Epson or Canon both have excellent printers in your price range. you have some decisions to make - Do you want pigment or dye inks (both Canon and Epson have printers using either pigment or dye) ? Do you want to refill your cartridges and save big time dollars on ink costs or do you not print at volume and don't want to spend the time learning to refill ? I just replaced an old Epson photo printer 8 cartridge inks (Epson R1900 - refilling the pigment inks) with the new Epson XP-15000 - 6 cartridge dye inks. Both have been excellent performers - I think the 15000 gives equally good color range of prints and prints on glossy paper "pop" more for me. Epson is embarking on Eco Tank printers with lower ink costs, but they are not quite up to photographic aficionado high quality prints yet.

If you want to dive deeper in understanding and learning how to print, refill, choose and set up printers, etc. subscribe to the YouTube channel "Jose Rodriguez Photo Printing Techie" - many videos organized into Playlists with lots of informed practicing printers in the forums. José videos are there for common questions like: "which printer should I buy ?"

My impressions: This is a great image, lots of impact, mystery, leading the eye around. I may be imagining, but it sure looks to me like there is a greater contrast range in the second image (triple with black frame). I think the all white double mat presentation may be overwhelming the eye with all that white.

So, I would for sure vote for the triple, black frame version.

FWIW: I have used ON1 for perhaps 10 years now and the pricing is $80 per year for the full suite depending on what add-ons you want (e.g. Cloud) - it is a license to the current year version you buy. You can continue using that year's version until you decide you want to upgrade for some of the newer enhancements. The support is very good - prompt and by an individual in their support group. Whenever I have needed support, I get a response the next day and they continue to answer follow-on questions until you are satisfied. I was a former Lightroom/Photoshop user and don't miss them. To each their own, but let's not exaggerate prices or assume subscription when it isn't a subscription. They offer a subscription with some bonuses at $90 a year, if you want that. The ON1 Plus extra buy is worth it to really learn more/faster, but the base version has LOTS of video training in the bank.

Been using ON1 suite for perhaps 7-8 eight years. Moved to it from LR and Photoshop and never missed a beat. I find it equals or surpasses LR for basic edits (user interface is very straightforward and robust) and the approach taken by ON1 with the Effects modules shows me many optional choices for stylizing and then I can modify with blending modes and masking. The new NoNoise module is outstanding. I also subscribe to the Plus feature annually which goes a long way in training and referencing processing flows. There is a pretty strong set of how-to videos to engage and delve into methods and features.

Here's another long-time ON1 Photo Raw user. I have found ON1 NoNoise to be at least equivalent to DeNoise and most of the reviews I have seen comparing the two have ON1 at least slightly better (consistency, range of effectiveness). Results are best if NoNoise is applied to RAW files before any further post processing. Also works with jpg files, but range of data available in RAW will work best. I have found using the AI is extremely simple/quick and I have only done manual fine-tuning necessary only occasionally.

Even after calibrating the monitor with XRite Display Pro, I was still having to increase brightness on my post processed images by between +0.5 and 1.0 to get the prints to correct brightness. Then, I manually adjusted the monitor brightness to 80 and - Voilá ! - my prints are spot on brightness.

[quote=a6k]This is only one case and I don't know if it generalizes well.
The original is from an iPhone 6s. No raw available.

I used the iphone 6S for 5 or 6 years and got lots of mileage and good photos using it. There are some apps for iphone you can install that will provide RAW capture. I have been using Halide and consider it quite adequate for me (allows more flexibility on exposure settings and captures RAW or compressed files. Am now using iphone 13 Pro and find higher quality for sure.

Gene: thanks so much for taking the time to educate and "illuminate" us. You are always thoughtful, thorough and helpful with great advice. A good example for the rest of us in our postings !

My solution has been the mac mini and a separate monitor. Initial reason (in 2012) was to divorce the monitor from the computer to allow for replacement/upgrading either one - or not having to replace a whole integrated set if one part failed or became inadequate for the tasks ahead. And the 16gb RAM is more than adequate for the M1 chip speed.

Do all Costco stores in the United States still carry the Kirkland brand of glossy papers?

Steve[/quote]

Steve: our Costco stores in Connecticut currently carry/list both the 4X6 and 8.5x11 glossy paper on the online website, but show the 8.5x11 as out of stock at the moment. Perhaps the supply is locked up on a circling freighter off California ?

I am sure Costco solicits the best deal and quality balance for their Kirkland branded photo paper and changes suppliers occasionally (perhaps frequently ?). I use the 4X6" size excellent for printing cards and proofing edits/matching monitor to printer and color profile testing. Generally use the Epson premium glossy profile and it works fine.

Does anyone have any knowledge of the paper suppliers for Kirkland Glossy photo paper ? I use a wide variety of brands and types of paper and am just curious and would like to compare results.

I have an Epson WF-4830 that is $200 and has been reliable so far. One feature I appreciate is that it has a replaceable waste ink maintenance box available.

Another vote for Qimage - the best print manager software and the purge print scheduler to keep printer heads from drying/clogging is a key part of benefits. Qimageone for the mac.

Some suggestions:
Go to YouTube.com and search for "jtoolman" videos - this is José Rodriguez printing techie who hosts a multitude of printing videos and discussions - around 1700 videos and 6.7k subscribers. You will find lots of "How-to" clean, maintain, unclog print heads for various printers - and learn the best ink refill suppliers. I have learned so much here and my Epson r1900 (2012-2013 model) is running just fine on 3rd party ink recommended by José (Precision Colors).

Use Windex Original to clean printer platens and underside of printheads (find how to in videos above)

Strongly recommend buying Qimage (Binartem) software for all printer setup and printing, printer management and the unclog scheduled printing procedure (they recommend running a print with their unclog pattern around every 4 days to keep print head ink channels from clogging/drying out). And you will notice that there are many Canon printers experiencing these clogging problems - it ain't just Epsons !

I think you are looking for software to manage printing process. If so, go to QImage (Binartem). Spend some time on their site studying their videos - it's an excellent solution, Qimage is used by many and provides the flexibility that is missing in most (if not all) post processing printer capabilities.