isabel

I'm rationalizing that I can post this photo question here since 90% of my photos are travel related. But also, I know there are many great photographers here, and I'm just getting very frustrated on the photo site forums. So here's my problem.

I'm looking for a new printer, I currently have an old HP1000. I have been mostly showing my trip photos by putting them on a DVD and showing them on TV, but I've noticed that some people really do prefer the old fashioned pass around the photo album technique. So I need a printer that will make good quality prints that don't smudge when you touch them (as my current printer's prints do). I do frame some, so I'd also like the prints to have some degree of permanence and not fade in two or three years. And, since I have a tendency to want to print ALOT of photos, I need something where the ink and paper costs are not extremely high. And obviously I'm having trouble finding a printer that meets all these requirements.

So, what do you photographers use to print your photos?

dickv2

My present intentions is to take about 40 yeasrs of slides and prints and place them on DVD's. After placing them on discs will then hopefull review them and print out the best of the best... For the past four years
ever since I got a digital camera have
placed the contents into the computer file and instead of printing out a large number of pictures have tiled them, nine to a page. From there have
each one of the trip and enlarge those
especially of good quality. Have a Canon A60 Camera, Canoscan 8400F scanner and Epson printer, which I feel
have worked very good together. Yes,
inks go quickly however for the last four years have been using those supplied by Digiprinting.net...
Richard of LaGrange Park, IL..

wvmom

I'm certainly no professional, but I've found that the self-serve kiosks at places as Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Target, and so on, produce very nice quality photos from my digitals at a good price. I edit the photos at home on my computer, then write them to a CD or back to the memory card and take them to a Kodak kiosk for printing. If you're lucky you can get them at .19 per 4X6 print, which is much cheaper than you can do at home. Most of them also offer enlargements. Another alternative is the on-line photo printing, such as www.snapfish.com.

allisonm

I agree with wvmom. I have many travel photos on my hard drive (of all places) and lately I have been moving them to CDs because I am afraid my hard drive could be going. The idea of printing them all is just too daunting, so I plan to choose some to print and then take them to Walmart or our local photo store. I bought a new Epson printer last fall and had to replace the cartridges once so far, which cost almost $100. So taking them off to be printed seems like a good solution.

dan_woodlief

I just got a new Epson R800 and love it so far. However, to replace all the cartridges would take about $100. I think this is a good solution to printing your favorites, but I like to use MPIX online service to print in quantity. They have been superb for me so far, and I am picky. They are not the cheapest out there and tend to cater to serious photographers who will pay for higher quality, but I think they are worth it. Getting matte photos saves money.

J62

Walmart or Sam's club for less than 20c/photo.

Ink cartridges ($100ea) and paper 5-10c/photo can't come anywhere close to this cost, and I (generally) like the quality of the finished product.

Robespierre

Costco. 17¢ for 4x6.

Gretchen

Epson inks are near archival now. They are practically giving away printers in order to keep you buying the ink cartridges.
DEFINITELY transfer all pictures to a CD/DVD and keep in the safety deposit box, if you care anything about them.
Transfer to a CD and let Costco print them for you.

Gretchen

That is to say, select the ones you want for an album and print them.

Robespierre

Transfer your image files to <b>several different brands</b> of CD/DVD media. No one yet knows how long the dye layer that holds the bits will last, and there are some brands that have failed after a few years.

Rich

The Epson R 200 &amp; 300 do a good job printing photos and also will print on CD disc, if that interests you. Printers are reasonable as is the ink . . they use 6 cartridges so you can only replace the color that is low

Rich

isabel

Thanks for your replies. Yes I know that having Walmart, Costco, etc print 4x6s is the cheapest. I tend to prefer 5x7, or unusual sizes and in those cases the stores/online services quickly become much more expensive. They are geared to people who want a lot of 4x6s. So when I want 4x6s I do go that route but I need to be able to print at home. And yes, putting all your files on CD/DVDs (with multiple backups) is very important.

Dan - the R800 is one of the printers I'm considering. I had almost decided on it when I started reading a lot of reviews about printhead clogging. I don't print on a daily basis, and if I go a couple of weeks between printing I don't want the printheads to clog up. Have you noticed that is a problem? I've also been reading that of the big three (Canon and HP being the other two) that Epson is the most finicky in terms of the printer behaving. I've read that when it's working the prints are outstanding, but there are lots of mechanical problems. How long have you had your R800?

Richard - same question for you. Which Epson do you have and what has your experience with it been? Also, the ink you are getting at Digiprinting.net, are those Epson inks or thrid party?

allisonm - Which Epson printer do you have? When you say you have only had to replace the cartridges once, any idea how many pages you've printed? And since you don't seem to print that often, have you noticed print head clogging probelms?

All you Epson printer owners, is it really true that the prints are waterproof? I don't mean can you dunk them, but the HP prints smudge if someone with slightly wet fingers touches them.

Please keep the opinions coming.

Rich

I have the Epson R200 . . have not noticed any smearing . . I use the Epson ink, but usually buy it at Sams or anywhere who has it on sale.

If you turn the printer off between printing jobs, you will not get clogged printer heads . . that usually happens when the printer is not properly shut down. When it is shut off, it clears and parks the heads . no inkjet printer should be turned off using a power strip, the off button should be used.

I've had mine for two years now with no problems. I like to print one of the photos on the cd face but that does require printable cd's/dvd's

allisonm

My Epson is the R320. It prints really great pictures and the heads have never clogged on it. (No smudging either, but can't say about getting wet because it hasn't happened yet.) I don't print that many picures, though, really only some that I mail and a few that I would like to be able to show. This printer replaced my Epson 640, which I used for about 3 years without any problems until the dreaded banding began.

My black ink ran out about a month before the colors, and the colors were all done at about the same time, so I replaced them all. I have heard people say it's cheaper to buy a new printer these days than replace the cartridges.

When I was deciding to buy this one, the HP sales guy was telling me how their print heads are in the cartridge, so new cartridge, new head. It was a tough decision.

dan_woodlief

I have only had the R800 for about two weeks, so not very long. You have to take those user reviews with a grain of salt unless most are negative. People tend to post those reviews either when they love something or have problems with it. I doubt it comes close to reflecting the actual percentage of people who have problems. Go to www.photo.net and see what people say there and read reviews from various magazines. I had another Epson before this one, before I got into digital. I did have clogging problems with it, but I didn't print very often back then. My guess is that it will do just fine. It sounds like you really do need a printer of your own, but I think you should also check MPIX. They print in tons of sizes up to 20x30.

Scarlett

We have a beautiful new Cannon Pixma iP90.
I just have to manage to be a better photographer now ~