drajjan

Our church will host "A Night to Shine" a program initiated by the Tim Tebow Foundation. It is like a "Prom" night for physically and mentally challenged teens and is a heart warming event for the attendees as well as the hundred or so volunteers that make the evening possible. I am in charge of the photography portion of the event. We take portraits of each attendee and print a 5x7 print for them to take home at evening's end.
Last year I used my Canon TS9020 and the prints were great but the time it took was problematic. Thankfully there was a young man with a photo booth there and he offered to print some of the photos for us at no cost.
Does anyone have suggestions as to printers I could use? Is it possible to rent rapid printers? I'd even be willing to buy a few cheap ink jet printers just for the evening. The joy it brings to the young people is worth the expense.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Why don't you pick up a couple more TS9020's. They are a great printer and are last year's model so they should be relatively inexpensive.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

spraguead Loc: Boston, MA

what's your point? I see no answer to the OPs question there.

blade050 Loc: NEPA

I know that this isn’t directly answering your OP. Have you thought of contacting a local “Printer” or “Instant Print” center in your area and asking for them to donate the use of a printer or two?

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

Sorry, I disagree! I bought a TS6020 several months back as a replacement for an 8+ year old Epson C88+ that had not given me any problems over the eight years! The TS6020 died within a month; Canon "help" said the error code described an non-fixable error. They replaced it with a TS6120 which I have learned to hate for more reasons than I can describe here.

Bill P

There are dye sub printers made for this use. They only do 4x6 and 5x7, but the prints are nice and they spit them out in no time.
Try B&H.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Dye sublimation is the most common printing technology used for on-site event printing. It’s not the most archival process, but it is QUICK. As much as I love inkjet, I’d never use it for high volume/high stress event work.

Google “dye sub printers for event photography” for a market education on them.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Definitely look into dye sub printers. Those are by far the best for on-site printing when speed is necessary.

Dye sub printers are expensive. You might be able to rent locally... though you'll need to purchase the print paper and ink ribbon (usually sold in sets).

B&H Photo lists 6 different dye subs capable of 5x7 print size (actually 4x6, 5x7 and 6x8). They cost $500 to $1000+. These printers can make a 5x7 in under 15 seconds. Much faster than any inkjet!

One printer's set of 5x7 paper and ink media costs $225 and makes 460 prints.

Not cheap but a good thing is that the cost per print is fixed and known in advance.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yeah, Alan, agreed. Knowing you're not making people wait too long to give you money, at an event they'd rather be enjoying, is huge, too.