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Old 06-07-2017, 01:39 PM   #1
Jiri Hrdina
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Looking to purchase a printer that will allow me to print my own photos - at a fairly high quality.
I'd like to be able to do up to at least 8x10 size.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Pluses/Minuses?
Costs?
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Old 06-07-2017, 01:48 PM   #2
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It's hard to beat the value of Epson P800 if you are OK with $1,454+supplies. I have one and I love it. P600 is a little smaller and cheaper but also very good.

Pro's: Great printing quality. Great colour management. Works with both sheeted and rolled media. Managed well from Photoshop, Lightroom and other processing software.

Con's: Expensive ink. Vibration during printing - needs a very sturdy support (I keep mine on the box it came with).

Link to Vistek:
https://www.vistek.ca/marketing/proc.../printers.aspx

They have it set-up and ready at Vistek. You could come and print some of your photos right there just to see how it works. Also, important, you could test-print on different papers to make sure you've got the final result you want.
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Old 06-07-2017, 01:56 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild GM View Post
Looking to purchase a printer that will allow me to print my own photos - at a fairly high quality.
I'd like to be able to do up to at least 8x10 size.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
Pluses/Minuses?
Costs?
I had an Epson 3880 and used it primarily for 8.5x11 with the odd 13x19. Great printer. But, I used it as a dedicated B&W printer and loaded it up with various shades of grey.

Having said all of that, I sold it because it was expensive to run. Each ink cartridge (and there are 8) costs 80.00 and I found that I had to print almost daily to keep the nozzles from clogging. The workaround is to put a humidifier in the room, I suppose.

I had visions of actually using the printer to print others' photos but there was no way I could be competitive with the commercial outfits.

I also found I achieved the best results by using one type of paper and sticking to it. The various papers print differently so there was always this fiddling around with profiles and what not and not to mention making sure your monitor was calibrated so that what you saw on the screen showed up on the paper.

I do miss the convenience, though. I also miss being in control of the ink and the paper.
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Old 06-07-2017, 01:59 PM   #4
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I'm not sure you can beat the price/quality proposition of paying someone else to do it, unless you are printing loads of stuff.
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Old 06-07-2017, 02:47 PM   #5
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I'm not sure you can beat the price/quality proposition of paying someone else to do it, unless you are printing loads of stuff.
Printing at home is more expensive, for sure. But the OP wants to print his own photos, which means playing with colour, size, texture of the media, formatting the page etc. I understand, I did too.
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Old 06-07-2017, 03:55 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by CaptainYooh View Post
Printing at home is more expensive, for sure. But the OP wants to print his own photos, which means playing with colour, size, texture of the media, formatting the page etc. I understand, I did too.
Then go big and use film and a black-room
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Old 06-07-2017, 03:56 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainYooh View Post
Printing at home is more expensive, for sure. But the OP wants to print his own photos, which means playing with colour, size, texture of the media, formatting the page etc. I understand, I did too.
I'm interested in potentially re-selling prints, so I'm trying to also figure out the most economic way of doing so.
I assumed printing at home would be more economical, in the long run, but perhaps I'm wrong?
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Old 06-07-2017, 04:01 PM   #8
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Then go big and use film and a black-room
I did for many years in the 70's and 80's. It was fun but it makes no sense anymore. Modern sensor resolution has exceeded film resolution so dramatically and so fast that film can no longer compete for image quality. Post-processing software made dark rooms obsolete. There is still nostalgic "film warmth" that some photographers cry about, but the reality is brutal: film's pretty much dead. Cinematographers stopped using film too.
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Old 06-07-2017, 04:07 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Wild GM View Post
I'm interested in potentially re-selling prints, so I'm trying to also figure out the most economic way of doing so.
I assumed printing at home would be more economical, in the long run, but perhaps I'm wrong?
Probably, yes. There would be a fine balance point between print volume, printing cost and sales volume you'd have to find for yourself. If you start selling prints by hundreds/month, you would need commercial printing capacity, for sure. Most professional photographers use commercial printer labs for the final product. But for semi-pro's – Epson P800 is a great option; just because you can play with your prints.

