Printer to match G3

[WalStro]

My wife has a G3 and would like to get a Canon printer to take advantage of the high quality images the 3 can make. She'll make lots of 4X6 and quite a few 8X10. What Canon printer will make a really good 8X10 for her?

[JohnnyE]

Take a look at this. Hopefully, it will help you decide. http://www.usa.canon.com/html/conCprCatProdIndex.jsp?minisite=10000&section=10199. I have the S830D, and I really like it, but there are a lot out there that are just as good or better. Good luck!

[Dana]

Remember that you don't have to use a Canon printer because you have a Canon camera. Epson and HP both make excellent photo printers that you could/should consider.

Also, I would suggest you take a CF card down to your local store and print examples on the printers you are most interested in...nothing like looking at the real thing to help you decide.

Also, note that printers often use the same mech/inks in several models that are differentiated by print speed and features. You can often spend less on a printer w/a fewer bells and whistles and get the same top-end print quality.

Dana

[TimNYC24]

I would highly reccomend the Canon S9000, especialy if you will be doing 8X10 and larger.
HP is a toner company, not a Printer manufacturer, so as with any HP printer, you can plan on many,many trips to the store to purchase toner or ink.
Haven't owned an Epson product since dot matrix went out of style :)
The Canon S9000 does an incredible job, check it out!

[Dana]

Tim:

Each company's top (and even next tier) products will produce excellent and even stunning results. I haven't seen any comparative reviews of ink consumtion for inkjet printers, but don't have any info to infer that one brand is much better/worse than the other. I'd be interested if you have a review or source you could point me at.

And some more info on a few of the Canon options from PC Magazine review 11/02:

"A combination of the fastest photo-printing speed, nearly top quality, and midrange price makes the S900 our definite Editors' Choice. This normal-width version of the wide-carriage Canon S9000 doesn't have fancy (or confusing) front-panel controls or direct-printing media slots. The S900 looks like a regular ink jet printer, but when you print on high-quality photo paper the output meets or exceeds the output of any other company's photo printers.

The S900 was easily the fastest photo printer on our photo-quality printing performance tests. The S9000 trailed by only 5 seconds overall, but it was almost three times as fast as the closest non-Canon printer, the Epson Stylus Photo 820. An affordable price, top speed, and great quality—what more do you want?

If you need the same quality and nearly identical class-leading speed but want to print on larger stock, choose the Canon S9000. The jump to the S9000 from the S900 will cost you $150, but the S9000 lets you print on 13- by 19-inch media. You won't find memory card slots, digital camera ports, or an LCD preview screen, but the S9000 is an easy-to-use photo printer that does its job well"

Dana

[Rodenstock]

Hi

I have the Canon S900 for now 14 months and after tons of 4x6 and 8x11.5 printings i am still very happy
with this printer. The head never clogged and the prints look very professionnal. I had tried the i950 but the difference was not that huge.Side by side 4x6 print there is no different except if you view with a magnifying glass. For the price difference i take theS900
anyday.

Other company too have a photo printer like the Hp 5550 or the Epson 950 or 2200 but for the price, output,economy and speed the S900 and\or i950
wins hand down.

And do not forget that the ink and photo paper will cost
you more than the printer at the longer end but that is the fun of digital photography.

Good shopping.

[dtrayers]

If you want the qualtity of a S900 at about half the speed for under $99 (US) I would recommend the S820. It has the same dpi as the S900/9000 with a slower pace. It will still print an 8x10 at best quality in about 2 minutes and a 4x6 in a minute. It uses the same ink carts as the S900/9000.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=A0009080

[AeroSquid]

i have an HP952c that i have had for about 2 years. I use ink refilling kits so i don't have to buy HP carts. My hp prints some damn good looking pictures. I think i have spent about 45 bucks on ink in the last 2 years.

[TimNYC24]

For the actual cost of ownership, which many people neglect to calculate when buying ANY type of printer (cheapest hardware has to be best, right? WRONG) try using this site. I'm not sure that it lists all of the photo printers as of yet.
Bertl.com