I've been thinking of getting one but I'm really not 100% sure what to look at. I like the Epson R800 but then I saw the R300 for like $200 less and it seemed to have about the same image quality.

I've always been an HP guy but I've been told there are better choices out now.

Any thoughts?

 

 

I have the HP Photosmart 7960. Bad-ass printer, especially if you like B&W photos. The R800 is better but is also more finicky, and doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the HP.

Check this out:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Peripherals/...tag=dir.tpprnt

 

Well since he didn't actually say it, I will. Look into the Canons. I got my folks an ip5000 for Christmas and it impressed the Hell out of me. IMO, the Canons & Epsons are probably neck and neck for output quality. However, the Epsons are notorious for clogging and you can not replace the print head yourself. You have to send the whole thing back. Canons have user-replaceable print heads.

 

Good point.

iP5000 also prints at 25PPM in black and 17 in color compared to the R300 15 and 15. Ink is also cheaper on the Canon. CAD prices are 29.99 for Epspn's Blk to 19.99 for Canon's. Colors are $19.99 for Epson and $17.99 for Canon's.

I have a i560 and love it.

 

Sorry but inkjet printers are not photo printers. Granted they can print photos they are not a photo printer.

A true "photo printer" would use be a "dye sub" it actually uses real photopaper. It essentially exposes the paper a little bit at a time. (used heat to do the printing)

If you want true photo prints find youself a "dye sub" type printer.

The difference between a "ink jet" and a "dye sub" is night and day...


"dye sub" printers only have one function, and thats to print photos. You wouldn't want to use one for anything else.


"dye dub" printers are the cloest thing your going to find next to developing your photos. Those inkjets just use the old methods like a newspaper does, but at a much smaller level.

 

Dye sublimation might be a wee bit overkill for what I'm trying to do.

 

So which of the Canon lineup would be roughly equivalent to the R800?

 

Just making sure people know about them. If your going to buy a printer to print photos. Don't buy a inkjet is all im getting at...


You can get a awesome dye sub printer < $200.

(Im also sick of seeing all the nasty injet photos in frames)

 

iP5000. $249.99 at FutureShop or.........

 

Or design a logo so I can win a contest at work. First place, Selphy DS700 Photo Printer

 

I believe it's the ip8500. The same tried and true eight color print system as the large format i9900 that's been around for a bit. Just in a smaller form factor.

 

Yup, I thouight Dan wrote R300.

 

Expanded Color Range for the Discerning Eye.
Product Tour


8-color printing for professional results.
The PIXMA™ iP8500 Photo Printer features the Canon 8-color ChromaPLUS ink system for richer, more true-to-life color reproduction that will satisfy even the most demanding photographer. Its addition of red and green ink tanks expands the color spectrum to a level achieved only by professional printers and the difference is vividly clear. Plus, Canon Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) uses a high-performance print head with an amazing 6,144 nozzles, ejecting precise, consistent droplets as small as 2 picoliters. The result? Richer images with improved brilliancy rivaling that of positive film. Your images will come to life as never before.

This feature-rich printer even lets you print without a computer: simply connect any PictBridge compatible digital camera or DV camcorder, and print! You can also produce edge-to-edge true borderless photos in 4" x 6", 5" x 7" and 8.5" x 11" in. sizes, with the look and feel of traditional photographs. How fast? Thanks to those 6,144 nozzles, a 4" x 6" borderless print takes approximately 21 seconds.1 Plus its USB Hi-Speed interface enables fast data transfers from your computer,2 reducing total print time.

Canon Think Tank System™.
This unique system, with its eight individual ink tanks, lets you replace only the color that runs out, rather than an entire cartridge containing unused ink. Plus, a unique low-ink sensor alerts you when ink levels are low, so you are prepared to just drop in a new tank as needed. Bottom line: more efficient printing with lower costs.3

Advanced paper handling.
With a dual paper path, you can print 2 sided or just keep photo paper stored in one tray and plain paper in another. You're always ready to print - no paper switching required.

