Need printer advice.

Can anyone help? I need a suggestion for a very good event portrait printer. I need it to be fast, high-volume and high quality.

I am leaning more toward a dye sublimation or at least a bulk ink tank type setup. I want to put out prints that rival photographic process (like costco, smugmug, etc...)

the main reason I am scared of this type of printing is that the old bubble jets are so prone to water damage, so waterfastness would be a great feature.

Please chime in with your suggestions for model numbers, and i can do more research on those.

(I will be doing mainly wallet, 5x7, 8x10... but being able to go bigger is a definate plus)

Thanks!

It would help if we know your budget.
Kodak and Fuji make very good portable printers for this kind of thing, but they are usually very expensive.

Canon has some very fast inkjets, but paper is very important versus fading and water sometimes in opposite directions for those two.

Budget is not really an issue. I am not in the range of a $30,000 lab machine or anything like that, but i can pay a hefty sum for the right equipment. I want this thing to save me money in the long run over lab prints ( i know bulk ink gets very very cheap, and i have already noticed how low paper can be when bought in bulk)

When i put the print in their hand, i dont want them to feel like it is a "bubblejet" i want it to just ooze quality.

This afternoon I saw over 50 prints made on the Epson 2200 and the paper was NOT Epson (sadly can't remember but can find out). The quality was amazing and I am super critical of output quality / look / feel.

I use Epson printers BUT I am seriously considering the Canon printer for 13x19 especially now that I've seen output on their Semi Matte paper (again I have to check the exact paper)

the colours were vibrant, excellent contrast and paper felt excellent.

i don't know what the life cycle is of these, but hi-touch has gotten good reviews. they seem to cater to portable pro. here's a B&H link: http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …x=11&Submit.y=9​&Submit=Go

i think for 8x10 you'd have to get into sony or kodak.

SgWRX wrote in post #2751789
i don't know what the life cycle is of these, but hi-touch has gotten good reviews. they seem to cater to portable pro. here's a B&H link: http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …x=11&Submit.y=9​&Submit=Go

i think for 8x10 you'd have to get into sony or kodak.

Thanks for that link, those look great, except the 60seconds per 5x7 that seems sorta sucky.

I think that i am just expecting too much from a printer, as they all seem to be a let down. That Hi-touch seems to have a print cost of almost 40cents per 4x6 too. the prices get worse from there, although the unit price is very cheap.

Any other advice?

you might want to check out www.imagingspectrum.co​m. They have a large number of dye sub printers with the specs so you can compare. There is a big price difference for moving to an 8x10 or larger for dye sub, but if it is speed you want dye sub will be the way to go. i purchased the sony snaplab for 5x7 and 4x6 and have been happy for event printing. not necessarily the "wow" factor but very quick for onsight pevent printing

Thx redfish, that is a great site, i will have to go that route, i think. I have a couple questions for you, PM incoming...