Ecconomic photo printer

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edra78

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Leanne
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i am looking for advice on a reasonable priced economic photo printer, where I can use it for printing my own images, but also I runa kids play scheme and attend a couple of play schools who have enquired about doing some photos of the kids, 6x4 size, I can also put on the back my details for doing photo shoots so want them to be decent quality. Thank you x
 
Hi Leanne

Some here will have much more experience of printers than me so will give better advice but I have an Epson 1400 which I am very happy with. This seems to give decent output. Most importantly though I put a Permajet continuous ink system (CIS) onboard and that reduced the ink costs by about 90%, making printing very affordable. Permajet papers and inks are exceptionally high quality even compared to OEM equivalents so you save A LOT of money with no reduction in quality.
 
"economic" and "photo printer" are mutually exclusive. You'd be better off with a photobox.co.uk account :)
 
I suppose the cost and if it's reasonable or not is very much a personal decision... these things are rarely truly cheap... For example my sister bought a very cheap printer from a supermarket and I was really impressed with the images it produced but she was shocked to find that the replacement ink cartridges cost her more than the printer did.

I suppose if you want to keep the cost as reasonable as possible it may be worthwhile starting with the ink rather than the printer and looking at the cost of genuine manufacturers ink cartridges and any unbranded replacement cartridges that are available. Don't forget the cost and availability of paper too and remember that if you don't get the profile, paper and ink to match the image quality could really suffer.

Another problem could be ease of use and reliability. I have an Epson and like many Epson users I've been plagued with dark prints and Googling "Epson dark prints" provides evidence that lots of people struggle with Epson's as they seem to require more work and seem to be less plug and play than some other printers. Another issue that I have is that my printer is very temperamental and often requires half an hour of coaxing and hair tearing before it'll output anything usable.

All in all, if you head down the home print road I think you should be prepared for ongoing costs and constant tinkering and cajoling.
 
magicolor1 said:
"economic" and "photo printer" are mutually exclusive. You'd be better off with a photobox.co.uk account :)
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This - very true, unless you need instant printing save the money and spend it on line. Prints will last longer and probably look better too.

David
 
Just a thought on buying prints on line...

I've only paid for prints once and it was at a high street shop and the print I got was simply awful and I never used it.

So, if paying someone else to do my printing I'd do it in small batches and keep the cost of each batch down so that I didn't lose too much if they did srew it up.
 
As has already been said, home printing isn't usually the most cost efficient option, especially if you only use genuine inks (which I would personally recommend after a bad experience with a cheap 3rd party cart). However, it is certainly the quickest option, allowing a print in your hands a minute or 2 after pressing the shutter release. There's also a little of the old developing magic seeing a full colour print emerge from the slot when you know the paper was blank as it went in (little things :) little minds...).

When I give prints away, I use a sticker on the back of the print with my contact details and the unique file name/number - saves a later search for the original file! I'm on my 2nd Canon photo printer - the first one still works fine but only goes up to A4 and I like big prints! (At A4 and bigger, print costs look like good value compared to the prices labs [and even the high street] charge.) My wife uses an Epson but gives me anything she wants with decent colours! (She also only uses genuine inks.)

As I (and others) said above, inks and paper aren't cheap but there are some cheaper (or at least less exorbitant) suppliers of the stuff. I use either 7dayshop or Premier inks but there are others. I've even found sets of genuine inks in Tescos at a good price (when I spot things like that, I tend to stock up!)
 
biggest problem ive had with home printing is the printers always seem to misbehave sooner or later, which is super annoying :/
 
Apart from a few banding issues (which cleared after a couple of A4 prints), my printers have only ever misbehaved as a result of the 3rd party cart I once used and the banding was a result of my ilness last year. I try to put at least a couple of A4 prints through the printer each week to keep its juices flowing but simply didn't have the energy or inclination for much of 2011 or 2012.
 
pingu666 said:
biggest problem ive had with home printing is the printers always seem to misbehave sooner or later, which is super annoying :/
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I never trust mine now and I always do a little thumbnail print and check it before printing the image at the output size I want. Ink and paper are just too expensive to waste too much of.
 
woof woof said:
Just a thought on buying prints on line...

I've only paid for prints once and it was at a high street shop and the print I got was simply awful and I never used it.

So, if paying someone else to do my printing I'd do it in small batches and keep the cost of each batch down so that I didn't lose too much if they did srew it up.
Click to expand...

I've been using photobox for many years and the quality has always been great. You have to set it up so they don't do any auto-corrections and cropping, but that's a one-off and everything then comes back as you'd expect, on archival photo paper, for less than it would cost to print at home. It's nice having a home printer, but don't kid yourself that it will ever be less expensive!
 
The last time I sat down and did the maths it worked out much cheaper to use a service and have the prints delivered. If you're planning to print high volumes then it might be worthwhile though.
 
munkee said:
The last time I sat down and did the maths it worked out much cheaper to use a service and have the prints delivered. If you're planning to print high volumes then it might be worthwhile though.
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Costs me about £1 per A4 print.

The advantages of home printing as I see them are speed and responsibility, ie. when printing at home the quality is my responsibility and not in the hands of someone who may have a different opinion of how the image should look.
 
I had the opposite experience - I sent the same snaps to both Photobox and Snappy Snaps and the latter were so much better that I've stuck with them ever since.
(Plus, I quite like supporting High Street shops as otherwise we'll have nothing else apart from coffee shops, mobile phone shops and Tesco Local!).
 
Llamaman said:
I had the opposite experience - I sent the same snaps to both Photobox and Snappy Snaps and the latter were so much better that I've stuck with them ever since.
(Plus, I quite like supporting High Street shops as otherwise we'll have nothing else apart from coffee shops, mobile phone shops and Tesco Local!).
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I've not tried Snappy Snaps over the internet, but I've used them for 35mm film processing and they were fine. I might give their website a try.
 
Sorry, I should clarify my statement. I used the Snappy Snaps website to order prints from a store that I collected in person. Initially the Brixton store (now sadly closed) and Leadenhall Market. I wasn't aware they did a web-only service.
 
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