hdwolfe Loc: NM

Looking for a printer that will be used only for pics. Something that does a good job without breaking the bank either for the printer or the ink. Say <$600 or so. TYIA.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

If you don't mind being stuck with 8.5 X 11, any decent desktop inkjet will do the job. When you start wanting larger prints, $600 is a bit cheap.

twowindsbear

It's hard to beat an Epson ink jet! I have an Epson Photo R280 that i don't recall when I bought. It uses 6 colors of ink & I'm amazed that the inks are still available from Epson. Larger format printers are more expensive than smaller format printers. (DUH!) And, supposedly, more colors are better than fewer colors. I'm not 100% convinced of that, though. Printers that have more than 4 colors of ink are more expensive & of course buying more ink cartridges = more $$$ (DUH, again!) Go with top quality papers & use ONLY the manufacture's inks & TOP quality PHOTO papers. Make sure you're using the correct paper profile for your paper, too, what ever printer & paper you use. Many folks here swear by Canon printers, too. And, what ever printer you buy today, there'll be a better, more 'gee-whiz' printer on the marked tomorrow & then next week the ink will no longer be available. Good luck!

NewEnglandPhotoguy Loc: Chelmsford, MA

Canon Pro 100 or Pro 200. Can do 13x19 extremely well.

cedymock Loc: Irmo, South Carolina

Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 is great, the problem would be finding one they continue to sell out quickly, especially since the pandemic started. Purchased mine from B&H after being on the B&H in stock notification.

charles tabb Loc: Richmond VA.

Where can you buy a new Canon Pro 100?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The $600 Epson ET-8550 is an EcoTank (bottled ink) 13” x 19” photo printer. The ET-8500 is the same concept in an 8.5” x 11” printer, for $100 less.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

A Canon Pro 200 is $599 and an excellent printer. My experience with Canon photo printers is that they are very resistant to nozzle clogging, even if unused for long periods. I have a Pro 9000 MK2 which is the preseason to the P200, and it literally sat unused and powered off for about two years. When I started it up 3 of the cartridges had dried up, but after replacing them, amazingly, it printed perfectly. For those of us that print only very occasionally, that is a key attribute (and it produces lovely prints as well). The downside is the ink is pricey if you use Canon OEM.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

The important question is what do you want to do with the prints? Just show them around and discard or keep in an album? The inkjet printers like Epson will make a nice photo, even on photo paper, but if it gets wet it will run. If you go to more expensive then you can get pics that will be just like from the store.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Not that simple… pigment inks are more durable than dye inks, and more resistant to moisture. They last twice as long… up to 400 years for black and 200 years for color.

Traditional wet process (chromogenic) lab prints are most water-resistant, but last only 20 to 50 years before fading badly.

koratcat

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The Canon Pro 100 is discontinued. It was replaced by the Pro 200. The Pro 200 uses cartridges that are fairly expensive if you print in quantity, but the printer can sit for many weeks before clogging from lack of use. Epson EcoTank printers are much less expensive if you print in volume, but they thrive on CONSTANT use and do not like to be abandoned for long periods of time.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

👍👍 Exactly.

Laramie Loc: Tempe

Costco, Walgreens, or any of several online shops.

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

I assume you are talking about a 6 or 8 color printer specifically for printing photos.

I would toss out HP as having lousy build quality
Epson printers make great prints but unless you use them weekly they will clog.

Canon makes excellent hardware, and whether you use a lower cost dye based printer, or a higher end pigment printer, it will last a while. And many of Canon's printers have user-replaceable print heads.

Regarding cost of ink, it's a trade-off. Cheaper printers use small cartridges which have a considerably higher cost per ml than bigger printers.

The Pixma Pro 200 costs $600 and uses a 12.6 ml dye ink cartridges, and they cost $14, so cost per ml is $1.11 - it uses 8 cartridges - standard gamut
The Pixma Pro 10 costs $700 and uses 15ml pigment ink cartridges, and they cost $15, so cost per ml is $1.00 - it uses 10 cartridges - wide gamut

In contrast - the Pixma ProGraf Pro 1000 is a bigger, heavier printer capable of printing 17"x25.5" uses 12 color pigment 80ml cartridges (one is a chroma optimizer), that cost $54 for a cost of $.68/ml, or a little over half the cost of the lower cost printer.

Canon states that if you use Canon's media, the print longevity can be as long as 100 yrs with their dye inks and up to 200 yrs with their pigment inks. The dye ink trades off longevity for a little extra color saturation.

So if you aren't going to print a lot, the Pro 200 should be fine and it will make excellent prints. If you see yourself printing a lot, then at some point in volume, the Pro 1000 with the bigger ink carts will be more economical, though it will cost you a little over 2X the cost of the Pro 200. You'll have to dig around to see what the average number of prints you can get with each printer to be able to better determine which one makes more sense.

I've own all three brands - my Epson 4880 clogged, and it was going to cost me over $500 to have it fixed. I have an Epson WF-7620 multifunction printer sitting next to my desk - with clogged heads. My HP Z3200 24" roll printer snapped its drive belt in the second year of ownership and the estimate for repair was $1100. Lower end HPs always had paper feeding issues, and were very cheaply built with a healthy dose of planned obsolescence. My various Canon printers just worked. When the heads wore out I just replaced them. Very dependable, replacement heads were affordable, and excellent print quality.