Just to share my own experiences.
You wrote>>>that prints great quality but won't break me
That seems to be a bit contradictory, the common law of business prevents you from getting something of a lot of value for paying little value.
You have the commercial machines that really print top quality prints, but they cost on the 100,000 of thousands or in the range of 10,000 thousands of dollars. Probably not your price range.
Then I tried the heat transfer machines (thermal), the color comes on tapes in cartridges, and a heat system transfer the color to a paper. Great result initially, but as the printer wore quickly over the month, the pictures developed white strips and looked horrible as the color ended of a bit off position on the paper. Besides, the color cartridges were very expensive.
You have the laser printers, but I don't have much experience from those, they are more expensive, and really three or more printers, one for each color, in the same case. A powder is transferred first to a roller that hold a electrostatic "image" of the picture to be printed, the electrostatic image is created with optics, and then the powder dots are transferred to the paper and then fused on the paper with heat. They have similar limitations as the ink-jets when it comes to sharpness and colors.
Ink jet printers. What I use now. They have two major limitations technically. The inks are water based and the picture fade with age and light and then come to look like a 100 year old colorless photo. If you drop a drop of water on a paper you will find that it is absorbed by the paper as in a blotting paper, and kind of spread out. This makes ink jet printer produced photos less sharp, but that can also be an asset. We often deliberately "fuzzy" (make the picture un-sharp) portraits for instance to make them look better.
The other issue is color reproduction, but this we can control, both by editing the photo in Gimp or Photoshop, or adjusting the printer control software in the PC. It is a trial and error exercise.
The DPI value is how many dots per inch the machine is capable of printing, so theoretically, the higher DPI value the more sharp picture, but that is the theory. It depends on the paper as well, how the ink drops is absorbed on the paper surface and spread out and how big the drops are. The smaller drop, the less ink to spread, and the sharper picture. If you use normal copy paper and print the same picture on a 1440 DPI machine and a 5760 DPI machine, there would be no visible difference. If you use the top quality paper and print the same picture on a 1440 DPI machine and a 2880 DPI machine, you would only be able to see the difference with an enlarger, but that is not how we look at the pictures anyway. The size of the droplets also make some difference. Smaller droplets, and if the paper is right, that gives a better picture, at least in theory. I have failed though to see any difference between the $100 printers and the $500 printers.
Some printers have many colors, six or more ink tanks, and are claimed to produce better color pictures. Personally I have failed to see any difference that can not be achieved by simply adjusting the colors with the software. The electronic image we get from the camera has three colors, RGB, (black is no color and white is all colors) so how do you add more colors with a printer, adding something that is not there from the beginning. It seems more to be just another sales gimmick by the printer companies to make us buy more of their obscenely priced ink cartridges.
What I use now is a $100 Epson printer printing 5760 DPI, and three colors plus black continuous ink system, ink from Morgon (as I earlier mentioned) and then different types of paper depending on what quality I want.
So based on my personal experiences over some 30 years;
1. get a printer with a CIS (Continuous Ink supply) system. A $100 printer I think is good enough.
2. buy ink and use others references and experience to choose one. I pay $1.50 for 100 ml ink. Don't believe all the "reviews" on the web. Many are just paid commercials for the printer companies.
3. For photo prints, experiment with different papers for the best result. Most expensive is not best. There is always a certain correlation between the ink, the printer, and the paper to get the best result.
4. Most printers have a photo setting, the printer prints slower, with smaller droplets, and you get a better looking picture. Use that setting for printing.
5. Make sure the printer heads are aligned and cleaned and adjusted (done with the printer software) and run through the procedures from time to time.
6. Experiment with the PC printer software and photo editing software as GIMP or Photoshop to get the best color composition.
In the end, a $100 printer should give you the best and most economic result. For the really good prints, use a commercial printing shop.
Just my experiences and views.
On 27-Dec-2010 1:50 PM, Jodi Edwards wrote:
Who is this crazy person writing this blubber. i'm off this list too many needy people here.
--- On Sun, 12/26/10, shirley <sdicks@blomand.net> wrote:
From: shirley <sdicks@blomand.net>
Subject: Re: Selling Stock Photography Quality printers, or absence of them.O
To: selling_stock_photography@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, December 26, 2010, 11:58 AM
do you know the name and number of a good one for reinking. I used to do that but the newer ones don't have the holes to put the ink in.....if anyone knows, perhaps I could find one on ebay.....thanks shirley----- Original Message -----From: RKSent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 12:21 AMSubject: Re: Selling Stock Photography Quality printers, or absence of them.OMany thanks everyone for your input, it is very helpful.
I read a few articles on the web, and just as on this list, it turns out that the old printers are the best. Old HP especially it seems. The new ones are designed to be money making scams, to make you spend huge on maintenance, and ink cartridges, and a new printer ASAP.
This turned out to be a lot more interesting than I thought, and I know it is problem for photographers, especially the cost of ink, so I share the information here.
First I tried to fix the printer myself. The printer had a continuous ink system, so, it was ink in the tanks, the ink flew OK to the containers in the printer, but large portions, square pieces, was blank on the paper when I printed. I guessed it was the printer head or the software, so I took the printer to a small repair shop I had used for many years.