 

Hmmm, I'll have to swing by the big box stores on the way home from work and check out the Canons. The last Canon I had was a BJC-4200 like 10 years ago and it was a total POS so I hope they've improved since then

 

I've seen some prints off the R800 which uses the Utrachrome inks and I was mighty impressed. What in particular do you not like about them?

 

Also, where the hell do you buy dye sub ink when you need it? I haven't seen it at Staples...

 

4000 series = POS. But those were in Canon's dark years for printers. Canon overtook HP as the #1 printer manf in Canada for two months last year and are projected to make it permanent sometime in the middle of this year.

Those dame 4000 series printers turned alot of people off Canon and obviously the effects are still being felt

 

Mine literally fell apart. The mount that holds the main bar that guides the cartridges across the page actually broke, causing the print head to crash against one side and fall off the bar.

I'll check out the new stuff on my way home tonight...

 

I use to support the 4000 series and their predessesors the BJC-2000 and 2100. Worse years of my life

But if you ever used a BC-20 blk only ink cartridge on those things they should have been worhorses. It was the color print head that caused all the problems. And they cost $76 CAD to replace

 

Strange question: Can the i8500 also be used as an everyday printer or is it strictly for photos?

 

Domn would be more of an expert in that regard. I do know for a fact, though, that the ip8500 does not have a large "regular black" cartridge for everyday printing.

 

I just bought the R300 two weeks ago. I really like it, great quality prints, but you could probably get the same from others. It was in the right place at the right time for a decent price and it included the USB cable. If a similar Canon had been there I might have gotten that . . .

 

Thanks for the advice guys! I'll let you know what I end up with....

 

Dye sub doesn't use real photo paper and most of the good inkjets can make allmost as good if not just as good of prints. Dye subs heat up film material and "dye" special paper. It's expensive as hell.


Canon is the way to go. Their prints are fabulous.

Stay far away from HP for photos. For text they can't be beat tho.

 

i went with the canon i900D simply because my digi cam is made by canon - S50. the paper i use is also made by canon. i've been using the HP photosmart w/ kodak ultima paper. but what i've found out is it's best to keep the models similar. other reasons why i went with a canon printer is because of the individual color cartridges and borderless printing. after printing around 110 4x6 photos, i've only had to replace my photo magenta cartridge. only thing i don't like is the printheads. i've yet to see them available at a local store. that's what i missed about my hp printer. the hp cartridges have the printheads on them so as you replace the cartridge, you replace the printheads as well.

 

Well I looked at the i8500 and the R800 last night and I think they're probably overkill for what I want to do. I think I'm going to go with the Canon i5000 since it seems to be a little faster than the Epson R300 and has a higher resolution.

Actually I was surprised how much the printers can upsample the images being sent to them. The i5000 can print as high as 4.6 megapixels per square inch.

I was originally tempted by the increased color gamut offered by the 8 color ink systems in the R800 and i8500 but I've since decided that a 5 color system should be adequate for my needs. I just want the flexibility to print one or two shots at a time to give to friends and family members. If I want something better, I'll just take a CD to a professional print shop.

 

man i would get the r320 just because of the fact that you can print right on cds.also its very reliable printer. with the cannons you need a fucking masters degree to operate any of their IP series. and no i;m not an idiot just compared to how easily you can operate the epson. any other questions PM me

 

Sounds like you made a wise choice for your needs. A repsected reviewer stated that he thought the colors on the ip5000 were equal to, if not better than, many six color printers he's tested. BTW, you'll need to pick up a USB2 or 1394 cable on your own. Canon doesn't include one in the box. Why they don't is beyond me, but dem's is da facts.

 

Once upon a time I did recieve a degree in computer programming analysis so hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to use a printer driver. :P

I think the CD printing is a little bit of a gimmick. You have to buy specially labled CDs and DVDs which are a lot more expensive. I really can't see myself using that feature enough to justify it.

