Which Printer?

zuzanne · Oct 31, 2006

I am looking at upgrading my older HP Deskjet 952C printer. It works fine, but its getting harder to find ink catridges for it and they are expensive.

My desk currently holds way to many pieces of equipment.:shakehead I have a regular telephone with Privacy Director thru Bell South. They told me that the privacy director would not work with my Brothers phone/fax because it has caller ID. Hence the regular desk phone. Add in my HP desktop computer, scanner, printer and monitor well you all get the picture...way to much stuff. So any ideas on which all in one printer would be best with my current HP computer would be appreciated. I have Windows XP home edition with service pack 2 for my operating system, with DSL for Internet connection. I need a printer that also scans, copies, faxes and works with Caller ID and privacy director.

Hopefully one that will print good photos from my Canon A540 digital camera.

Thanks,

Suzanne

RayJayJr · Nov 5, 2006

Canon Pixma MP830 or newer - you wont be disappointed.

Kim · Nov 5, 2006

rbolander:
Canon Pixma MP830 or newer - you wont be disappointed.

That's good advice. The equivalent Epson is good too. Both Canon and Epson sell their ink at a reasonable price. :eyebrow:

Mike Veitch · Nov 5, 2006

whatever printer you get make sure you download the proper ICC profiles for your printer and papers to get the best results and true colours on your prints

RayJayJr · Nov 5, 2006

Mike Veitch:
whatever printer you get make sure you download the proper ICC profiles for your printer and papers to get the best results and true colours on your prints

Also be sure to at the very least set your monitor to 2.2 Gamma and sRGB standard.

Mike Veitch · Nov 5, 2006

rbolander:
Also be sure to at the very least set your monitor to 2.2 Gamma and sRGB standard.

actually, Adobe RGB98 will give better printing results as it has broader colour range to sRGB, sRGB is best for web and internet sharing though.

Sooo many things just to print a picture hahahah

RonFrank · Nov 6, 2006

Saying you want a *good* printer is vague. Do you want archival quality? I'm not sure there is a great photo printer out there that also scans, faxes, etc.

Your best bet maybe to just find a good local printer on the Cheap. The guy are out local safeway does great work! He's rather fussy, and proud, which is EXACTLY what you want in a budget print operator!

The advantages, very high end laser printer or chemical based print process that produces prints on photo paper with great results because of a picky operator at a cost that is less than most can do it on their own printer.

If you really want great photo prints welcome to a world where Art marries technology, and things like color space, ICC profiles, calibration hardware and software, photo editing software, expertise, and quality paper all must dance together.

IMO for most it's more hassle than it's worth unless you are into that sort of thing. I do print my own work on an Epson 2200. I have spent a lot of time, effort, and $$$ to get to a point where I can generally get a good print in one shot.

RayJayJr · Nov 7, 2006

Mike Veitch:
actually, Adobe RGB98 will give better printing results as it has broader colour range to sRGB, sRGB is best for web and internet sharing though.

Sooo many things just to print a picture hahahah

OP wont probably care about this - but I wanted to post anyways, for those of us who may find this information useful.

The Adobe RGB color space does have a larger gamut - but that doesn't mean the printer is able to print the entire Gamut of colors - It might print red, but clip greens, etc.

Ultimately the best solution is to profile both your printer and monitor. My personal workflow is setup so that I shoot RAW - and my monitor is setup to sRGB until I can properly profile it. Most commercial printers print quite well in sRGB, fuji epsilon, etc. Inkjets print Adobe RGB quite well, but it seems to make sense that unless you know your image is going to have a wide gamut, to stick with sRGB and print with it. It all depends on how much work you want to do and what kind of final results you're looking for. It seems to make more sense for the consumer to stick within sRGB.

Subjective, I guess.

RonFrank · Nov 7, 2006

Another suggestion somewhat off topic.

Shoot in AdobeRBG because it DOES have a wider gamut. IMO you want as much information in the capture as possible.

What you do with it after that is really based on a lot of factors. There are huge debates over the merits, and pitfalls of just about every popular color space out there. Almost as bad as Chevy vs. Ford, or Nikon vs. Canon! Amazing what some people are passionate about!

I generally do the following, but this is MY workflow, and not a perfect model for everyone.

Shoot AdobeRBG
Display sRBG (although I often forget to change it before uploading!

)
Print AdobeRBG (Epson 2200)
Apply profiles if I outsource Assuming the lab wants them.

IMO the best labs will profile and color adjust your work as good or better then you can yourself. If it becomes a matter of differing opinions between the shooter and the printer, than a good printer should reprint the work.

Many printers like the LightJets out there have their own built in profiles, uprez algorithims, and sharpening, so ASK before you take an image to the printer as to what they want.

RayJayJr · Nov 8, 2006

RonFrank:
Another suggestion somewhat off topic.

Shoot in AdobeRBG because it DOES have a wider gamut. IMO you want as much information in the capture as possible.

What you do with it after that is really based on a lot of factors. There are huge debates over the merits, and pitfalls of just about every popular color space out there. Almost as bad as Chevy vs. Ford, or Nikon vs. Canon! Amazing what some people are passionate about!

I generally do the following, but this is MY workflow, and not a perfect model for everyone.

Shoot AdobeRBG
Display sRBG (although I often forget to change it before uploading! )
Print AdobeRBG (Epson 2200)
Apply profiles if I outsource Assuming the lab wants them.

IMO the best labs will profile and color adjust your work as good or better then you can yourself. If it becomes a matter of differing opinions between the shooter and the printer, than a good printer should reprint the work.

Many printers like the LightJets out there have their own built in profiles, uprez algorithims, and sharpening, so ASK before you take an image to the printer as to what they want.

Quoted for truth - ALWAYS ask the printers. Some printers like sRGB, some printers want .tiff, some want .jpeg, some want this and some want that.

RonFrank, I'm curious, is their a particular reason you haven't taken the jump and started shooting RAW? Especially since you're printing at home, that suprises me. Or do you mean that you shoot raw, convert to aRGB and then convert again for web?

Which Printer?

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zuzanne

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