them) and is relatively cheap to purchase and run (£95UK delivered and around £13 for a black and £12 for a colour cartridge.) I am certainly delighted with it.

Iain

[Swampy]

Originally posted by paco
What can you tell us about pricing of the unit and consumables?

The Sony UD-PR100 can be had for around $3000. And it's worth it if you print a lot of 3x5, 4x6 or 5x7's. (wish I had the 8x10 version as well).

I only do the 4x6 and 5x7 myself. Prices on the paper (which comes with the dyesub film are:

3x5 - $199.00 (400 prints) ($0.50 per print)
4x6 - $219.00 (350 prints) ($0.63 per print)
5x7 - $190.00 (205 prints) ($0.93 per print)

The paper, as I said, comes with everything you need, so no additional cost for printing is needed (except electricity which in California could add another dollar per print :P). I've printed 1000's of shots on this printer and it's never failed and is quick as you probably read in the webpage I sent in the original post.

The photos come out laminated, so they're glossy. They're also tear proof. I haven't found anyone who could physicaly tear them with thier bare hands. The color is all but gauranteed for life as well, where ink jets usually fade after a few years.

[Swampy]

Originally posted by Iain
I use an Epson Stylus Photo 810. It produces lovely prints at A4 (I've been getting great comments about the quality of them) and is relatively cheap to purchase and run (£95UK delivered and around £13 for a black and £12 for a colour cartridge.) I am certainly delighted with it.

Iain

I looked for the 810 here in the US and couldn't find it. I went to the UK site and Wow. I feel sorry for you guys. Maybe I'm missing something, but that page is confusing and I could only find 3 inkjets there, and not the 810.

I'm trying to stay away from inkjet, but if I find a good enough inkjet, I'd be willing to check it out.

I use my friend's Olympus P-400 printer to do my 8x10's on. It's also a Dye-Sub printer, but this one is a little more reasonably priced at $499.00US. It's just a little slow at 90-100 seconds per 8x10 print. Prints come out extemely nice though.

[Iain]

I think that the 810 has now been superceded with the 830. Yep we are hammered over here. We pay in £'s what you pay in $'s!!!

Iain

[SSonnentag]

I'm using the Olympus P-400 Dye Sub printer. I like the prints. The colors come out perfect. Cost is $1.98 per page (paper and ribbon/roll).

Shawn

[geckophoto]

I just got my S2 a week ago and already have output some great prints..anyone else using the archival 10000 like me?

[ali]

All the reported cost / print for consumer printers are unreasonable to me. In Taiwan, I get my 4x6 printed in the lab for $0.14US and 8x10 for $0.28. There are modern American and Japanese photo franchises here.

[teski]

I have the Epson 2200 and absolutely love it! The quality of the prints is incredible! If you don't need larger than 8x10, there's the Epson 960. Here's the link:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/ProductQuickSpec.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@2030625156.1 043381042@@@@&BV_EngineID=hadcgfchgegjbfdmcfjgckidnk.0&oid=22403490&category=Ink+Jet+Printers

Teski

[shutterbugtae]

I started out with an Epson 740,and have been using an Epson 875 for the last few years, I just bought an Epson 2200 as afew of my Pro buddies have this unit , and I have heard some pretty nice things about it and it was time to upgrade.I have not always been in agreement as to what papers to use.I experimented with Epson,Kodak,and afew easily found brands locally and wound up settling on the Tetenal brand which is a German Import into the states (I think).I really like the gloss and for mass printing of PR and small prints (althought it is expensive)it is an impressive look.Now that I have the 2200, which I havent even plugged in yet,I am told that I will only get good results fron epson papers.Has anyone run Tetenal through the 2200?
:confused: Good Shooting!(and printing!):D TAE

[Wichita Wayne]

I have experimented with other brands of paper but the Epson is the best for these printers. I use a 2000 and love the results. If they would only work twice as fast they would be perfect.

