 Angela C. Wood |
Looking for a Great Photo Printer Hello, I am looking for a really good photo printer. I live in Saudi Arabia and have trouble getting to photo labs, so I'd like to be able to print excellent quality photos at home. Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks for the help! Angie
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robert G. Fately |
Angela, given the desert conditions and low humidity there, I would suggest a dye sublimation printer. WHile inkjets are more popular and can certainly produce excellent results, unless they are used regularly the ink can dry out in the nozzles requiring replacement of the ink cartridges long before they are empty - and that can get costly. Dye sub output is more "photo-like" - the texture and weight of the paper is simiilar to RC (resin coated) papers of old. To be sure, there are fewer options (you must use the paper/ink combinations offered by the manufacturer and the sizes are generally limited to 8x12 or smaller) but depending on your work and output needs these may not be constraints. If you do need larger sizes or more print options (i.e. - canvas posters) then Epson's printers are highly regarded, while Canon and HP are both making inroads. But I'll let those with more direct experience in these devices offer their thoughts.
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Christopher A. Vedros |
Angie, The first question you need to answer is what size prints do you want to make? If you need larger than 8x10 (or 8.5x11), then your options are narrowed down a bit. Here are a few things that I've learned about printers over the years: - Don't use a "general purpose" printer for photos - use a "photo printer" for photos and a general purpose printer for everything else. - Don't use an "all-in-one" printer/fax/scanner/etc for photos. The printer manufacturers don't put their best quality photo printing hardware in these machines. - You will get better quality with more colors. Look for a printer with at least 5 colors + black (Cyan, Lt. Cyan, Magenta, Lt. Magenta, Yellow, Black). - Printers that have separate cartridges for each of these colors will save you money in the long run. You will only need to replace each color as it runs out. - Other than specialty art papers (which I rarely use), you will usually get the best results if you use paper made by your printer manufacturer. Use Epson paper in an Epson printer, HP paper in an HP printer, etc. As for which manufacturer or model is best, here is where you will get lots of opinions. I was a fan of HP printers for many years, and still use one as my "general purpose" printer. When I was staying out of town during Katrina, I went to Office Depot to get a cheap printer. They had the Epson Photo Stylus R200 on sale for about $50, so I bought it. This is Epson's bottom-of-the-line photo printer and the quality just blew me away. It meets all the criteria that I mentioned above, and prints borderless prints up to 8x10. It's not fast, but for photos you want quality, not speed. It's enough to convince me - I'll stick with Epson for photo printers. The next printer I buy will probably be the Epson Stylus Photo R1800 printer. Good luck,
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Angela C. Wood |
Bob and Chris, Thanks so much for the help. Your advice and knowledge definitely gives me a direction to go in! I really appreciate it. Angie
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