Printer to recommend?

[jacsul]

Dedicated photo printer would be nice. Larger would be better.
Thanks.

[JR iWOLF]

Hi,

I'm new to the club and just noticed Jack's request for recommendations about dedicated printers.
Well, this is what happened to me with my old and my new printers. Hope this helps.

After struggling for years my old HP-9180P and getting desperate with permanent clogs and fatal errors and so on, I did finally throw it to the trash and purchased the new Epson's SC-P600. It prints (up to A3+ - 19x13") without a complaint very high quality prints both B&W and color. It uses 9 inks and performs a very accurate color reproduction. Dedicated ICC profiles for the SC-P600 are available from most high quality paper manufacturers.

The printer driver is fine. Additionally you can download from Epson's web page an advanced print layout to help you prepare dedicated printer/paper settings.

I can only say I'm really happy with the new toy.

Never forget to calibrate your monitor, use the ICC profiles dedicated to the paper you want to print to, and make soft proofing before printing. This will save you lots of headaches.

Good lack Jack and let us know your decision and comments on your new printer when you get it, please.

JR

[DanK]

Since this thread has come alive again, and Jack, you want some recommendations, I'll throw in my two cents.

Tomatoes may be thrown my way for this, but...

It may matter far less than you might expect. There is one big question I think you should deal with up front: do you want archival quality? If you want photos that won't fade for decades, you will want pigment inks. If you are OK with prints that last for years but not decades when hung on the wall, then dye-based inks (at least the better OEM dye-based inks) are fine. I have used three dye-ink printers over the past 6 or 7 years, and I have not yet had to replace any prints. Dye has two advantages: the printers are very cheap, and they tend not to clog. I have never had a clog with any of mine, even when they have been left unused for months. I'm not recommending dye, just giving you my reasons and my own rationale.

I don't know how cheaply you can buy good pigment printers, but good dye printers can be had for very little, particularly if you wait for a sale or a bundle. I got my current one, a Canon Pro-100, free with my most recent camera, but I just checked on B&H, and the price this month, after a rebate, is about $150. this is for a printer that will handle up to 13 x 19 (actually, 13 x anything, but paper comes in 13 x 19 sheets). It produces gorgeous prints.

That's not to say that you don't get more with more better printers. For example, the Pixma Pro 9000 II I used before the Pro 100 had one black ink. The Pro 100 has black and two grays, which together produce better B&W prints. If you read reviews, you will see differences even among more expensive printers.

However--here come the tomatoes--once you have moved into dedicated printers, these differences are modest. Prints done on my old 9000 are hanging on a number of people's walls, and no one ever made a negative comment about the quality of the print. What really matters are two things: the user's skills in printing and the choice of paper. This assumes, as Jose wrote, that you have a calibrated monitor and correct ICC profiles. If you don't, it's just a roll of the dice.

[JR iWOLF]

Since this thread has come alive again, and Jack, you want some recommendations, I'll throw in my two cents.

Tomatoes may be thrown my way for this, but...

It may matter far less than you might expect. There is one big question I think you should deal with up front: do you want archival quality? If you want photos that won't fade for decades, you will want pigment inks. If you are OK with prints that last for years but not decades when hung on the wall, then dye-based inks (at least the better OEM dye-based inks) are fine. I have used three dye-ink printers over the past 6 or 7 years, and I have not yet had to replace any prints. Dye has two advantages: the printers are very cheap, and they tend not to clog. I have never had a clog with any of mine, even when they have been left unused for months. I'm not recommending dye, just giving you my reasons and my own rationale.

I don't know how cheaply you can buy good pigment printers, but good dye printers can be had for very little, particularly if you wait for a sale or a bundle. I got my current one, a Canon Pro-100, free with my most recent camera, but I just checked on B&H, and the price this month, after a rebate, is about $150. this is for a printer that will handle up to 13 x 19 (actually, 13 x anything, but paper comes in 13 x 19 sheets). It produces gorgeous prints.