[teski]

I agree that Epson paper is awesome with these printers, and that papers like Kodak, Canon and others are terrible. But have you tried Ilford papers? I use the Ilford Smooth Pearl with the 2200 and get incredible results.

Teski

[Wichita Wayne]

Originally posted by teski
I agree that Epson paper is awesome with these printers, and that papers like Kodak, Canon and others are terrible. But have you tried Ilford papers? I use the Ilford Smooth Pearl with the 2200 and get incredible results.

Teski

I usually use Epson paper but I have tried one package of Ilford and it was great. In fact since you reminded me of the Ilford results I may go out and buy some more of their paper.

[jeffinkansas]

I have been using the epson 2200 and the enhanced matte with the matte black ink. I am continually floored. I finally have figured out how to make monochromatic prints with NO CAST!!! They look great and I am pleased to be out of the darkroom. Has anyone used roll paper with this printer? Is there reasonable quality 5'' wide stuff that is reasonable in price.? (semi-gloss or something like that for wedding 5x7s) Also if anyone finds some exceptional paper profiles I am all ears. Finally, how does the Ilford compare to the epson papers, price, quality, profiles, archival? Thanks

[pittman]

I just got the Epson 7600 wide format printer. It's great. I've printed 20x30 that are stunning.
pittman

[jeffinkansas]

Pittman

I am Jealous

Jeff

[KPRussell]

I've really been focusing :D on my equipment for the time, however, I did pick up a Canon S900 printer. It produces full bleed prints up to 8x10. It has outstanding results using Canon paper and is very fast too boot. It has 6 ink tanks with level indicators for each color. Best Buy has them on sale too if anyone is interested.

[Seachicken]

Mine's an Epson PM-950C.
(Available in Europe, not sure about the US, seems to be called the EPSON Stylus Photo 960)

Very fine 2pl dropsize. Superb output at finest quality on gloss film.

The newer PM-920C/PM-970C have finer 1.8pl dropsize, but I don't think they're available outside Japan (yet). Looking at the prints from these, my eye can't tell the difference between them and mine... maybe with a magnifier.

I am pretty fussy about print quality, I don't like looking at dots where there should be smooth tone, but these cut the mustard for me.

The main drawback is that the nozzles clog all the time. So far they've always unclogged, but unclogging uses up ink which ain't cheap.

On best quality the PM-950C also takes its time, not much of a problem for me. The PM-970 (and maybe the 920) are much faster.

Have also seen the output from the Canon S900, this looks good to me too.

[scotgasch]

I have the Epson 9500 and a couple of 785epx....love em all!!!!

[Roadking8]

The 6 separate ink tanks are great. At $12 each, it is a bit harder on the wallet. The droplets are visible with a 10x loupe. Color balance/hues are close to reality, but so far, my B&W's are more like dark blue and white. I have photographed a painting on the wall in a restaurant and printed it on 13" x 19" with results good enough to hang on my wall. Print on matte paper needs severe sharpening to print normal. The cost of the ink may be more than the paper, and this thread made me curious. I estimate cost of 8x10 paper to be about $0.20 per but ink may be as high as $0.30-0.40. This has caused me to rethink.

Road

[billT]

I use an Epson 1280 (or was it 1290). This is a wide carriage printer that I am very happy with. When this printer is used with Epson's Premium glossy paper, the results are specticular.

[billT]

Originally posted by teski
I agree that Epson paper is awesome with these printers, and that papers like Kodak, Canon and others are terrible. But have you tried Ilford papers? I use the Ilford Smooth Pearl with the 2200 and get incredible results.

Teski

Hi Teski,

I experiemented with various paper using an HP printer and the Epson 1280 printer. The other papers are OK, but the best results are obtained on the Epson printer using Epson paper. In fact, the Epson Premium papers yield the best result for me.

I tried a peck of Ilford paper once and was not impressed by the result. I will get a pack of Smooth Pearl and see what it look like.

Bill.

