ecurb Loc: Metro Chicago Area

I'd stay away from Epson, the last one I owned leaked horribly. I had ink running out of the printer and onto the stored paper on the shelf below. Epson scanners are good but never another Epson printer. Look at HP Photosmart or Canon printers.

one_eyed_pete Loc: Colonie NY

My printer is an Epson all-in-one XP950, 6 color that prints up to 11x17. My monitors are frequently calibrated and I've recently been printing on RR Polar Pearl Metallic using the ICC for my printer. I'm very pleased with the color print results. With B&W it gives prints an interesting silver glow. Since I print for myself/club competitions, for 3 years I've been using select 3rd party ink to minimize cost. I compared the prints vs Epson ink on the standard test image and I couldn't see any difference. I just received another order for 3 sets of ink cartridges that cost me $15 per set.

Quixdraw Loc: x

I have the Canon P 100 - very pleased with it. I also have a Brother that I use for everything but photos (though my Wife prints photos for patterns). Good printer, but one for extremely frustrating feature - if you run out of a color cartridge it cannot be made to print in monochrome. Probably more of a frustration for me, since the nearest store (which might or might not have the cartridge in stock) is a 52 mile round trip. When this one goes down, or I see a good enough sale, it'll be an Epson Ecotank.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Good point. Black pigment ink on cotton rag paper can last up to 400 years in dark storage (as estimated by Wilhelm Research). Color inks last roughly half that long in the dark. Kept under glass in normal room lighting, the same prints are estimated to last about half again as long.

The best Epson and Canon dye inks on glossy photo paper generally last about half as long as their pigment ink counterparts.

By comparison, conventional silver halide prints last 20-50 years at best, under the same conditions.

The LEAST stable inkjet inks are those used in common desktop office inkjet printers. Some third party inks sold in refill shops may last a few months on your refrigerator before showing significant fading!

I've said it several times (over in the UHH Printers and Color Printing forum) that owning and using an inkjet printer is NOT a way to save money on good prints. "Roll your own" for many great reasons, as detailed over there, but not to save money!

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-120-1.html

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

If you're talking about the cheap desktop models, I understand. But if you are talking about any of Epson's better professional level printers, I have to disagree! Their best pigment ink printers are used by some top art museums (Museum of Modern Art), schools (SCAD — Savannah College of Art and Design), and top portrait and commercial photographers everywhere.

Back in my professional portrait lab days, I put several Epson pigment ink printers (9600, 9880, 4000) in our lab. As long as we ran them frequently, they were absolutely stable, printed flawlessly, and just did their jobs. The two things that we had problems with were third party inks (immediately clogged the lines and ruined the head in our 9600!) and letting a printer sit idle for more than a week (We had to clean the heads a few times to clear the lines and the heads). That was 15 years ago. Epson has re-engineered their heads with a Teflon-like coating that greatly reduces the tendency to clog.

Just know that pigment inks are particulates suspended in solvents. They are made from solids, which become opaque solids on paper. That's why they last so long. If they sit for long periods of time, the particulates settle out and clog the ink lines from the cartridges, or clog the heads, or clog the waste ink tank. If you MIX brands of ink (i.e.; Epson ink with brand X), you risk forming a chemical precipitate that clogs the lines and the heads.

Dye inks are somewhat transparent. The colors are formed chemically, and those chemicals are far more susceptible to fading from UV, light, and infrared radiation. They let some light through to the paper and then back out again. So you might prefer the brilliance of a dye ink print, but lament its lack of the best archival permanence. Still, the best dye ink printers from Canon and Epson make better prints than a silver halide photo printer. In this case, "better" means you get longer lasting prints with a wider color gamut than tri-color photosensitive papers.

Ah, life and photography are FULL of little trade-offs... We pay our money and take our choices and chances...

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

Haven't used metallic paper for B&W. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for the tip.

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

Why don’t you print some pictures out and see if you like them? You can always get better looking pictures by spending more money.

Adamborz

I used to use snap fish or shutter stock, switching to nations photo is what caused the disappointment. On my computer screen the colors are vibrant and show identical on my iPhone X (that’s my unscientific way of proofing colors). I thought the colors were very muted on a set of prints i ordered from nations photo... so I wrote them off and never used them again.

I’ve been meaning to color calibrate my monitor...but the reason I never did was I figured since I mostly send digital images to realtors... the colors will only look as good to them as their monitor allows... and the same goes for when their clients look at the pics on their own screens... which is why I proof to my iPhone. I figure most clients will be looking at house photos of their phones...

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

Curious, can you not buy ink for your printer online/Amazon? That’s where I buy all my inks for our house printer (rosin XP800)

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Premium photo paper is not going to do much for you with that printer.

A Photo-specific printer will have wider gamut (more colors) and handle a wider tonal range - aka produce much better prints than a multifunction printer. You can get a Canon 13x19 printer on special at B&H - it normally retails for $445 but Canon is offering a rebate so the price is only $195. It is an 8 ink printing system, and the quality is quite good. The special also bundles a 50 sheet pack of 13x19 Canon Photo Paper Pro Luster. I don't think you'll find a comparable deal from any other mfgr.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/974534-REG/canon_6228b002_pixma_pro_100_printer_with.html/specs

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

I print quite a few photos on my Epson Stylus Photo R3000 (8 ink cartridges) and it does a superlative job. However, I also have an HP OfficeJet 4650 for general printing use and I was very surprised at what a good job it does on photos.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Price is a bit higher now but still a good deal.

The real question here is what are you looking to do? Smaller prints (up to 8x10) for yourself? Your 4 color Epson will probably do an ok image to that size. It won't last forever due to the ink but you can always print a new one. Figure about $1.20 per print on it using Epson paper and inks. Want better quality and a better price? Costco! I am shocked at how good they print especially when I soft proof using the printer/paper profiles for their setups. Want great images up to 13x19, with total control - buy the Pro 100. I have one and it is great but I print most of my images now at Costco.

DeanS Loc: Capital City area of North Carolina

Epson Photo Stylus series of printers use up to nine ink cartridges. What are the chances thar a four-cartridge printer can compete with that? I have both, and I would never use my all-in-one to print photos.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

We hear this argument/see this scenario a lot. I used to believe/practice the same, until I implemented standard ICC color management practices in a lab. It saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars in wasted labor, chemistry, paper, ink, plastic ID card stock, dye sub printer ribbons, toner, Canon electronic printer click charges, and opportunity costs.

Myne

I have a epson photo printer, on my 2nd. Loved the first forget the number, it took 8 cartridges, printed excellent photos..but died. So I purchased another this one takes 6 cartridges..also prints great photos.
I mostly use epson paper for the best results. I have an all in one for daily printing also an epson. Photos
Are ok but not exceptional. If you really want great photos go with a photo printer.