That's not to say that you don't get more with more better printers. For example, the Pixma Pro 9000 II I used before the Pro 100 had one black ink. The Pro 100 has black and two grays, which together produce better B&W prints. If you read reviews, you will see differences even among more expensive printers.

However--here come the tomatoes--once you have moved into dedicated printers, these differences are modest. Prints done on my old 9000 are hanging on a number of people's walls, and no one ever made a negative comment about the quality of the print. What really matters are two things: the user's skills in printing and the choice of paper. This assumes, as Jose wrote, that you have a calibrated monitor and correct ICC profiles. If you don't, it's just a roll of the dice.

[JR iWOLF]

As DanK says the Canon P100 is an excellent option, specially if you can buy it at that price. 590€ is the price in Europe, not far from the Epson.

Talking of Tomatoes, I cordially invite you all to visit : http://tomatina.es/es/
JR

Since this thread has come alive again, and Jack, you want some recommendations, I'll throw in my two cents.

Tomatoes may be thrown my way for this, but...

It may matter far less than you might expect. There is one big question I think you should deal with up front: do you want archival quality? If you want photos that won't fade for decades, you will want pigment inks. If you are OK with prints that last for years but not decades when hung on the wall, then dye-based inks (at least the better OEM dye-based inks) are fine. I have used three dye-ink printers over the past 6 or 7 years, and I have not yet had to replace any prints. Dye has two advantages: the printers are very cheap, and they tend not to clog. I have never had a clog with any of mine, even when they have been left unused for months. I'm not recommending dye, just giving you my reasons and my own rationale.

I don't know how cheaply you can buy good pigment printers, but good dye printers can be had for very little, particularly if you wait for a sale or a bundle. I got my current one, a Canon Pro-100, free with my most recent camera, but I just checked on B&H, and the price this month, after a rebate, is about $150. this is for a printer that will handle up to 13 x 19 (actually, 13 x anything, but paper comes in 13 x 19 sheets). It produces gorgeous prints.

That's not to say that you don't get more with more better printers. For example, the Pixma Pro 9000 II I used before the Pro 100 had one black ink. The Pro 100 has black and two grays, which together produce better B&W prints. If you read reviews, you will see differences even among more expensive printers.

However--here come the tomatoes--once you have moved into dedicated printers, these differences are modest. Prints done on my old 9000 are hanging on a number of people's walls, and no one ever made a negative comment about the quality of the print. What really matters are two things: the user's skills in printing and the choice of paper. This assumes, as Jose wrote, that you have a calibrated monitor and correct ICC profiles. If you don't, it's just a roll of the dice.

[motordrive]

Since we are talking in general terms regarding printing I would like to bring up icc profiles for paper. Since I am using a Canon Pixma Pro 10 I am using Canon's own papers but I am aware of other brands which I could use with their icc profiles. Recently I purchased the Costco Kirkland brand of Pro Glossy paper in a 150 sheet box. I have printed a number of images using Canon's own icc profile for Pro Platinum (glossy) and the prints are what I'm seeing on the Canon paper. I would add the Costco paper is an excellent weight and brightness. I could never find a icc profile for Costco's paper. Just thought I would pass this on. Others may get different results.
John

As DanK says the Canon P100 is an excellent option, specially if you can buy it at that price. 590€ is the price in Europe, not far from the Epson.

Talking of Tomatoes, I cordially invite you all to visit : http://tomatina.es/es/
JR

[DanK]

My solution to this is that I never buy papers from vendors that don't supply ICC profiles for my printer. The vendors I use most (Red River and Moab) provide them for even very inexpensive dedicated photo printers. The alternative is either to hope for the best or pay for a custom profile for each paper you use.

Since we are talking in general terms regarding printing I would like to bring up icc profiles for paper. Since I am using a Canon Pixma Pro 10 I am using Canon's own papers but I am aware of other brands which I could use with their icc profiles. Recently I purchased the Costco Kirkland brand of Pro Glossy paper in a 150 sheet box. I have printed a number of images using Canon's own icc profile for Pro Platinum (glossy) and the prints are what I'm seeing on the Canon paper. I would add the Costco paper is an excellent weight and brightness. I could never find a icc profile for Costco's paper. Just thought I would pass this on. Others may get different results.
John

[davidedric]

The vendors I use most (Red River and Moab) provide them for even very inexpensive dedicated photo printers.

