Best photo printer if not exceeding 8x10?

Suggestions of best photo printer up to 8x10? Not sure if I need the Pro9000 or Pro9500 but may consider them.

Don't need the printer to do anything but photos, too.


TIA.

If you stay away from All-in-Ones and multi-purpose small office inkjets, you'll do fine with ANY dedicated photo printer.

Epson and Canon make exceptional entry level photo printers. The trade off for low priced photo printers is extremely low ink capacity. So before buying a $150 printer, consider the volume of prints you intend to make.

DO NOT buy an HP as HP has left this market completely (even if the model name is "Photosmart Wonder Printer").

ChasP505 wrote in post #12220267
DO NOT buy an HP as HP has left this market completely (even if the model name is "Photosmart Wonder Printer").

That's really unfortunate.

Well, the Gillette marketing model has become hard to maintain within the global web-supported market.

I hope they are back in the photo printing business before my BLK+5 HP Photosmart dies.

buy the Pro 9000MK II. You can find brand new ones in the box delivered to your door for $200. And that includes a full set or ink that is worth about $100 itself.

Lots of people got them as part of a camera/printer rebate program and do not want to keep the printer. I just bought a second one to have as a "spare".

agedbriar wrote in post #12221818
That's really unfortunate.

Well, the Gillette marketing model has become hard to maintain within the global web-supported market.

I hope they are back in the photo printing business before my BLK+5 HP Photosmart dies.

HP is using the Gillette model big-time, selling cheap AIOs and continuing to call them Photosmart. Cheap printers and expensive ink is where the profit lies.

Meanwhile I continue to use my old HP 8750.

Yeah back when I left HP they were still designing and rolling out good photo printers, that was in '06 and I got an early copy of the 8750 and another of the letter-size version, the 8450, and they put out very nice prints, good quality ink (although small cartridges) and nice paper. I haven't kept up with them since, though, you say they've cut back on the better designs and that's too bad. I have heard that the local plant cut back from over 2000 employees in the '90s to only 800 or so these days, but that has been a long process that goes back to the dot com bust and just kept happening as they continued outsourcing and laying people off domestically. Sad to see.

Check out the Epson Artisan 835. Just got one last week from Amazon for $160. Amazing printer from what I can see. Way more than I was expecting for this price range.

-Dan

What budget range are you asking about. Because the "best" one I can think of off hand is about $140,000.

I've always loved Epson printers, having owned both HP and Epson over the years, and felt that Epson produced more accurate skin tones than HP. However, it always made me nuts that the printer would show as being low on ink, when it fact it was not. This happened with every Epson I owned and in doing research, found that this is (was?) a problem with Epson printers, something to do with their computer chips. I stopped printing at home 3 years ago, so don't know if this is something that still happens or not. I never bought the real expensive Epson printers, most of mine were in the $500 range, but still....

Be sure and check out the paper manufacturers sites and take note of printers that they provide profiles for. They all provide profiles for the most popular printers, but if your preferred printer is not as popular, you may find that you have troubles getting a profile for your chosen paper.

I use HP, a All-in-One OfficeJet 6500 and an OfficeJet Pro 5400K. Both work excellent, both print beautiful images. I use HP Premium Photo Paper and prints come out perfectly. But, that's just me. Someone will come along and say something stupid like "you got lucky", or they'll say my prints probably aren't as good as they should be, just so they can substantiate the claims that HP sucks. Of course, these are the same people who talk down on anything that isn't an "L", because nobody on the planet makes a better lens than Canon.


So yup, whatever you do don't buy HP. God forbid, stay away from HP.

I seldom print photos, especially since Costco prints are less expensive than home printed ones when you consider both the cost of paper and ink.
(This post is about comparative printing cost of the Canon 9000 vs. Costco https://photography-on-the.net …p?p=11907197&po​stcount=26 )

When the print need is for only a handful of shots, I do print a few 4x6 prints or 8x10 prints at home and have never found my Canon iP4000 to be wanting in any regard, and the current models in that series are merely $99 at full list price.

Golden Hunter wrote in post #12232770
Be sure and check out the paper manufacturers sites and take note of printers that they provide profiles for. They all provide profiles for the most popular printers, but if your preferred printer is not as popular, you may find that you have troubles getting a profile for your chosen paper.

Excellent advice!

katodog wrote in post #12233057
I use HP, a All-in-One OfficeJet 6500 and an OfficeJet Pro 5400K. Both work excellent, both print beautiful images. I use HP Premium Photo Paper and prints come out perfectly. But, that's just me. Someone will come along and say something stupid like "you got lucky", or they'll say my prints probably aren't as good as they should be, just so they can substantiate the claims that HP sucks. Of course, these are the same people who talk down on anything that isn't an "L", because nobody on the planet makes a better lens than Canon.


So yup, whatever you do don't buy HP. God forbid, stay away from HP.

Yes, I AM that somebody. I had both models you mentioned in my former business office, the 5400k sitting on my desk for 3 years. Both models were reliable, barely sipped ink, and printed bright, sharp marketing materials.

...But the photo quality was not up to the standard I would expect from a dedicated photo printer.

You can still find the HP 8550 for less than $150 USD. I bought one for my daughter a couple years ago and it produces excellent prints. Amazingly, it uses the same inkset as some HP AIOs and office printers, but manages to produce superior photo output, up to 13x19.

BTW, I have never owned a single L lens and I have only owned HP printers.

ChasP505 wrote in post #12233859
BTW, I have never owned a single L lens and I have only owned HP printers.

Well in that case, maybe you're not as full of poop as I originally thought.