Photo Quality Color Laser? - DPChallenge Forums

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

12/13/2005 09:34:05 PM · #1

I love the quality of inkjet prints, but hate the smudging, running, and 'handle with care' mentality you have to have around them.

Are there any inexpensive ($500 or less) color lasers that that have photo quality? I've hunted around but I'm not going to spend that money with out hearing/seeing some unbiased results (why don't manufacturers offer sample print packs so we can acutally see the quality of a print before buying?) I mainly need this for graphic design proofs, but would also love to be able to print photos, personalized greating cards, etc. in house for clients.

Thanks for any feedback!
Brian

hankk

Canon EOS-5D

12/14/2005 09:29:29 AM · #2

I have a brother HL-2700CN. Its ok for pictures. The resolution and color depth are there, but you are limited as to paper stock. You can't use anything except plain paper or color laser paper or you may transfer the coating (ink jet papers are coated) to the toner belt and ruin it.

This printer has a lot of extras, including an ethernet port and built in print server.

All the colors have a gloss when printed on plain paper. The main issue with plain paper is that white (or the paper color) will not have a gloss, so if you have a lot of white in your picture, it will look funny (ie parts will be glossy, parts won't).

The color is ok, casual inspection shows it to be about as good as a Canon six color photo inkjet printer.

You should check the cost of consumables; toner is cheaper than the manufacturer's ink cartridges but more expensive than the cheapest ink cartridges.

muckpond

Nikon D200

Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX Diagonal Fisheye for Nikon

12/14/2005 09:43:43 AM · #3

i have a konica minolta 2430 and i can't say enough about it. it's a little loud, but the print quality rocks.

i haven't done a ton of photos on it (i too use it mostly for proofs), but the ones that i have done are excellent. i haven't done any on glossy stock (i'm a matte guy, and i use the photos i've printed for projects, so i mostly print on card stock), but i want to get some.

i saw at staples that they now have photo paper specifically for laser printers. i meant to grab some, but forgot.

you can see some halftone patterns if you look way way close up, but it's still better quality than anything i got out of my inkjet. i'm through with inkjets forever now.

Canon EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM

12/14/2005 10:57:38 AM · #4

Cool - thanks for the comments. The minolta sounds interesting and looking on their website they have a 'Printer Test Drive' - I can finally see what the printer can do before I buy it! Will wonders never cease?

We do use a color laser at my second job (this new one would be for personal business) and it does nice photo prints and proofs - but it's a business class copier/printer and expensive. I've used some hp soft gloss laser paper and the prints do look nice - I think you'll get a bit nicer prints with the paper.

Anyone else out there have printer suggestions?

Thanks again!
Brian

orussell

Canon EOS Rebel T6s

12/14/2005 11:00:32 AM · #5

I doubt laser will come close to the print quality or have the archival properties of higher end inkjets anytime soon. Just a guess. Great for speed and cost though, if you are looking at volume. It depends on what your printing goals are; done expect fine art giclee from a laser. As for personalizing greeting cards and stuff, the newer inkjets from Epson and Canon are supposed to produce smudge and scratch resistant prints.

sabphoto

Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+

12/14/2005 11:46:52 AM · #6

Originally posted by orussell:

is this true? That lasers don't come close to quality? I love my Epson inkjet (when I get to use it since my wife has taken it over lol), but thought lasers gave higher resolution and better images. I would be interested to know more about this.

Message edited by author 2005-12-14 11:47:29.

Prof_Fate

12/14/2005 12:26:46 PM · #7

From what i gather, the MyPublisher and similar books are laser printed and then bound. 80 and 100# papers, glossy stock too.

I very much want a color laser - almost got one last tax return. here is what has me stumped if anyone can give me a definitve answer i'd most appriciate it!

I have an old HP 4p blakc laser. It'll print untill the cartridge runs dry. I get 100% usage this way. My last inkjet assumed i used all the colors at the same time at some per-page rate and then it quit printing until i got a new cartrdige (refills not allowed). This was expensive and frustrating.

Do the color lasers 'count pages' or what? The reviews i read last year claim a hideous per page cost of 12c plus paper per page. My alser is 1.2c..and that sould be about the same for color too. a cartrdige is good for 3,000 pages (at 5% coverage) and costs me $50-60. By spreading the cost across 4 cartridges i should get 12,000 pages for $200-240 right?

I know i will use toner faster if i print lots of 8x10 full coloer pics, but that is not what i want it for. I just want cheap, relible color output that beats the 39-50c a page at staples!

orussell

Canon EOS Rebel T6s

Canon EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM

12/14/2005 12:46:10 PM · #8

Originally posted by sabphoto:

Originally posted by orussell:
I doubt laser will come close to the print quality or have the archival properties of higher end inkjets anytime soon. Just a guess. Great for speed and cost though, if you are looking at volume. It depends on what your printing goals are; done expect fine art giclee from a laser. As for personalizing greeting cards and stuff, the newer inkjets from Epson and Canon are supposed to produce smudge and scratch resistant prints.

is this true? That lasers don't come close to quality? I love my Epson inkjet (when I get to use it since my wife has taken it over lol), but thought lasers gave higher resolution and better images. I would be interested to know more about this.