 

Sorry but, ink jets come no-where near close to the quality a dye sub does. The quality difference is highly noticable. Until injets stop using the print method they do, they will never be close.

You obviously have little experience using dye sub printers.

Dye sub produces a actualy glossy photo /w quality equal to that you'd get from a developer. Ink jets come no-where close to that...

Ink jets use the same techniquie newspapers do to print their photos. It's a ppor excuse for what you are calling "quality". Not to mention inket pics smear, fade and don't hold anywhere near the clarity, contrast dyesub do. Dyesub is like having a real photo developed.

 

Thanks for the tip. I know the printers are practically a loss-leader for the manufacturers so if they could sell you a printer that you assembled yourself, they would.

 

Dan, stay away from Epson!

I had the Sylus Photo 2200P and it was great for about 9 months, then 3 weeks out of warranty the logic board, and the print heads died....cost to fix-$880!

i threw it away.

 

ouch!!

 

In regards to printers I have 4 letters for you...

SAMS!

Upload your pictures to their website. Tell them what size and how many you want of each, then tell them what Sam's to print them out at, pay for them and within the hour stop by Sam's and pick them up. It's that simple. Quality is amazing and eaze of use is incredible. You can even pay for them have them printed out at a Sam's close to your mama's house in whatever state in the US and tell her to go pick them up.

 

Damn that sucks!

 

I'm actually a Canuck but we do have similar services offered by many retailers in the area. It's just nice to have the convienence of a printer on your desk for quick shots. I will use one of those serivices if I want to do something fancy like printing a panorama or large prints.

 

I disagree. I've been around and have seen quite a few dye-sub prints. The photography company at the cheerleading events we do did some dye-sub work before, but now do all inkjet/Fuji Frontier. They make tens of thousands of prints per event. Cost is one of the main reasons they ditched the dye sub, the other was the small diff in quality with the cheaper, faster inkjet. Dye sub is not any closer to the quality of a real developed print than an inkjet and both will easily be shown up by an RGB laser printer like the Frontier. They expose real photographic paper will show up either printer all day long, last long than both, and for cheaper overall. Professionals rarely print their own pics 11x14 and smaller and go with this method. For poster sized prints, dye-sub is so costly that it's almost stupid to get them over inkjet, regardless of quality. Now that inkjets are so close, it's a no-brainer. The ink and paper they have available now rivals dye sub for longevity and glossy-ness. Both require paper that allows the ink to soak in, both can produce just as glossy of a picture - it's all about the paper. Inkjet newspaper prints is a whole diff animal on diff paper, not a good comparison at all. Dye sub can smear, etc too. Both are inks dried into a paper with no chemical fixing - anything can happen to them.

 

I've had Epsons for the past 6-7 years and they've all been workhorses....no problems at all. In fact we just bought the R300 at Christmas time. I love it! Prints very nice, sharp, clear pictures. We also used the cd print feature to create personalized cd photo albums. The printable cds aren't THAT much more...and while it may be a little gimmicky....it's still pretty cool! I highly recommend the R300....AND Epson.

 

I have to go get some prints made on a Frontier. Problem is, Costco isn't economical for me to join. Anyway, almost everyone seems to think quite highly of the Frontiers. I downloaded five or six of the Frontier profiles from Drycreek photo and did some soft proofing in PS. Stangely, all of the Frontiers seem to have a noticably smaller color gamut than any of the inkjet profiles I have. I guess I'll just have to try a few Frontier prints and see how they turn out. Assuming, that is, I can find a decent Frontier lab that isn't a Costco. I'll have to hit Drycreek again and see what's in my area. In the mean time, I'm going to try MPix.com and see what the output of their Kodak equipment is like. Like the Frontier labs, MPix seems to get very positive reviews across the board.

Speaking of all this stuff. Dan, since this is your thread, where's that photography/art forum we were promised back around Thanksgiving?