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What's the best all-around good photo printer?

D

dferigmu

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I'm looking to buy a photo printer to go along with the iMac I'm buying and the Canon digital camera I have. The main models I am looking at are:

Epson Stylus Photo R300
Epson Stylus Photo R320
Canon PIXMA iP 4000
Canon PIXMA iP 6000D
Canon PIXMA iP 5000
HP Photosmart 8150
HP Photosmart 8450

I have heard that Epson's have the best paper, no fading, and good quality prints, but their ink is expensive and more prone to clogging. The Canon's I have heard are very fast, very high quality prints, have low-costing ink, but the ink is prone to gas and light fading. With HP, I have heard that the pictures are nice but the ink cartridges aren’t separate and are very expensive.

As you see, each model has its pros and cons. I'm just not sure which one has better pros. I was leaning towards Epson because I don't want my pictures to fade and Apple has the Epson deal right now, but I'm still not sure.

Can anyone give me some suggestions? Which brand is the best and which printer out of these is the best? I have been thinking about this for a while and it's time to decide! Also, I don't want to spend more than about $200.
 
if you want to see on paper what was on your screen get an hp if you want an all round decent printer buy an epson, i have never owned a canon so i dont know about them
 
i dont know anything specific about the listed models. But i have owned a couple of epsoms last one a 875 thingy and neither has lasted v long (heads etc) binned long ago. using a hp 5550 at mo. bit plasticky but v good photoprints. Gets used a lot.

i have heard some good things about various canons. In fact before i had the epsoms, i had an old canon which was great, lasted years.Might try one next, but at mo happy with the hp
 
Hello, get the canon. I have a canon, epson and have had a hp all photo printers. The canon has been by far the best for quality (photos)and 4x6 prints in 45 sec. if that matters. Just make sure you get a printer with 6 ink carts. and not 5. I tend to see a small difference with this but thats just me. If you can afford a printer with 8 heads then go with the canon, one of them can print large photos very well and ink doesn't seem to coastly.
My camera is a canon A75, it takes very good photos for what I do. Also battery life is good. What type of canon do you have? well enjoy whatever printer you choose.
One last thing--Epson R300 (for dvd/cd printing)😉
Canon i960 (photos)😀
HP all in one (for light office work) My least fav. 😎
 
I would recommend Canon printers first, then Epson.

I would not recommend any of their own papers, though. Ilford paper is great and comes in many sizes and surface textures.

I have an Canon i9900 and appreciate the quality. I never had any luck with Epson photo printers personally but lately they seem to have changed their strong magenta ways.
 
bousozoku-Ilford paper is great and comes in many sizes and surface textures.
Do you get this paper from a local store or a chain store like Office Depot?
I ask only cause a store by my home has buy one 4x6 120ct get one free and the price is $24.95 of Canons paper. 😱
 
bousozoku said:
I would recommend Canon printers first, then Epson.

I would not recommend any of their own papers, though. Ilford paper is great and comes in many sizes and surface textures.

I have an Canon i9900 and appreciate the quality. I never had any luck with Epson photo printers personally but lately they seem to have changed their strong magenta ways.
Click to expand...

To those recommending Canon, what do you do about their fading problems? If Canon prints wouldn't fade, they would be the perfect printers. I really don't want my pictures to fade and keep having to reprint them.
 
I have a Canon pixma 5000 now and its great!
Two paperfeeders, it can write on cds and pring on both sides of the page!
I have owned two epson 760, they were ok, but not great. The first one died after a year.. But the print quality was good.
 
cluthz said:
I have a Canon pixma 5000 now and its great!
Two paperfeeders, it can write on cds and pring on both sides of the page!
I have owned two epson 760, they were ok, but not great. The first one died after a year.. But the print quality was good.
Click to expand...

What's the difference b/w the three Canon's I listed?
 
I concur with above.......Canon is Best for photos I have the S9000. I have been using it for Photos for years and have never had any fade probs.
Go to stevesdigicam site and click on the printer reviews and he has done all the work for you there.
I also have the HP 1012 Laser for my B&W Printing........
 
I'll further advocate the Canons. I've worked with all of the above, and though Epson printers used to produce higer quality than Canon, that is no longer the case--they're at least equal in every example I've seen--and Epson ink costs significantly more, plus every one I have worked with has had major clogging problems and last I checked essentially unreplaceable ink heads. HPs don't have the clogging issues, since the print heads are on the cartridges, but as a result the ink is also much more expensive than Canon, and the prints are unimpressive in quality.

Canon has the dual advantages of individually replaceable, comparitively inexpensive ink tanks (and they're transparent, so you can see exactly how much is left) and a user-replaceable ink head (though I've also never seen one clog), on top of high quality, ink thrift, and at least decent drivers.

I've never seen any fading issues personally, even going way back to my S750 (coming up on 4 years old), and I've sold 8.5X11" photo prints from a previous generation 860 for $100 at art shows, so the quality is certainly good enough.

Epson might be a decent second choice, and though I haven't looked closely in the past few months I haven't seen a single good reason to buy anything but a Canon.
 
