Photo printer suggestions - small or big

Canon Pixma are nice. I bought one last year and love it. For small orders I will use that. Big order I go to the Camera Shop.


MG8120 or MG6220

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consu...ultifunction/photo_all_in_one_inkjet_printers

I've had an Olympus P11 (which is a dedicated 4x6 photo printer) for a few years and I was very happy with it. It was limited to 4x6 and the quality was on par with that of a cheap lab. Perfect to print photos of recent travels for my grandmother. They cost about 30 Euro cents per photo which is acceptable. Beats walking to your local drug store.

You talking about something like this?



If so, then I'd suggest you look elsewhere. I don't want to call it crap however, well, it's crap. To be honest, I had one of these I got as a refurb so that might be why but, this thing was nothing but a headache for me.

The ink ran out pretty fast and the quality of the photos weren't that much better than what you'd get from your standard printer.

On a whim, I picked up a HP Photosmart D7460



This actually produces some pretty good 4x6 prints. Ink is about ~$35 for a set however you can find ink sets that come with 100 4x6 photo paper. I don't normally print out pics like this however I can't really complain about the quality of this printer. It's an old one so I wouldn't see any issues with you picking one up for cheap.

As the previous poster mentioned, the Canon PIXMA printers are pretty good as well and I believe their ink is a little cheaper too.

I have a Canon 9000II and it does 4x6, and all the way up to 13x19. I picked mine up for $150 shipped, brand new on eBay. They are part of a rebate from Canon currently, so check your local craigslist for some deals.

I also am starting to send out work to Millers and may try WestCoast Imaging..

The small 4x6 printers don't have a great color range and the ones I've used have all had pretty muddy blacks too. I'd recommend looking at whatever the current good Epson photo printer that does 8x10 is- you should be able to feed 4x6 paper into it. Though frankly, with the cost of 4x6 prints online from all the major stores, it's not worth the cost if you're mostly printing small prints.

Printing at home will range from 35-50 cents a print by most estimates.

Walmart is currently starting 4x6 prints at 9 cents each. When you add up the cost of a printer, paper and ink the economics look pretty bad if you're just printing snapshots. If you can get the 9 cent price for instance then say $160 for a printer and 120 sheets of 4x6 would cover about 1700 prints at Walmart.

Paul

Home printer vs print at Walmart

There are a few other factors that you need to add into your equation to compare printing at home vs. bringing them to Walmart (or Costco, or ?).

On the home side you need to add the cost of the ink. You also need to determine the "convenience factor" and subtract that from the equation. This is amount of money you "save" by being able to print whatever you want when you want. If you buy the Canon 9000 II printer the previous posted suggested (it IS an awesome printer), you can print any size up to 13 x 19 so you would not need to buy a second printer for all your other printing needs.

On the other side of the equation (the Walmart side) you need to add in the cost for driving or getting to Walmart. This needs to include gas, oil etc. You also need to add in your time (getting in the car and driving to Walmart) and the inconvenience of having to do this. Also don't forget to subject the "quality factor" from the Walmart side. Side the previous Canon printer is one of the best out there you need to subtract something from the equation if you want a real nice print but only get an "ok" print. Believe me, this factor alone (when trying to make the girlfriend/spouse happy) is worth the price of a brand new printer every time...

matteusclement said:

Canon? http://www.ncix.ca/products/index.php?sku=44027&vpn=3295B003&manufacture=Canon&promoid=1208

Click to expand...

That's a decent printer. Being able to print up to 13 x 19" at home would be nice, right?

I have a Canon printer (a cheeper, multifunction thing) that makes really good prints when I actually print something at home, which is rarely.

Canon also makes a 4x6 dye-sub printer that has good quality prints. I think the per print cost of the dye-sub prints is about 30 cents each (the paper and the film are a matched set). The printer is less than $100.

that is the one I have. Very good printer!

Same here as HBOC. I do test prints using 4x6, maybe 5x7 so I don't waste ink on my 13x19 prints. Now depending upon the paper, size and weight, this will depend if you need the front tray or not.

I printed this (see below) and needed the front tray but I first needed to print a few 4x6 and 5x7's to get my colors correct (see my other thread about this).

Everything worked out very well in the end and the cost of the ink has dropped in the last 6 months for the Canon, which is nice. Keep an extra yellow and black cartridge just incase

Now I don't have the link or one manual from Canon but depending upon the paper and it's profiles you could print up to 14x22 on the Canon. They mention 14 wide in a few videos and somewhere online but that was my main reason for getting this printer, very reliable and great prints of all sizes that most would want to display.

Photo is giving me issues, will post back, sorry.