| Author | Thread |
|
|
02/24/2004 06:41:48 PM · #1 |
Now that I've spent $1k+ on a digital camera, it seems silly to produce photos on a cheap printer. Of course I can source it out but let's say I don't want to go there.
What do I get if I want to drop top dollar on a printer? I'd say a minimum print size would be 8x10. My camera claims I could print an 11x14.
It's fun to think about anyways...
|
|
|
|
02/24/2004 06:42:27 PM · #2 |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 06:50:17 PM · #3 |
| Epson what? Let's get more specific! |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 06:54:23 PM · #4 |
| i use a 2200 and am very happy with it! ;D |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 06:56:55 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by MeThoS:
i use a 2200 and am very happy with it! ;D |
Oh, I thought we were talking high end printers. lol
Bruin, I think you have to be more specific about what is "high end" and "top dollar" to you. |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 06:57:13 PM · #6 |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 07:06:39 PM · #7 |
Epson 2200, $650.00, Gets my votes too, I love it.
|
|
|
|
02/24/2004 07:07:07 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by TechnoShroom:
Bruin, I think you have to be more specific about what is "high end" and "top dollar" to you. |
At least on par with the camera and supplies itself. Something under $5k would seem to be high end enough. I suppose one could buy a monster machine like a photo lab uses and stick it in their garage but let's not go there either.
|
|
|
|
02/24/2004 07:09:18 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by scab-lab:
Epson 2200, $650.00, Gets my votes too, I love it. |
I like the reviews on the net this printer gets as well. Much cheaper then I thought a great printer could go for. What would you get if you spent 2-5x more?
Message edited by author 2004-02-24 19:11:25. |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 07:12:23 PM · #10 |
The ink and paper is what costs the money really.
An epson 2200 is state of the art for home, desktop printing, for about $700
Most of the more expensive epsons are just faster or with larger ink storage or can print larger files and are more suited for commercial quantities.
Anything larger would require you to be printing a whole lot to recoup your costs and you'll have to invest a load of money in other sorts of things than just the printer to maintain it (profiling equipment for the printer - expect to spend about $1k or so to run it well. You'll also have to learn quite a bit about colour management to get reasonable results)
Its probably worth looking in to high end print shops to do your output for you unless you really want to invest heavily in printer technology.
Places like ezprints/ofoto/shutterfly are not high end print shops. Places like //www.westcoastimaging.com and //www.calypsoinc.com are maybe worth a look, but probably working with a good local lab would be the best option.
You can get an Epson 9600 for about $5k - this is probably state of the art for commercial printing too. Although a variety of places will let you print images for about $20 a print. Depends on how many you think you are going to print to see where you break-even point is.
Figure on spending a whole lot more on ink and paper though to get the best out of a printer like that. To put it in context, one set of inks for an epson 9600 will cost you $650
A set of inks for the 2200 will cost you $71. Obviously you'll get to print a whole lot less with that.
A set of Epson 10,000 inks costs $950. There is also the new Epson 4000 pro coming next month that might be interesting - 7 colour inks and ultracrome inks - could well be a good 2200 replacement.
Message edited by author 2004-02-24 19:24:28.
|
|
|
|
02/24/2004 07:20:23 PM · #11 |
| I thought the current best high-end printer was the Fuji Frontier line. |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 07:22:07 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
I thought the current best high-end printer was the Fuji Frontier line. |
Those are the nasty printers used in places like costco and walmart - gamut is pretty bad really but are designed for really high throughput
The current best is probably a ZBE Chromira or a LightJet 5000 for an actual photo chemistry printer.
Message edited by author 2004-02-24 19:28:06.
|
|
|
|
02/24/2004 07:31:50 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by Gordon:
The current best is probably a ZBE Chromira or a LightJet 5000 for an actual photo chemistry printer. |
Looks like the Chromira only has 60 years archival rating (got this from one of your websites).
I'd have to say the Epson 9600 is looking big. What is the story about the 4000?
Message edited by author 2004-02-24 20:01:46. |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 07:34:17 PM · #14 |
Epson 4000 looks like a great one! Goes for about $2k. Search for the details online.
The 9600 would take up half of an office.
Message edited by author 2004-02-24 19:46:58. |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 08:21:45 PM · #15 |
| Epson 4000 weighs 85lbs! So maybe the 2200 makes a better home one after all. |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 08:39:22 PM · #16 |
If your going smaller, I would recomend one of the Epson 800 printers.