Fading photos

I must say fade on some of the photos I had were on the HP and Epson but not on the Canon, which is 18mths. old. I truly think it is part of the type of paper one may use, since I work in a printing production environment paper quality and grade can cause fade along with light source (left in the sun) and the ink quality(viscosity) is usualy last to look at for the problem of fade yet some do right away.
So I put a print by my window which gets a good amount of light and the Canon prints held up great.
I did this because the HP photos had some what of a fade after 2 mths. and that wasn't what I paid (price of the printer) for to happen. Live and learn I guess 😕. Anyway I print my friends photos up alot and nobody has had a problem with fade thus far.
If there is better paper out there for photos than Canon for Canon or matching with the type of printer you do buy I say have a store print you up some samples and look at them in a couple of days to see how the ink settles and go from there 🙂 Enjoy!
 
Photo paper

dferigmu- I use Canon Photo paper plus glossy (4x6 and 5x7) and their photo paper pro.
For black and white I use matte (canon) brand but if some other company has better paper I would use something else. So far though the Canon has been the best for me as I haven't tried Kodak paper with my Canon yet but if I get samples I will.
 
Epson R800

The Epson models use pigmented ink, and has the advantage of no fading over time (over 80+ years lifespan). One of the downsides is that until you get to the R800 where the printer uses gloss optimizer, glossy photos don't look quite as vivid, and have a dullness to them (though matte photos are great). The R800, as Epson's top-of-the-line home printer, makes great archival prints both on matte and glossy photos, and I highly recommend it, though it is expensive. And you do have to use it frequently and make sure the print head doesn't clog.
 
which Canon

Canon PIXMA iP 6000D
Canon PIXMA iP 5000
One of these if Canon is your choice, also check out the Canon (or others) website and get the info. I know one uses smaller drops of ink just not sure off the top of my head which one.
Good luck and if you want to e-mail me I could print a pic. for you and mail it(may take a few days to reach you) if time is not a concern 🙄
 
Artful Dodger said:
bousozoku-Ilford paper is great and comes in many sizes and surface textures.
Do you get this paper from a local store or a chain store like Office Depot?
I ask only cause a store by my home has buy one 4x6 120ct get one free and the price is $24.95 of Canons paper. 😱
Click to expand...

Ilford Smooth Gloss is sold at Sam's Club online in 200 sheets of 4x6 for $19.99 and 100 sheets 8.5x11 for $23.22 or thereabouts. Adorama Camera has the bigger sizes online fairly cheap too, esp. when you look at the price of Canon paper.

dferigmu:

I have yet to encounter the fading problems and I have a 13x19 print on Canon paper in the back seat of my car right now, exposed to the sun. However, I'm not sure that Canon is using Silver Halide in their paper and the lack of it usually causes prints to fade. Ilford has the Silver Halide so I'm covered.

By the way, skip the 6000D. It doesn't seem to be anything more than the 4000 with a small LCD.
 
Go for the canon. I have a Canon (i950) and have not had any problems with fading. I picked up a brochure for canon printers in Japan last week, and they appear to have just brought out a new longer lasting ink (chromalife 100). I can't tell you any more, as I don't read japanese and am just working it out from the pictures.

Peter
 
Let me join the chorus here in recommending the Canons. I have had experience with Canon and Epson photo printers, and my support goes wholeheartedly to the Canon. The ink-clogging troubles of the Epsons make them practically unusable (I had to clean the heads every time I used it, probably 10 times), and the Canon's have just as good (if not better) photo quality, plus I find that they are much more accepting of other brands of paper. Our Epson was simply nothing but trouble, and I highly doubt I will ever purchase another.
 
No doubt about it!

dferigmu said:
I'm looking to buy a photo printer to go along with the iMac I'm buying and the Canon digital camera I have.
Click to expand...

No question about it, Canon make the best color printers and offer excellent customer support by updating their drivers and printing software (Easy-PhotoPrint) regularly.

I recently got the Canon i960 and can vouch for its excellence. I did experiment with a lot of different papers and got the best results with Canon's Photo Paper Pro and Epson's Premium Glossy Photo Paper. I have a small preference for the later due to its slightly more realistic look - i.e. it looks almost identical to the results that you would get with Kodak/Fuji paper printed in a photo lab.

I'm not familiar with the latest Pixma printers, but they should be at least as good as the old ones, if not better.

Here's an excellent review/comparison of the HP 7960 vs Canon i900D. The bottom line is go for the HP if you only print B&W pics, otherwise choose Canon if you want the best color pics that current technology allows.

http://www.photo.net/equipment/hp/hp7960/index
 
bousozoku-- thank you
Ilford Smooth Gloss is sold at Sam's Club online in 200 sheets of 4x6 for $19.99 and 100 sheets 8.5x11 for $23.22 or thereabouts. Adorama Camera has the bigger sizes online fairly cheap too, esp. when you look at the price of Canon paper.
Click to expand...
I have a Sams membership I will try there. 😀
 
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