Which Printer?

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Stbourne
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Which Printer?

Post by Stbourne »

Could any members who do their own printing
for pleasure and comp work please advise on
makes/models, ink costs, the best paper
to use with them etc.
I realise this may be personal preference but
any help would be gratefully received.

Regards

Shaun
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Re: Which Printer?

Post by Pensioner »

Shaun,

Over the many years I've been printing asking for suggestions as to which is the best paper, printer, ink set, etc., will get you lots of differing opinions. Your ultimate decision will inevitably come down to your budget and what your intentions are with your prints - i.e. for personal use only, for club competition use, exhibition/display, etc.

Without going to ridiculous extremes and considering one of the professional roll-paper printers costing in excess of £3000 (if you want to see one in action, pay a visit to Mathers of Lancashire in Bolton town centre (discount for ADAPS members re any size prints), you will be limited to a desktop inkjet printer. What will your maximum print size be? How often will you print to that size? If you're only going to print the occasional print to say 16" x 11" for say club competitions then my advice would be limit your printer to one that prints to 10" x 8" and use the likes of Mathers for those occasional large prints as the cost difference between a 10" x 8" printer and one that will print up to A2+ is immense.

The main manufacturers are best to stick with, Canon, HP, Epson, etc., re the printer. My personal choice has been Epson since day one - my current model is the superb Epson Stylus Pro 3880. But whichever make you pick make sure that it is designed to produce photo prints - don't waste your money on a generic, jack of all trades, master of none, printer.

Inks? Again I have always stuck with the manufacturers own ink sets without any issues or problems. Some people swear by the refillable sets - they are cheaper and can do a very good job.

Papers? You have a mountain of choices here. There are papers being produced by non-printer manufacturers that are simply superb and beat hands down the likes of Epson, Canon, etc. - Hahnemulle, Ilford , are two that spring to mind. You can get papers that attempt to mimic 'traditional' wet-darkroom papers, different coatings (glossy, matt, lustre, and so on), different shades of white base (warm, cool, neutral, and so on), alternative textured papers (rag, etc) - the choices are immense. Again it would be down to what your intentions are - for example, some workers use matt papers for black and white images, others prefer glossy papers for the same images to enhance the contrast between the light and dark shades.

So you can see the whole topic is very subjective.My advice would be to go to, say, Calumet in Manchester and look at some of the work displayed on their walls. Look at the samples books there from the different printer and paper manufacturers, feel the papers - above all ask for advice there and at ADAPS, but be prepared for lots of different opinions.

Barry
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Paul Jones
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Re: Which Printer?

Post by Paul Jones »

Hi Shaun

The link to the Mathers ADAPS discounts is - viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2440

I don't do much printing now, but, like Barry, have produced many competition winning images on an Epson A3 printer using Epson original inks on Epson photo paper.


Buy your own printer or outsource...

Buy your own printer?

- convenience
- print whenever you like 24/7
- you have control over the finished print
- initial investment in buying a photo printer
- ongoing costs of replacement inks and paper

Outsource your printing?

- no investment required in buying a printer, inks and paper
- many labs now take print orders online, so easy to order
- 'Professional' results on 'real photo paper'
- Have to wait for prints to be delivered or collected
- Will what you receive match what you see on your monitor?
- Ongoing costs of paying for prints
Paul
================
http://www.PaulJones.org


"As usual Paul is absolutely correct."
"In short, Paul is an absolutely brilliant mentor."
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Re: Which Printer?

Post by Pensioner »

Shaun,

Further to Paul's post above, in which he makes some very good points, the question of 'To print or not to print? That is the question!' (sorry Will Shakespeare) was discussed on this very forum and may give you points to consider - viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2675.

Even though I have the printer I only use it for large prints. Small prints such as used in family images, holiday photos are all done in an album, printed and purchased on-line. I even prefer to use these on-line companies to produce wedding albums for clients - and they are very well received.

Barry
Stbourne
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Re: Which Printer?

Post by Stbourne »

Hi and thanks for replies.
I am getting a printer for other use in home and so was
thinking I would print some images myself etc, depending
on results they could be comp prints but mainly just personal
and depending on cost A4 at the largest.

Epson has been my printer of choice in the past but was hoping to
hear if there were any members using canon etc.

Thanks

Shaun
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