Printer questions - Reassure me!

Well now everyone.

As I get more into photography and begin making prints - I am currently using our family HP Deskjet 5940 - well, I'm not thrilled with the print quality on it - it's not bad by any means, but not spectacular.

Looking over all of these printers out there, I am unfortunately suffering a case of techno-envy/inadequacy!

Assuming one has quality photographs to begin with (I'm workin' on it, workin' on it!) - how high up the printer totem pole do you need to climb to make prints of "professional", actually "looks like a real photograph"? At which models (any brand) or at what price ranges does this become achievable? Is it necessary to spend seven or eight hundred dollars on a printer, or are professionals (or people achieving professional prints) using anything less?

Any suggestions to quell my foolishly flaming nerves of technological uncertainty are most welcome. Most appreciated!

R.ticle One

The way I figure it a lab can afford a much better printer than I can, so I don't bother printing my own. There's too much stuff that can go wrong - i've gotten cropped prints, poor colors (printer needs calibrating), and wasted a bunch of ink trying stuff out. When I get it right my ip5000 looks ok, but not so good as a print from a real commercial lab. I suggest using a lab.

I agree that taking your images to a reputable lab is probably the best choice. However, I still like printing some of my own stuff and my Canon Pixma 8500 does a great job.

I had a bride from one of my recent weddings call me in a panic. She needed pictures for her thank you cards. She was hoping that she could get them the day after tomorrow. I knew that I could not get them to my normal lab that does all my printing and back in that time frame. I broke my cardinal rule and went to one the local cheapie but nationally named places and got junk. I had no option but to print them myself and they turned out great, much better than the lab provided.

One of the keys for me is to pick a printer that you can get profiles for with the paper that you are going to use. Ilford supplies printer profiles for all of its papers for the 8500. You can use some of the generic profiles but the printer and paper specific ones give you much better quality. I don't know if you have a specific paper in mind but you might want to check their website to see what they provide for some of the printers that you might have on your list.

How far up the printer totem pole do you have to go. When I was buying my 8500 it was one of Canon's better letter sized printers. If it is your intent to do allot of printing, I don't think this is the time to "cheap out". I have no intention of printing larger than letter sized. I have made the odd error when printing and I don't mind losing some paper to those. However, the larger sized papers start to get fairly costly.

My printer has 6 ink wells and I prefer this to having one or two. If you use up more of one color and have to replace a cartridge it is less expensive to do one of the six colors as a cartridge that would house more colors in one cartridge. Something to consider.

I looked at Canon's website and they are showing 16 photo printers that can print at least letter size so the choices are varied. Canon is not the only choice out there but I have had 3 of them over the years and had very good luck with them. I would think that if you stayed in the mid to mid high range of these printers that one could consistently turn out prints that would please you. As I said earlier, this is somewhat dependant on your paper of choice and that you get a proper profile for it.

I just upgraded my printer to an Epson CX3810.....

Seriously - I've always used Epson photo printers but never gotten serious about printing at home. I did do my own cartridge refilling with my Epson Photo 820 (a pretty good, cheap printer). As Sheldon says, it is handy but....labs are cheap these days. And uploading full images to Costco for 1 hour turn-around is great at $.19/print. Their quality is pretty good.

The real reason is that getting the quality is not quick or easy, or cheap.

ssim wrote in post #2203689
I agree that taking your images to a reputable lab is probably the best choice. However, I still like printing some of my own stuff and my Canon Pixma 8500 does a great job.

One of the keys for me is to pick a printer that you can get profiles for with the paper that you are going to use. Ilford supplies printer profiles for all of its papers for the 8500. You can use some of the generic profiles but the printer and paper specific ones give you much better quality. I don't know if you have a specific paper in mind but you might want to check their website to see what they provide for some of the printers that you might have on your list.

How far up the printer totem pole do you have to go. When I was buying my 8500 it was one of Canon's better letter sized printers. If it is your intent to do allot of printing, I don't think this is the time to "cheap out". I have no intention of printing larger than letter sized. I have made the odd error when printing and I don't mind losing some paper to those. However, the larger sized papers start to get fairly costly.

My printer has 6 ink wells and I prefer this to having one or two. If you use up more of one color and have to replace a cartridge it is less expensive to do one of the six colors as a cartridge that would house more colors in one cartridge. Something to consider.

I looked at Canon's website and they are showing 16 photo printers that can print at least letter size so the choices are varied. Canon is not the only choice out there but I have had 3 of them over the years and had very good luck with them. I would think that if you stayed in the mid to mid high range of these printers that one could consistently turn out prints that would please you. As I said earlier, this is somewhat dependant on your paper of choice and that you get a proper profile for it.

So, say your Pixma 8500, versus a professional lab - similar or equal in quality, assuming the right choice of paper and a proper paper profile? I see the general consensus in this thread so far is to go to a lab - one thing is that I live out of the city, and I don't know if how good the local Black's Photography is - does that qualify as a "pro lab"? I do like the convenience of being able to print from home. But I'd also like to have "pro-quality" prints - so assuming correct printer setup, paper and profile, if you think that one of Canon's or Epson's higher end models such as the 8500 or up is up to the task, then that's great! Gotta fly, late for work otherwise...

Thanks,

R.ticle One

How durable is ink sprayed onto the paper compared with a laser exposing photographic paper?