The guy did the same checks, and told me the printer head was broken, and to buy a new one would be so expensive it was cheaper to replace the printer. How could that be, I know how much paper I buy, and the number of pages I had printed was maybe only a third of what Canon guaranteed. Why not ask Canon to replace it under their warranty? No use, he said, they will just ask for "proof", how many pages, that their ink cartridges was used, that they had serviced the printer, and that the printer was not manipulated, and how would you do that. The "guarantee" is a scam.
I bought a new Epson T40W equipped with a continuous ink system, and the printer is "hacked" to work around the systems that are intended to prevent you from using competitive supplier's ink, recharge the ink cartridges, or use bulk ink continuous ink systems. The cost was US$99, inclusive of the continuous ink system and full ink containers.
Now it started to get interesting.
I asked about my remaining bulk ink for my Canon. No problem he said, you can use it in any ink jet printer of this type (pietzo electric ink jet pumps), all inks are the same, the only difference is the color, Canon's yellow is for instance a bit darker than Epson's, so you have to make a software adjustment. Jet printer ink is water, dye, a bit of glycol and soap (to reduce the surface tension to get small drops), you could even make your own ink. Then the printer maker adds a few chemicals that interact with chemicals in their paper only (which is three to five times the price of generic competitive paper) to make it look like their ink and paper is better. It is not. It is a scam using technology.
Many cartridges today are "chipped", they have a small electronic chip in them. That chip is a counter memorizing how many droplets are ejected, and when it calculates the cartridge is nearly empty, the software in the printer shut it off, and you can only continue to print if you pay the printer maker a hefty sum for a new cartridge. At least that is the theory.
On my printer those chips have been replaced on the continuous ink cartridges with a similar chip that does the same thing. It is only, when the chip has counted the quota number of droplets, there is a button you press to zero the chip, the same way you would zero an electronic stop watch. Then you can continue to print. You "cheat" the printer software which thinks you have put in a new "genuine" ink cartridge which you would have paid a heft sum for.
This is similar to as if your car had a secret trip meter, and when you reached the maximum mileage on a full tank of gas the maker had decided on, the car would be disabled, until you paid the maker a hefty sum he had decided on to fill up the gas tank. Another scam in other words.
Canon has in addition a system that stops the printer after so many prints because the "waste tank is full". However, there is no waste tank. It is just that they want you to come to them and pay some money to reset another counter, and they do a bit of cleaning at the same time, which you could have done yourself. Dirty tricks again.
Now I buy the ink in bulk, it costs me US$ 1.50 for 100 ml of ink. In other words, to buy the print makers ink is about 1,000 times more expensive. Figure it out yourself.
I get exactly the same print quality result by manipulating the printer driver software to get the right amount of ink on the print, and I am using third party generic paper. All of our digital photos are also edited in programs like Gimp or Photoshop, and here is another opportunity for getting the prints perfect.
I asked him if he wanted my old Canon printer for spares, but no thanks. He guarantees his work for six to twelve months, and it is not worth it with the Canon. So, in front of my eyes he picked up the old printer, carried it to a nearby garbage container, and unceremoniously dumped it wholesale.
Another interesting issue came up. Most documents printed on ink jet printers contain a secret code, so every print can be tied and traced to a particular printer, and time printed.
Watch it, Big Brother is watching you.
http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/publications/trs/papers/1211.pdf
On 21-Dec-2010 10:47 AM, cmfranklin@cox.net wrote:I do not recommend a Kodak printer. It is VERY expensive to maintain, and you have to use only Kodak paper for it to print photos well. We also had major issues once we install a secure wireless network, so now I can't print to it. I would stick with a HP or an Epson.
Cathy
http://www.electricskies.com
---- mgtymike1@yahoo.com wrote: > years ago I went with a cannon printer, (quality prints) but the machine was less then I desired...so went with HP's....have HPDeskjet 3845...yea its old, but still does an exceptional job....I also picked up another HP...HP psc 1210 all-in-one....again it has some years on it, but still does an exceptional job on printing 8x10's.
>
> Now thinking of upgrade and perhaps the Kodak printer.....
>
> michael
>
> --- On Sun, 12/19/10, Tina Manley <images@comporium.net> wrote:
>
>
> From: Tina Manley <images@comporium.net>
> Subject: Re: Selling Stock Photography Quality printers, or absence of them.O
> To: selling_stock_photography@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Sunday, December 19, 2010, 8:18 AM
>
>
>
>
>
>
> The Epson 1400 is the best bargain around. It prints beautifully and is available now at $100 off the list price. http://tinyurl.com/2ccenx8
>
>
> Tina
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 7:10 AM, RK <rolf.krohna@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Once i used a Canon S500 printer for all casual printing, and i loved it. I swore by the Canon printers.
>
> Then I moved and decided to buy a new one, and was talked into a Canon Pixma with four ink tanks.
>
> I have found it to be the ultimate Cr*p, Sh*t and rubbish.
>
> Can anyone suggest a good reliable printer that works. It does not have to be a quality one, but it has to be reliable.
>
> It is just for letters and drafts. Has anyone heard of any Chinese printers. Maybe better than the Japanese.
>
> On 18-Dec-2010 6:57 AM, Penny Wills wrote:
>
>
> I know a couple of people who have used it. It's legit.
>
> Pj
>
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 10:08 AM, michael jm <mgtymike1@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Good day all
>
> just came across a site that boasts FREE website. The site is WIX.com
> was wondering if anyone in this group has explored this or possibly built a web site there. any feedback appreciated.
>
> I shall have to investigate further.
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
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> --
> Tina Manley, ASMP
> www.tinamanley.com
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