[billT]

Originally posted by pittman
I just got the Epson 7600 wide format printer. It's great. I've printed 20x30 that are stunning.
pittman


Hi Pittman,

How much is the printer and where do you get paper this size?

Bill.

[bjnicholls]

Wayne, the 2200 is at least twice as fast if you need an incentive to upgrade.

Dye sub printers make too small a print and/or are too expensive for my needs.

Six color photo printers create great prints, but you really do have to display them under glass or store them sealed in plastic bags to get any kind of life from the prints. I've had prints fade in weeks or months from an Epson 1270. I've even had fading on the relatively stable Heavyweight Matte paper, again in just weeks. You'll read about "ozone" and other pollutants being blamed for gas exposure fading. That's very misleading. Simple oxidation will cause fading and I'm sure that oxygen is in the air no matter where you live.

I now use my 6-color Epson 1270 for color proofing where the short print lifespan isn't a concern. I use the 2200 for photo printing. I wouldn't consider selling prints that weren't made with pigment-based or hybrid inks like Epson's Ultrachrome.

The 2200 is hard to find and relatively expensive. But it's a real deal considering the higher price the 2000P sold for with no paper cutter, half the print speed, smaller color gamut, and the ink's metamerism problem.

The 2200 prints don't have quite the vibrant color of my 6-color prints, but the 2200 will create sky blues that are cleaner and more accurate than dyes are capable of rendering. I too find the 2200 to be much more capable of rendering neutral black and white prints. Neither of the 2200's blacks (matte or photo black) are as dark and rich as the dye-based black.

[Wichita Wayne]

Originally posted by bjnicholls
Wayne, the 2200 is at least twice as fast if you need an incentive to upgrade.

I'm too broke from buying my S2 Pro and its various accesories. Good thing I still have my day job.

[Bruce Tucker]

I have a Canon S9000 and have had good results with it since I replaced my old Epson 870 ( I needed 11X14 and wanted to get the six separate ink cartridges). Has anyone else had experience with the S9000 ? How does it compare to this new Epson 2200 ?

[critter]

I love this printer have had an epson old photo stylus that died and an Hp1000. The s9000 has excellent color rendition and the ability to print on a large variety of photo papers including the cheap office depot glossy. This printer is a keeper..

Tony

[billT]

Does anyone out there use the Epson 1280 printers?

[santila]

I use currently the Fuji Pictography 3500 and very happy with the reults. On site on the road I take the Olympus P400 with me and this also will give good result. However the Oly prints compering to the Fuji are flat and I did not find way to bump up the saturation.
Prior I did use HP inkjet printer and after about 6mo-1yr I needed to initiate print recall because some of thes inkjet prints did turn cyan even under moderate display away from direct sunlight.
If some one have more info how to saturate colors on the Oly printer, please let me know. I print off from desktop and/or laptop.
Some S2 shots displayed here:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=111574

[CaptJR]

I just wait till I have a few to print and upload them to www.epixel.com. 25 cents per 4x6 laser print, but the prices on bigger prints are not quite as good. Still it saves me the trouble of buying ink.
This is a USA site so I don't know that it will help others, but there should be other places to have this done.

These are very good prints I get from them.

But I'm not a pro so I don't have to due bunches of prints. Don't know if this will help anyone here at all

:)
JR

[DragonRich]

I use the Olympus P-400 and I absolutely LOVE the output. It can be used as a stand-alone printer (no PC required) and has a built in monochrome LCD. The LCD image quality is crappy at best, but functional enough for you to select and crop images before printing.

Although satisfied with this printer, I'd like to be able to print my own large prints. I'm thinking I'm going to need an HP Plotter type device to do this, but I just don't have the money for that kind of investment right now. :(

A few more months and a few hundred more 8x10's and I just might have that funding though! :D

[billT]

Hello DragonRich,

I used a ALP printer before and it used the same technology as your printer as well. The quality is good, but I never keep up with it because it was too slow.

