Photo Printing

[Smileyguy]

Just a quick question here.

If I wanted to get into regular & serious photo printing (i.e making small prints to frame and sell), which way should I go.

Would a top quality consumer photo printer like the Canon Pixma be good enough? I suspect it would in terms of quality, bit in terms of long-term cost for ink is it going to be huge?

Or would it be better for me to have them printed elsewhere professionally?

Or perhaps to an expensive laser printer?

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Inkjet is still superior to laser for photographic prints.

The quality and longevity of your prints depends on choosing the right paper and ink and of course, the printer... also consider the color calibration of your set-up so that you ensure consistent results instead of wasting paper and ink on trial-and-error.

If I was buying a framed digital print, I would want a 100% guarantee that it wouldn't start fading or discolouring after 2-3 years.

Choose a printer that can handle archival inks & paper and one that has 6 or 8 separate ink-tanks. HP & Epson also make good inkjets...

If you get them printed professionally, you will have to pass that cost on plus your own margin so it may end up pushing the price of your prints up to a point where they're too expensive.

 

[jimbo999]

What size prints are you planning to make?

 

[Smileyguy]

I was thinking of one of the new Canon Pixma's. Everyone seems to be raving about them.

 

[mcmav37]

I was thinking of one of the new Canon Pixma's. Everyone seems to be raving about them.

I have the Pixma 5000 and I highly recommend it. It is very fast, prints double sided (text or pictures) if you want, and everyone I show the pictures to cannot believe they came from a home printer.

That being said, I have it just for personal use, and have had it for only a few months, so I obviously cannot comment about how the pics will look in a few years.

 

[Moxiemike]

What size of prints are you thinking about? What kind of camera do you use?

I use an Epson 2200, a Picturemate (for on site photo printing), and a HP DesignJet 1200nr for large format printing.

That said, I highly doubt you'll want to enlarge bigger than 8x10-12 with a consumer grade digital. Let me know what you're shooting and what sizes and i'll let you know what recommendations i can make.

 

[Smileyguy]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I'm using a Canon Powershot S1 IS at the moment. It's pictures are great but it's only 3.2 MP so I'm not going to be going very big.

Forgive me, I am totally unfamiliar with photo sizes! Basically I won't be going any bigger than the standard print size that photo labs give out. Some perhaps might be a little bigger (probably longer) but not much more, at least until I get a better camera.

About A5 I'd say.