I’m thinking about buying a new printer. My budget is between $100-$200. Speed is not a big issue. What I would like, however, is a printer that can print decent photo-quality pictures from my digital camera (2MP) or from scanned photos. I wouldn’t need to make prints any larger than 8 x 10.
Of course, it should do all the other things that standard printers do (print b/w, color on regular paper, etc). The printer will be used with Win XP Pro.
The place where I work sells the Epson 820. The print sample they have on display looks really nice. Considering it’s a $100 printer, it seems like a good buy. Cnet’s reviews of this product were mostly positive as well.
Does anyone here have any experience with this printer, or can anyone reccomend another such printer?
I have a Canon S800 and I love it. But since it cost $300 and it’s no longer produced, I won’t recommend that one. But I will say that the Canon printers do excellent photo quality prints. Maybe the Canon S520 would be a good one for you.
Personally, I think even the cheap printers these days can produce great output. The difference seems to be in durability. First the quality starts to degrade, then they break down. IMHO
Another tip: the paper you use makes a huge difference in final print quality. Experiment a little to see what works best and meets your criteria for quality vs. expense.
I have an HP 930 inkjet, which I bought 2 years ago for less than $150. The 3 x 4 photos come out excellent; for 8 x 10 pictures, the pixellation is a little more obvious if you look closely at the photo, but it’s otherwise fine.
And like I said, I bought this 2 years ago, so I can only imagine how much better the technology is now.
I, too, would recommend a canon, but I am biased… I’ve got a Bubblejet 8200, and it’s quality is excellent (and not too slow, either).
I would venture that being due to you using images that are too small for 8X10 prints… I would suggest nothing less than 3.3 megapixels (digital camera speak for 2048x1536, at 72 dots per inch) if you want to print 8x10’s.
I just (last week) bought an HP photosmart 1115 ($199.98 at Office Max)
I’m really happy with the print quality of photos (we also just got a Cannon Elph digital cam, which is WAY nice)
It accepts the memory cards from most cameras and will print directly from the card - without the PC. It also has a lot of software features, orientation, resizing, etc. Basically, you stick the card in, tell it what size you want, and out it comes. We printed several 8x10 pictures from our wedding (they were gigantic files, though) - they came out looking exactly like high quality glossies.
Another cool feature is that the print head is on the cartridge, rather than on the printer itself, so when it comes time to change the ink, a new print head comes along with it. The cartridges aren’t too terrible, compared with other brands/makes/etc.
The general concensus on the http://www.dcresource.com is that the Epson Stylus Photo line is still the best quality consumer photo printer available today. I bought one and am exceptionally happy with it.
As you have seen, you can get an Epson 820 for $99 and produce prints nearly indistinguishable from real prints. The others in the line are somewhat better, but have essentially the same print engine. HP and Cannon produce nice printers, but they don’t yet match up to the Epson Photo line.
Ink carts are about $20 each, get the real Epson ones and Epson Photo paper, it’s worth it.
Printers that accept memory cards really don’t appeal to me, as I always run images through PhotoShop before printing. I think it’s more of a gimick than something you would use on a regular basis.
The only problem with the Epson printers is that if you don’t use them often, the print heads clog. Often they clog big time, to the point where even repeated auto head cleaning doesn’t work and you have to break out the solvents. They have somewhat a reputation for being ink hogs, but this is probably true for all photo quality printers.
In all other respects, they do a great job for the price.
I like the Epson, too. They are ink hogs, but if you shop around you can get generic ink at half to one-third the price that is nearly as good (IMHO) as the real deal. On the other hand, there’s a lot of bad generic ink out there to be had. Find one you like and stick with it.
As previously said, the paper makes the biggest difference. No printer on the market printing on copier paper is going to make as good a print as a mediocre printer using photo paper. That said, you should still try for the best printer in your budget.
The differences between models and brands at those price points may not be that great, boiling down to preference or maybe a rebate. If possible, make sure you get a few test prints on good paper before you buy.
I got an Epson 777 a few years ago, and it’s fine – I don’t print all that much, but when I do, it’s fast and does the job well. As Finangle says, however, the print heads tend to clog a little bit after prolonged periods of disuse. I can unclog them if I run the “clean printer head” utility (sometimes several cleanings are needed), but if it’s an unimportant print job, I usually don’t bother.
I buy the Epson-brand ink cartridges from Costco, which is IMO a decent deal. My brother has a friend who works for Epson, and I hear that the reason generic ink (and refill kits) don’t work very well is because they’re not made with the same degree of granularity that Epson requires. Use too much of the generic and your heads will clog faster and gunk up the inside rollers.
I too have an s800 by Canon (which is no longer produced) and there are many things in the plus column for it
No Pizza Wheel tracks on glossy prints
Seperate ink tanks so when one color runs out you don’t need to toss the whole deal
Removable print head for repair/replacement
Fantastic photo quality.
There is the s820 but it is a bit out of your price range. I hear many good things about the Epson line’s print quality but the above made it a no brainer for me to get the Canon.
I wanted to thank everyone for their input. I ended up buying the Epson Stylus Photo 820 and am, frankly, blown away by the quality of the prints. I am extremely happy with it and have been happily printing out pix from my digital camera.