Re your desire for larger prints. You can get an Epson 8x10 for about 300 USD, and a 13X19 (Epson 1280) for less than 500. Its not really that bad. Well exposed picts from the S2 printed on 13x19 is simply breadth taking. Of course if I can come up with 3,000 I would love to print 16x20's. Like you, I think I still have a few more years to wait.

[DragonRich]

Okay I now officially qualify for the "Foot in the mouth" award! :D

I just tried printing some 5x7's out of my Olympus P-400 and the images is being horribly cropped by the machine. The original image was 3024 x 2016. I figured that may have been too high so I reduced it to 1250 x 1875...it STILL came out cropped! I know I've printed images with larger image sized from my E-20 so I don't think it's really related to the image. Still I don't know what to do!!

HELP! It's cutting the feet off my images!

[pvalerio]

I have a Epson 810 and the quality is very good. I use Epson and Kodak papers. The trick here is to adjust the settings to the paper: Epson papers are easy, since the software is made for them, Kodak papers need to adjust the speed and pressure (look into the kodak website for details) otherwise you get terrible pictures.

Also turn off the Epson PhotoEnhance (changes the colors), try and you'll get what you want.

I'm only using the printer for large 8x10 or some 5x7 prints. The cost of the ink is horrible € 27 for color and € 31 for black (about $30 and $33), so I order 4x6 and 5x7 online from oFoto (kodak), it is cheaper and better quality, but you have to wait one week!

[traumlandschaft]

Originally posted by DragonRich
I just tried printing some 5x7's out of my Olympus P-400 and the images is being horribly cropped by the machine. The original image was 3024 x 2016. I figured that may have been too high so I reduced it to 1250 x 1875...it STILL came out cropped! I know I've printed images with larger image sized from my E-20 so I don't think it's really related to the image. Still I don't know what to do!!

To be honest, I do not have these kinds of problems, but I just use the P400 together with my PC - anyway, my idea would be that the P400 has a problem with the picture format itself? Remember, the P400 prints 4by3 (like done by the E20), means something about 3200x2400. The Format of the S2-pictures is 3by2, maybe this is the problem?

Let us know the solution - you are not the only one to use this printer :-)

Regards

Peter

[DragonRich]

I think the problem is in using the printer as a stand alone device. When connected to my computer, I don't have this "cropping" problem. This is good and bad news for me.

GOOD NEWS: I will be able to print images without any manipulation. :D

BAD NEWS: I can no longer select 15 images (for example) on a card and just hit the "Print" button on the printer. This means opening each image and printing it using a graphics program on my computer. :mad:

[mpeman]

I use the Canon S9000 and love it!

For whatever printer you use check out Atlex (http://www.atlex.com) for your printer needs. Their ink prices can't be beat, and they ship quickly as well! (All of the stuff they sell is OEM!)

[traumlandschaft]

Originally posted by DragonRich
BAD NEWS: I can no longer select 15 images (for example) on a card and just hit the "Print" button on the printer. This means opening each image and printing it using a graphics program on my computer. :mad:

Hello DragonRich,

this is something I just do with ACDSee - you can select the pictures you want to have and just do the Index Print. I always use this, because in this way I have the same kind of Print you receive after getting a 35mm-Film back from the shop.

It's easier than opening the PC everytime I am searching for a special picture ;-)

Regards

Peter

[moon]

gretag netprinter 812 and 2 sienna fp5000's.

[Maron]

Been printing on the Kodak 8500 dye sub with GREAT results. A true 8x10 print that has an over laminate. $1.72 per page and I have can them to my customers the same day if need be. For larger prints up to 24 inches I also use my HP Designjet 800ps. At 2400 dpi and Amiable's PhotoPrint rip it too does an outstanding job. For customer proofs, I use the HiTi 4x6 dye sub printer. Prints come out to .42 cents per sheet and does just as good as job as the Wal-Mart prints, and I can have them when ever I need them printed.

[Carlton]

Fantastic results from my Epson 2200 and Ilford Smooth Pearl. Also, have Epson 785EPX for small quick jobs, this does a great job also.