Best photo and general use printer

James Blonde

James Blonde

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I'm in the market for a new printer, and the priority for it for the moment would probably be as a general use printer - A4 text / maps / web prints, etc. In terms of photography, I've never really printed my own work, and I've only really dabbled with selling landscape prints online, which have been lab printed. Online only isn't really working for me - I really need a physical printed product to sell, so printing myself could be appealing. So as I need a printer, I thought it worth asking if there is an option to include high quality photo printing on a variety of paper types, potentially up to A3+, but still have a printer that's economical for everyday (and it really wouldn't be every day or regular...) use? Or would I really need to be looking to buy 2 printers?
 
If it makes life a bit easier, I'm happy taking it down to A4. but equally I'm willing to accept that no such multi-use product exists, and just buy a general use printer for the moment, stick with lab prints and maybe spend more time looking at photo printers (and whether I'd be printing the volumes to justify a dedicated one)
 
James Blonde said:
If it makes life a bit easier, I'm happy taking it down to A4. but equally I'm willing to accept that no such multi-use product exists, and just buy a general use printer for the moment, stick with lab prints and maybe spend more time looking at photo printers (and whether I'd be printing the volumes to justify a dedicated one)
Click to expand...

On the A4 front, I use two of the Canon MG series printers, a MG 5250 (5 inks) and a MG 6350 (6 inks). Both give excellent photo printing (IMHO... but I'm no expert!). The 6350 is better at black and white, but neither is perfect; there tends to be a bit of a colour cast, though I've noticed it lessens if you leave the print out for a day or two to outgas. I've only used Canon inks (which are expensive)... before today, when I tried a JTec cartridge. It seems to work but the printer is saying it's empty.. eeeek!
 
Have a look through some of the threads in this section. The same question has been answered a number of times recently.
 
In terms of A4 I use a Canon Pixma iP7250 and it produces quality colour prints as well as all my admin docs. Has two paper trays built in. One for A4 and the other takes either 4x6 or 5x7/
 
connersz said:
Have a look through some of the threads in this section. The same question has been answered a number of times recently.
Click to expand...

I was looking more for a professional quality photo printer (having looked a bit more into it now, I guess pigment) that could relatively economically do docs and general use, rather than a multi purpose device that could do relatively good (but not archival quality) prints, and nothing really catered for that. Which could just mean I'm asking for 1 device to do too much!

I'm toying with this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-PIXM...ie=UTF8&qid=1464186683&sr=1-1&keywords=mg7750

as my scanner is knackered as well, though here I know I'd be accepting I'd be buying a consumer / general use device with a decent print quality. Maybe I'll have to consider a professional quality printer separately (or just keep going to a lab) for anything I might want to sell. Otherwise the iP7250 seems a good option - same style and profile as the printer I've currently got. Couldn't find the Canon MG6350 - guessing it's an old model now, possibly replaced by the one above?
 
James Blonde said:
I was looking more for a professional quality photo printer (having looked a bit more into it now, I guess pigment) that could relatively economically do docs and general use, rather than a multi purpose device that could do relatively good (but not archival quality) prints, and nothing really catered for that. Which could just mean I'm asking for 1 device to do too much!

I'm toying with this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-PIXM...ie=UTF8&qid=1464186683&sr=1-1&keywords=mg7750

as my scanner is knackered as well, though here I know I'd be accepting I'd be buying a consumer / general use device with a decent print quality. Maybe I'll have to consider a professional quality printer separately (or just keep going to a lab) for anything I might want to sell. Otherwise the iP7250 seems a good option - same style and profile as the printer I've currently got. Couldn't find the Canon MG6350 - guessing it's an old model now, possibly replaced by the one above?
Click to expand...

You've asked for a printer that can achieve many things including being able to print sale-worthy pictures which is quite a big ask. If you want to sell your images you need something better than that. I have an IP7250 myself and the images are great but not good enough to sell.

I think you need to decide first exactly what you are planning to do with it and go from there.
 
I wouldn't get an Epson, can be tricky for beginners and heavy on ink. They don't even make that model anymore.
 
I have one of the Canon iP A4 printers and would highly recommend it. I used to have an Epson, but had issues with it and didn't like the colour reproduction I got - whereas I'm very happy with the Canon.
 
I think the way I'm looking at this now is as a 2 printer job rather than a 1 printer fits all. My immediate need was for a general use printer as I'm giving up on the one I've got, but I had a little hope I could possibly kill 2 birds with one stone and maybe be able to print my own for sale, but you are of course right, and as I alluded to, I'm not going to get saleable prints from the printer I linked to, and I wouldn't even try. That pick was, to my mind about as good a general use printer / scanner as I'll cost effectively get (and it has cash back) and it'll print half decent photos if I want it to.

Looking at it the other way, if I was just wanting 1 printer that could do professional prints but I'd also use it for general use, would it be at all sensible / cost effective to use a Canon Pixima Pro 10 or Epson SC-P600 type printer for general use, or (to coin a phrase) is that just buying a Ferrari to do the shopping? (or possibly more appropriately, to tow a trailer down a farm track!)

and I think I can guess the answer! :D

So maybe I've asked too much, and 2 is the answer. Maybe it might be worth me taking a risk on buying a decent professional quality printer and taking a step up? Hmm...

(and yes, I sense I'd be happier with Canon over Epson - too many hit and miss stories about Epson which seem to be along the lines of great but has foibles, as opposed to Canon being consistently good (but maybe not great))

Thanks for the discussion too - very helpful! :D
 
I don't print a lot but I like to do it myself. I was looking for an A3 / A3+ upgrade last year and after toying with various options ended up with two printers - my original MG6350 relegated as general purpose / day to day printing - and a Pro 10S for the 'serious stuff'.

One thing to watch out for with the Canon Pro 1/10/100 or Epson P600 is the amount of space they take up - not just the physical size but the clearances for paper trays.

My usage patterns are inefficient - the Pro 10S only gets used every two or three weeks for small batches - so I'm probably losing a disproportionately large amount of ink on cleaning cycles. However I understood that before going down this sub-optimal route.
 
If A4 is ok for you...
I have a Canon MX922 and it does a great job printing up to 2400dpi resolution and you can get inks from toner kingdom for about a buck each that are fantastic.
The printer is 89.00 and inks are cheap. It will print beautiful prints up to 8.5 x 14 and will copy, fax, scan and has full duplexing as well as 30 sheet duplexing scanning of documents so you don't need anything else.
Cloud print, and network accessible. It will even print on CD, DVD and BD printable discs.
 
Not much money until you need to replace the imaging drum and transfer rollers, then you will spend more than the inkjets cost for a few years worth of ink.
 
The OEM drum in my (mono) Brother laser is £45 but if you're comparing it to the cost of third-party inks, I can get a third-party toner for £17. With a page yield of 12,000 it doesn't need changing often. The toner only has a yield of 2,400 pages but again they can picked up for £20. That said, I'm still using all the original consumables from when I bought the printer, and it's never had a hiccup since the day I unpacked it. By comparison, my HP mono inkjet was more hassle than it was worth to actually bother to print anything...
 
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