A Lightjet will, but that's not conventional laser technology. Also, the resolution for laser is 2400 dpi max, for inkjet it's up to 9600 dpi (the naked human eye can't distinguish much past 300 dpi in the mean time). Also consider a broader range of paper types with inkjet (side story: I know a guy who tried using inkjet photo paper in a laser - it fused onto the drum).

muckpond

Nikon D200

Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX Diagonal Fisheye for Nikon

12/14/2005 12:54:42 PM · #9

all i know is that i was over my inkjet when i found i was changing the cartridges in it like once every 2 months.

the one that finally pushed me over the edge was when i decided that i was going to just use it for b/w printing (text stuff) and the next time it ran out of ink i went and got just a b/w cartridge. it won't print even a text page if the color tank is out. to me, that's utter b.s.

i just don't have time to muck around with printing high-quality stuff at home. seriously. for large-scale outputs, for sales or whatever, i would rather have the work done at a professional lab when necessary. i don't make photographic outputs often (most of my work is incorporated into graphic design work or just newspaper stuff), so i'm not going to invest $500 in a photo-specific printer just so i can feel guilty every time i need to print a recipe or something.

at my photo club the other night they were talking about some guys who have high-end inkjet printers that draw ink from tanks and how they have done all of these tests with different papers combined with different inks and blah blah blah blah. i'm like "f*** that. do they actually have time to take photos?"

i dunno. i've got a life. i'd much rather upload junk to dpcprints or mpix than spent an entire weekend and hundreds of dollars trying to match their capabilities at home. *shrug*

Message edited by author 2005-12-14 12:55:55.

orussell

Canon EOS Rebel T6s

Canon EF 55-200mm f/4.5-5.6 II USM

12/14/2005 01:37:08 PM · #10

Originally posted by muckpond:

Exactly. Like I said it depends on what your printing goals are.

hokie

Nikon D2X

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

12/14/2005 01:46:41 PM · #11

I have a Konica/Minolta color laser and an HP.

The Konica is very nice but any of the archival ink Epson's will blow away any consumer grade color laser.

I have used the "photo" laser paper. Ummm..not even close. It's thin so it can make it through the multipass laser route.

The lasers that you hear about in the book publishing business are not even close to the same type of consumer laser me or the average Joe buys. Even to get close is going to be about $15,000.

A great (I mean presentation quality) Epson is about $500 and for $2000 you have a pro level printer AND ink is cheaper because now you are buying in individual containers versus cartridges.

I love my Konica and for multiple business printing it is good..but not for photos you want to frame or sell.

Message edited by author 2005-12-14 13:47:44.

muckpond

Nikon D200

Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX Diagonal Fisheye for Nikon

12/14/2005 02:01:40 PM · #12

Originally posted by hokie:

I love my Konica and for multiple business printing it is good..but not for photos you want to frame or sell.

exactly. but it makes great images for kids crafts and decoupage and art projects and junk. ;)

hokie

Nikon D2X

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

12/14/2005 02:07:09 PM · #13

Originally posted by muckpond:

Originally posted by hokie:
I love my Konica and for multiple business printing it is good..but not for photos you want to frame or sell.

exactly. but it makes great images for kids crafts and decoupage and art projects and junk. ;)

Definitely! My Konica is a lot cheaper for non-critical print tasks that involve color versus almost any inkjet.

I get thousands of prints from the Konica where I would have spent hundreds of dollars in inkjet cartridges on the same workload.

I would say I save about 50% or more in consumables by using the Konica..which was the main reason I bought it 3 years ago. I was proofing a lot of customer ads and inkjets were killing me in consumables!

Post edit...Remember..I was proofing ads for NEWSPAPERS which is blackand white and not color critical. Color proofing for color correctness should always occur idealy on the printer you will be doing the print job on!

Message edited by author 2005-12-14 14:09:58.

12/14/2005 10:32:42 PM · #14

Originally posted by orussell:

...As for personalizing greeting cards and stuff, the newer inkjets from Epson and Canon are supposed to produce smudge and scratch resistant prints.

Anymore info on some of these? I'm great with a little higher cost for prints (I can just charge the customer) if the prints are higher quality and aren't as fragile as the typical inkjet ones.

Again, thanks for the continued help!

EDIT: While I'm thinking of it - any thoughts on Dye-Sub printers (I would need one to do full page prints, 8.5x11)?

Message edited by author 2005-12-15 09:17:09.