Which Printer to buy?

[Peter Christian]

Hi everyone!

I am new to digital photography. I ordered a black G2 which is to arrive on Wednesday. I currently have a Lexmark Z51 which is about 2-3 years old. I intend on printing out most of the pictures I will be taking. I don't want to start a firestorm but what printer would you recommend to a novice that will print excellent pictures at a reasonable cost and at a reasonable maintainance level without breaking the bank? Thank you for your help.

Peter

 

[willgr]

Peter,

I'm having good luck with the new Canon S820 I just bought from buy.com for 218.00. It is a six ink printer and I'm not sure on the costs but most posts say they are reasonable (especially since you only replace the one out of six that is empty).

check steves-digicams.com for his review.

Hi everyone!
I am new to digital photography. I ordered a black G2 which is to
arrive on Wednesday. I currently have a Lexmark Z51 which is about
2-3 years old. I intend on printing out most of the pictures I will
be taking. I don't want to start a firestorm but what printer would
you recommend to a novice that will print excellent pictures at a
reasonable cost and at a reasonable maintainance level without
breaking the bank? Thank you for your help.

Peter

 

[digitalNewbie]

Like peter, I'm just about to get going on printing photos from my new Konica 400z. My old HP 690 just isn't up to it. The concensus appears to be that the Epson's give the best print quality though I appreciate that some people have misgivings about their reliability.

I would be happy to spend up to about £150 which means that I could buy the 810, 890 or 895 or even the C80.

I have a laser printer for document printing so I don't care about b&w.

1) The 810 is the cheapest - how would it compare in quality to the others?

2) The 890 costs about the same price as the 895. As I wouldn't use the card reader on the 895 is their any other major difference in print quality between them. I do like the paper roll feeder on the 890 - but don't know if I'd actually use it.

3) The C80 isn't a 'photo' printer though it appears from reading threads that it prints photos OK. It does take seperate colour ink reservoirs and could I guess be cheaper on consumables? It doesn't have the 'print image matching' but I don't know if this is important.

So many questions. So many choices!!!

Of course I'm open to other suggestions (Canon, HP etc) - I care most about print quality and running cost. The initial cost becomes less relevant when you consider the cost of consumables.

Tim

Hi everyone!
I am new to digital photography. I ordered a black G2 which is to
arrive on Wednesday. I currently have a Lexmark Z51 which is about
2-3 years old. I intend on printing out most of the pictures I will
be taking. I don't want to start a firestorm but what printer would
you recommend to a novice that will print excellent pictures at a
reasonable cost and at a reasonable maintainance level without
breaking the bank? Thank you for your help.

Peter

 

[E. J. Shockley]

The concensus appears to be that the Epson's give the best print quality > though I appreciate that some people have misgivings about their > reliability.

I read these forums daily and watch most of the review sites. I would disagree with your "consensus". Everything I read indicates the current crop of dye based Canons and Epsons are equal in print quality. There are very small differences in the charactor of the prints with opinions being evenly split as to which brand the writer slightly prefers. The new Epson pigment based printer (2100/2200) seems to be a small increment better in print quality than the dye based printers and you get better print life as well. There's always a trade off, the 2100/2200 is about twice as expensive as the equivalent dye based printer.

As far as reliability is concerned, a small but vocal segment of Epson users have clogging problems varying from minor to "scrap the printer". Canons seem to have fewer clogging problems.

Epson puts microchips in their cartridges making it difficult but not impossible to use aftermarket ink. Canon does not and most high volume printers use aftermarket inks with great success.

Epsons tend to be cheaper to acquire than Canons. Enough so to out weigh the reliability concerns in my opinion.

A brand new HP (7515?) has been reviewed well. Other HP's are not normally considered for the serious photographer. Lexmark is a total loss.

Hope this helps, good luck on your choice.

Regards, Ed

 

[Chas74624]

Hi everyone!
I am new to digital photography. I ordered a black G2 which is to
arrive on Wednesday. I currently have a Lexmark Z51 which is about
2-3 years old. I intend on printing out most of the pictures I will
be taking. I don't want to start a firestorm but what printer would
you recommend to a novice that will print excellent pictures at a
reasonable cost and at a reasonable maintainance level without
breaking the bank? Thank you for your help.

I would try either the new HP line - if you need text printing as I do they are a solid choice for both Photograph and document printing.

If you have another document printer and just need a photo printer I would do one of the Canon 6 ink models. Very fast and quality is near to the Epsons without the inability to replace the heads.