jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Although I seldom print photos, I recently printed about a dozen with my Epson ET2670 tank printer, and I thought they were beautiful.

Lots of links below. Some are old, so they may not work.

https://www.techradar.com/news/best-photo-printer
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-photo-printers
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/buying-guides/best-photo-printer
https://www.rtings.com/printer/reviews/best/by-usage/photo
https://petapixel.com/2021/08/17/the-best-photo-printers-for-photographers/

https://www.photoworkout.com/best-home-use-photo-printers/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1872566,00.asp
https://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/best-photo-printers/
http://www.computershopper.com/printers/photo

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1872566,00.asp
https://www.lifewire.com/best-photo-printers-to-buy-4066817
http://www.pcmag.com/reviews/photo-printers

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

What size prints are you looking to make?

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

Really depends on a couple of factors. Maximum size of your prints and how often you will be printing.

My favorite printers were the Fuji Pictrography, a continuous tone light laser printer that did not use ink, but transferred an image through exposing light sensitive paper via a laser, then transferring the negative to the paper using heat and water. Unfortunately, they don’t make them any more.

Ink jet can be great, but the print heads can dry up and get blocked if you don’t use them frequently enough. Very expensive problem. To keep the heads clear, you have to burn though ink, even when not printing. I had to throw away my Eason 4900 due to this problem. Ink and paper is very expensive.

Then there is the DNP dye sub printer. It’s pretty good and not subject to blocked heads.

If you’re not printing much and want larger prints, try the pro printing labs. They are great and fast. Will save you a lot of money, if you have a little patience to wait a few days to get your pics. Costco is great for same day quality prints. You can download their ICC profiles as well.

Hope this is helpful.

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

Pictography. Now there is a name from the past.
Bought one for the lab. I think it was like $20,000. Was the first lab to offer prints from slides in the area. Don’t know if I ever made my $20k back.

PhotoPhred Loc: Cheyney, Pa

I have the Canon pro100 that I'm very happy with. I have had it for several years and it has proven to be a workhorse. Nice for B+W prints. I also have a Canon PIXMA pro 9000 MK2 that I bought at least 10 years ago, that has never given me any trouble.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

That being the case, look for an inkjet with a minimum of 8 ink colors.

There are two types of inks: dye-based and pigment-based.

The type of ink used to be pretty easy because dye-based had a short life and faded pretty easily. However they have been much improved in more recent formulations, so this is no longer a big deal. Even so, pigment inks are more archival... longer lasting. They can be expected to have upwards of 200 year life. Dye inks can be expected to last 100 years.

Pigment inks can be more prone to clogging, though with a printer that's used regularly that's usually less of a problem.

There's little difference in the cost of the inks, dye versus pigment. However it's typical for the inkjet printers that use pigment inks to cost more than the ones that use dye inks. That's a one time, up front cost.

I have both types of printers: dye and pigment. Both are 8-color, 13" wide (can print up to 13x19" borderless or 12x18" bordered). The pigment inks cost about 3X as much, but the ink tanks are at least 3X larger, so the cost actually ends up being about the same.... except it hurts a lot more to buy a full set of the pigment inks. It's just a lot of money to drop on a set of inks... but this is just the case with the printers I use and may not be the case with other brands. For example the Canon Pro-200 and Pro-300 (one dye, the other pigment) inksets or individual tanks cost virtually the same and are similar in size.

Personally I prefer to use dye inks on the glossier papers and pigment inks on matte papers.

Quality papers are important. (The worst fading I've ever seen was partly due to low quality paper, with older type dye inks, exposed to a lot of ultraviolet in a store window. The prints faded very noticeably withing a year.) The most archival type of paper is 100% rag (no wood pulp).

Hopefully this more general info will be helpful and all you need to do is decide what the largest size you want to print and then choose among the printers available that best meet your needs.

One last thing, a more "mainstream" or popular printer model will be more likely to have full support, such as ready made paper profiles from 3rd party paper manufacturers and 3rd party inks available. The latter may become important in the future, if the printer manufacturer stops supporting the model, while you want to continue using yours and will need to buy 3rd party inks. 3rd party inks also may be available in bulk to reduce cost. But, again, there is more support for some brands and models than there is for others.

stuparr935 Loc: Dallas, Texas area

My current photo printer for the photos I sell and for my private use is the
Epson P800. It does a super job on 25X17 inch prints down to 4X6 inch prints with excellent color results. I print exclusively on Red River papers which in my humble opinion is as good or better than any other ink jet printer paper on the market and a bit less expensive. Canon has one comparable to the Epson P800 which is very good, but not sure about HP or any other. You will be very happy with either the Epson or the Canon …. Good luck

pbcbob Loc: Delray Beach, FL

Epson Eco Tank 8550. The six tanks cost the same as the small cartridges but last seven times as long. It can print up to 13 X 19. The cost of ink is no longer an issue.

pbcbob Loc: Delray Beach, FL

Epson Eco Tank 8550. The six tanks cost the same as the small cartridges but last seven times as long. It can print up to 13 X 19. The cost of ink is no longer an issue.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

I've had superb success with Mitsubishi Dye-Sub printers. Never a concern about plugged print heads, always ready to go, fast, great quality prints.

bwa

James May

I use the canon Pro 1000 outstanding quality.

Jlink951 Loc: St George UT

Epson scP800 and pigment inks here and older Epson's before that. Coming from days in the dark room to produce a final print is The reason I still print today in this digital world. Have fun on whatever you decide. 😊

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

I have had excellent results with several dufferent models of the Canon Pixma line.

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

Have had great results with the Canon Pro 10 for many years and now the same wonderful results with the new Canon Imageprograf 300. It's expensive but I feel it's worth every penny.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

I paid about 12k for mine. Loved it dearly. So sad when they stopped making and supporting them. Haven’t found anything like them in the approximate size. No ink, just distilled water. Great resolution and continuous tone.