What do you use to print lots of 4x6s on big rolls.

[TooManyHobbies]

I have an Epson 4800 and use 16-17" roll paper to keep costs down. My wife would like to print 4x6s. I've been a little frustrated trying to do this. I can use PS CS to make contact sheets and print them, but I need something simple for my wife to use. I've tried the contact function using ACDSee Pro, but it doesn't rotate prints to make them fit on the sheet and it forgets all of your printer settings and doesn't look at the default printer settings. Weird and I'm bitching at ACDSee about this.

Coreypolis told me about qimage for $50. Anybody else use anything different? Please realize that I don't print on anything but 16-17" roll paper due to printer and costs.

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/

[SuzyView]

I have the Canon CP-200, it's old, but it is so cheap. You can get the lastest model for under $150, and the printing is around $.24 each 4x6 print. Older models are under $75 and I buy the cartridge and paper kits in bulk, $29.95 for 105 shots. It prints the picture in less than a minute and it is dye sub so very good with smudges. It can print from your camera, but I always put it through PSE.

[TooManyHobbies]

I have the Canon CP-200, it's old, but it is so cheap. You can get the lastest model for under $150, and the printing is around $.24 each 4x6 print. .
Thanks, but I don't have room for another printer and by printing on roll paper I can get down to $0.09-$0.12 per print on high quality paper. I'm just looking for a software solution.

[SuzyView]

That printer really is small, but you are right. I just don't think in terms of that large print, making small 4x6 on it. I have an Epson 1280 and the cartridges always dried out before I could use all of it up. Drove me crazy. I went for smaller. But I haven't had luck with software for large format printing. It's a pain. Good luck!

[TooManyHobbies]

OK stupid me. ACDSee Pro comes with Fotoslate to do just what I asked, but it takes some setup and I get an error when trying to use saved print setting profiles. Hence it is still useless to me. I have a support ticket open with ACDSee now.

[tim]

Get them done at a local lab, they'll probably cost very little and spare you a lot of work.

[coreypolis]

Here's some screen of Qimage. pretty easy to use layout and learning curve, though theres a whole lot more to do with it than I use. I left them as links as they're from my 24" monitor, and they already look pixalated without being resized.

http://polisphotography.com/Imagesforweb/SP32-37.jpg

http://polisphotography.com/Imagesforweb/SP32-38.jpg

[TooManyHobbies]

I downloaded the trial version of QImage last night and messed with it for an hour. I understand it, but I'm not sure how easy it would be for my wife, but I think it would be very usable. I really only had one complaint and that was browsing speed. ACDSee Pro is super fast if you do thumbnail database maintenance regularly and Fotoslate is integrated with ACDSee making things easy. QImage has better automatic populating and gives more detailed page info on the screen.

[redbutt]

Epson printers used to come with something called Epson Photo Factory that does exaclty what you you want. You load up all the images into a "roll" and then in the print steps select the size you want, and the paper (roll) and it will pop off the images. If your printer has the attachable paper cutter and you use the 4" roll, it will print perfect 4x6 prints.

[TooManyHobbies]

Well I got the problem fixed with ACDSee Fotoslate and it works ok. It is a lot faster than QImage on browsing and it helps that it is integrated with ACDSee Pro, but it takes more time to setup templates if you don't want to use a wizard all the time. I spent 2 hours last night making them so it would be a no brainer for my wife last night for all of the different sizes and papers. And since I just found out that I'm going to be a father again, unnessasary purchases are no longer an option.

If your printer has the attachable paper cutter and you use the 4" roll, it will print perfect 4x6 prints
Thanks, but the Epson 4800 doesn't print on anything smaller than 8" and a 4" roll is not cost effective compared to 16" rolls that are less than 1/2 the price per square foot. One rolls size, 16", many different print sizes without changing.