Does anyone know if there are any distributors in the UK (I can't find any)?

Dave

[Manfred M]

Recently I purchased the Costco Kirkland brand of Pro Glossy paper in a 150 sheet box. I have printed a number of images using Canon's own icc profile for Pro Platinum (glossy) and the prints are what I'm seeing on the Canon paper. I would add the Costco paper is an excellent weight and brightness. I could never find a icc profile for Costco's paper.

John - companies like Costco will tender the paper to an external supplier, as Costco does not manufacture their own product. Other companies will do the same thing; Office Depot / Staples is another one that comes to mind. The contract could be for a specific number of pieces or could be for a specific period (likely in the order of one or at most two years).

This results in a number of problems. The first is that there is no guarantee that they will be using the same supplier from contract to contract. Their quality spec is likely lower than the paper from an well known photo paper source (this is one way to keep the cost down).

The suppliers that they use are most likely one of the major photo paper makers, but of course, they will not want to undercut their own market by letting their customers know that they are the supplier of these "private brand" papers. ICC profiles are not going to be something most buyers of these paper are going to know anything about anyways...

So, while you might be lucky right now and things are working, there is no guarantee that things will work out as well the next time you buy. The only solution that will give you consistent results would be to develop your own paper profiles using one of the (expensive) profiling tools that do prints as well as computer screens.

[Manfred M]

Does anyone know if there are any distributors in the UK (I can't find any)?

Dave

These are both US based suppliers, so they may not be into the UK market. My premium paper of choice is Hahnemühle and for the run of the mill prints I stick with Epson papers (with my Epson printer).


http://www.hahnemuehle.ca/

[Donald]

Does anyone know if there are any distributors in the UK (I can't find any)?

Dave

Dave

I haven't followed every post in this thread so not 100% sure of the context of your question. But if it's related to suppliers of good paper who will then provide free profiles for their paper and your printer, I get all my paper and ink from Permajet.

I print all my B & Ws on Permajet FB Matt285.

Apologies if this input is totally irrelevant.

[davidedric]

Thanks, Donald, and apologies for wandering off topic. I do like Permajet paper, especially their Oyster, but when I changed my printer I couldn't print the test sheet in a way they could process. I had done it before, and I tried twice, so I eventually gave up and reverted to Canon paper. I'll leave the thread now!

Dave

[motordrive]

Yes, I agree. I bought this Costco paper just to try out but is it is a one time deal. As you state it works for now but in the long term I will stick with Canon paper or other name brands. Canon has a Web site where they post other mainline papers with their icc profiles which are known to work with my printer. Fortunately I'm not totally in the dark with it all. As others here started with film and a wet darkroom I also came from that era. I have visited many so called photo forums but this forum seems to be well grounded. Not something you come across to often.
John

John - companies like Costco will tender the paper to an external supplier, as Costco does not manufacture their own product. Other companies will do the same thing; Office Depot / Staples is another one that comes to mind. The contract could be for a specific number of pieces or could be for a specific period (likely in the order of one or at most two years).

This results in a number of problems. The first is that there is no guarantee that they will be using the same supplier from contract to contract. Their quality spec is likely lower than the paper from an well known photo paper source (this is one way to keep the cost down).

The suppliers that they use are most likely one of the major photo paper makers, but of course, they will not want to undercut their own market by letting their customers know that they are the supplier of these "private brand" papers. ICC profiles are not going to be something most buyers of these paper are going to know anything about anyways...

So, while you might be lucky right now and things are working, there is no guarantee that things will work out as well the next time you buy. The only solution that will give you consistent results would be to develop your own paper profiles using one of the (expensive) profiling tools that do prints as well as computer screens.