There is a difference how ever between high-end retail and high-end period. Both are different markets, and I was assuming that he was refering to retail as I don't think he is making a living with making prints and there-for can't justify dropping the big bucks on a printer!
|
|
|
|
02/24/2004 08:49:50 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by Russell2566:
If your going smaller, I would recomend one of the Epson 800 printers.
There is a difference how ever between high-end retail and high-end period. Both are different markets, and I was assuming that he was refering to retail as I don't think he is making a living with making prints and there-for can't justify dropping the big bucks on a printer! |
Home or retail, I'm looking at what I'd get if I spent the same amount as I did on the camera ($2k range). The Epson 4000 would be the best home one I could imagine from this discussion. Like was stated before, the 2200 would give you the same quality just slower and save you a lot of cash if you are not printing a lot. Interesting that HP, Canon, etc have not even been mentioned.
Seems silly to get a great camera and not get the printer to match it!
Message edited by author 2004-02-24 20:52:53. |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 09:01:19 PM · #18 |
bruin,
I cannot say enough good things about the Epson 2200. I do small scale commercial sales off of mine, plus art work prints. The pigment ink system is 1st rate.
There was a recent post here from sonnyh that mentioned a problem with her 2200. Have not heard the root cause. 1st complaint/problem I've heard with from 2200 owners. Pretty passionate bunch. Most that have a 2200, like 'em alot.
Flash
Message edited by author 2004-02-25 12:48:06.
|
|
|
|
02/24/2004 09:15:18 PM · #19 |
Having had several Epson printers, including the 1200, I have to say that while they print beautifully, they are unreliable.
The Canon's seem to (me at least) to be much better about clogging, and general reliability. And they print wonderfully and very very quick. (A word about clogging; I've read many horror stories about Epsons permanently clogging, but I never had that problem. My epson did require many cleaning cycles when it sat for any period unused, and sometimes even after just changing the cartridge. That wastes a lot of ink too! My Canon can sit for two weeks, in idle/power save, and then print a beautiful print first time.)
I think this new Canon coming out looks very interesting!
"Canon Launches i9900 13x19-Inch Printer with ChromaPLUS 8-Color Ink for Wider Color Gamut"
See
Steve's Digicams
Message edited by author 2004-02-24 21:17:22. |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 09:17:37 PM · #20 |
HERE is the best high end printer available.
|
|
|
|
02/24/2004 09:59:31 PM · #21 |
I had an epson (8 series I think, it's been a while ago) and the printer clogged so much I left epson all together!
Has the 2200 solved this issue? I would love to have a larger format printer. |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 10:02:41 PM · #22 |
I just ordered a 2200 from newegg. In stock and out the door for 550 something or maybe 568. Anyway, less than BH. newegg is a pretty nice place to shop if you haven't been there yet.
Looked around for the r800. Not in stock at most of the reliable places. I'd like to get it for doing b/w. Has anyone seen one in Best Buy or any other store? |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 10:04:06 PM · #23 |
I am not too sure that I agree with the logic offered here in these answers. There are many fine products to choose from and it will likely depend upon the user's actual needs to state exactly what is best.
In my case, I use an Epson, an Olympus and an HP. All are used for different purposes.
None of the ink jet printers can match a good dye sublimation for image quality. A continous tone image beats a dot matrix image hands down.
Yet, the flexibility of a wide carriage ink jet for various paper sizes and other imaging products including fabric based papers is wonderful. I enjoy my Epson for 11" x 17", which I fan-fold into business documents and I also use it to make terrific labels and jewel box inserts for freshly minted CD-ROMs and DVDs.
The HP is optimized for fast printing of 4" x 6" prints, which I use as proofs or check prints.
So, the answer to your question is not so simplistic. What sort of output will you desire? How will these images be used? Archival quality has a steep ink and paper price attached to it. So, operation costs need to be considered along with the capital outlay.
It is my position that there is no one printer that currently does it all. You may be far better off with two or more printers within the same budget. It works for me.
|
|
|
|
02/24/2004 10:04:59 PM · #24 |
Canon i9100 is my favourite (and soon i9900 I bet)
Epson is traditionaly THE brand for photo printers.
Check out the Fujifilm Pictrography series too ;) |
|
|
|
02/24/2004 10:45:33 PM · #25 |
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
HERE is the best high end printer available. |
Yup that's the one I'm planning on using from now on..
|
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 06/16/2025 04:42:41 PM EDT.
