Printer Recommendations?

A

awolturtle

New member
Hey everyone,

We are in the market to get a new computer printer, but since I'm new into photography, I would like a printer that does a decent job printing photos as well.

What would you recommend?
 
Dawg Pics

Dawg Pics

Senior Member
I thought my Epsons did a much better job than my Canon. Both of my Canon printers printed dark and off color. I haven't found a solution. Maybe somebody else with a Canon can weigh in.
 
A

awolturtle

New member
Thank you, I will scope out some different Epson models. I was actually looking at a couple of Canons but I'm kind of glad I didn't bite the bullet on that one.
 
J

JH Foto

Senior Member
Spyder is the name of a device that checks the colors for your printer to print, just get a decent printer first and check out Spyders later.
 
LouCioccio

LouCioccio

Senior Member
My story: I had an Epson 1280 until I IGNORED the "warning message of the ink pad" and was not quick enough to fish out the drain tube to a bottle for the waste ink. I was pleased with it and it served me well. I was going to replace it but I asked myself have I printed any large prints. The 1280 was used for posters at our church festival but I have not printed any in years. So as I was looking for replacement a year or so ago I got a deal (steal) with a Pixma 7220 plus I was able to buy Glossy paper from Canon buy 1 get 9 free. So I went from Epson to Canon. With any printer you must match the paper to the printer and got the colors to look like what was on my screen. If I wanted a good print I would always send to Mpix as I felt that was much better but that's my own opinion. Well I succumbed to large "printeritis" Midwest from Columbus sent me an email on Canon Printers and rebates before Christmas and I said "no" but like any addict I got another on on New Years and I pulled the trigger! So I have a Canon Pro-100. Too my amazement the stash of paper I had from Canon did not match any of their profile. Ugh! First print too magenta of skin tone not even close to my monitor, pick another profile and the skin tones were yellow! So I googled the paper I have and found the answer for Photo Paper Plus Glossy II use Canon Pro 100 GLA PPA ½ and it was spot on. I did get a screaming deal last year for the wife to replace her HP AIO (hate those cartridges) with a Canon AIO MX920 that used the cartridges as the 7220. I gave the son my 7220 as he was complaining about the wife's HP I gave him. Now I am back to different cartridges and looked to precision color for refills but did pick up a couple of sets of third party cartridges for use while I try refilling. I'll let you know how I made out.
So match the paper to the printer when printing and you should be okay.
Lou Cioccio
 
Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
I have a Canon Pixma Pro-100 I'm pleased.

If you're serious about printing, then you need to be serious about a color corrected monitor and understanding soft-printing and how to download/manage printer ICC files... Otherwise, you might as well buy a cheap low price printer at your local buyers club...
 
Dawg Pics

Dawg Pics

Senior Member
FredKingston said:
I have a Canon Pixma Pro-100 I'm pleased.

If you're serious about printing, then you need to be serious about a color corrected monitor and understanding soft-printing and how to download/manage printer ICC files... Otherwise, you might as well buy a cheap low price printer at your local buyers club...
Click to expand...

I see a lot more photo references for this printer than the one I have. I think I made the wrong model choice.
 
A

awolturtle

New member
Looks like I have a bit more research to do. I will take a look at the Canon's and the Epsons and try to price them out. Thanks everyone for the input, I greatly appreciate it!
 
Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
The issue is soft-proofing... Mine were dark until I went through the soft-proofing process... That corrected it.

Soft-proofing is a process of using a color corrected monitor to begin with, and then your editing program using your expected paper's ICC color profile... Paper has different white scales... and simply slapping ink on different paper gives noticeably different colors... some extremely different than what your color corrected monitor is actually displaying... IOW, what you see on the screen is what you should get on paper... That isn't usually the case without making soft-proofing adjustments...

There's a web site Luminus-landscape.com... They have a series of tutorials on adjusting and soft-proofing your images for printing... as well as other serious articles on the technical aspects of paper, and producing a finished image...
 
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