Like I said in the first response, $1,500 is not a huge investment to try it out and see how it works. Another thing to keep in mind, the ink cartridges must keep working regularly, at least once a week to not dry out and plug the jets.
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Old 06-08-2017, 06:11 AM   #10
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Cripes.
Sounds less expensive to get a real camera and set up your own darkroom.
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Old 06-08-2017, 07:21 AM   #11
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that printer must have come in quite the box - lol

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.....Con's: Expensive ink. Vibration during printing - needs a very sturdy support (I keep mine on the box it came with).
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Old 06-08-2017, 12:32 PM   #12
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that printer must have come in quite the box - lol
yep...
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Old 06-08-2017, 01:14 PM   #13
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Wouldn't in make sense to go the commercial printing route until you've sold some prints and judged demand? Once you've made some money and see the market for your work, then purchase something for the home?

$1500 + supplies is a pretty decent investment without knowing for sure the market it there.
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Old 06-08-2017, 02:18 PM   #14
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Vistek actually does some really nice printing, I recommend trying them out.

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Modern sensor resolution has exceeded film resolution so dramatically and so fast that film can no longer compete for image quality. Post-processing software made dark rooms obsolete. There is still nostalgic "film warmth" that some photographers cry about, but the reality is brutal: film's pretty much dead. Cinematographers stopped using film too.
I agree that for strictly commercial purposes, going digital is definitely the preferred way to go these days, but personally I still get a lot more enjoyment and wow-factor out of my 120 film shots compared to my digital ones. Digital sensors may have exceeded film resolution, but I think film still renders light transitions and hilights in a much more pleasing way. For me it has nothing to do with "warmth".

Btw, not unlike vinyl, film photography has actually had somewhat of a resurgence the last few years. It's never going to be what it was, but I think it still has a place.
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Old 06-08-2017, 02:30 PM   #15
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...
Btw, not unlike vinyl, film photography has actually had somewhat of a resurgence the last few years. It's never going to be what it was, but I think it still has a place.
I am a definition of nostalgia! I've got three turntables and 2 fully operational reel-to-reel tape players (yes, I do! ). Because I do enjoy listening to my vinyls and tapes. Plus, the sound resolution of vinyl and tape is still not exceeded by even the high-res digital music players. And the old stuff still looks super great on the rack.

On the film though... A year or so ago, "for no particular reason", I shot three Ilford Delta cassettes on Leica R3 body. Had it processed at Vistek. Then had to have it test-printed there. Got a few decent shots. Then had to print the good ones. Then had to pay for digitizing the negatives and loose some more quality doing that... It's just becoming too cumbersome and expensive for enjoyment.
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Old 06-08-2017, 02:52 PM   #16
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On the film though... A year or so ago, "for no particular reason", I shot three Ilford Delta cassettes on Leica R3 body. Had it processed at Vistek. Then had to have it test-printed there. Got a few decent shots. Then had to print the good ones. Then had to pay for digitizing the negatives and loose some more quality doing that... It's just becoming too cumbersome and expensive for enjoyment.
You may want to give 120 film a try. After going back and shooting some 35mm on my old Nikon F4, I found it to be a little bit of a letdown too. But the medium-format stuff still can blow me away.

And yeah it's definitely an expensive proposition. With 120, it basically costs me about $3 a frame to buy film/process/scan when all is said and done.

The benefit of that though is that it really makes you slow down and consider the shots you do take. There is no spray and pray when you only have 10 frames per roll. There's also something really fun (or agonizing, I go back and forth) about not knowing how your shots will turn out till you get them in the mailbox. That experience of seeing them for the first time after a few weeks is not something you experience much these days.

If you ever want to buy film, I just discovered an online shop called buyfilm.ca. They seem to be considerably cheaper than Vistek or the Camera Store for film, and offer free shipping over a certain amount.
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Old 06-08-2017, 03:11 PM   #17
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Nah... You know that I still have and use some good old Hasselblad glass on Nikon bodies. But I sold my 500c long time ago and have zero desire to get back to film sado-maso...
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Old 06-08-2017, 04:05 PM   #18
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pro100 from canon was much cheaper and a great printer. put you sound like you are looking for a level below a pro printer that can do 19x13 sizing.
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