What printer?

[Åmund]

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I´m slowly getting the hang of my M9 and coming to the point when I would like to save my masterpieces for then coming generations (!). Do you have any recommendations for a good printer? Preferably one I could use both as a photoprinter and a ordinary line printer?

 

Regards

Åmund

[Nicoleica]

First of all, congratulation in deciding to start printing. So very many photographs never see paper these days.

 

I'm sure that others will offer a myriad of suggestions, as there are a lot of very good printers around.

 

I use an Epson PX810FW as my main printer. It can produce beautiful photographs up to A4 size (And CD/DVD prints.), is a very good general purpose printer, and also contains a flat-bed scanner with an auto-feed tray, so it can be used as a scanner or photocopier too. Oh yes, and a fax if you need one. It also has USB and memory card input slots.

It was a dream to install wirelessly, and so far has been 100% reliable in use. I like the features that it offers, the quality of the output, and the price is very good too. It can also handle heavyweight papers without complaining. I usually print on heavyweight papers, so this was important when I made my choice.

[bill]

I've gone entirely in the other direction. I have just today replaced my old HP printer with a new one because the old one died. Don't ask me what model, I haven't a clue. This one is a printer/scanner/copier because that's what I need on a daily basis. It's wireless too, which is nice.

 

I don't care two hoots about its photo printing capabilities because it will never be used for that. I have outsourced all my photo printing thus reclaiming whole evenings and reintroduced myself to my loved ones.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[01af]

For everyday use, A4 format is all you need. But for printing photographs out of a camera like the M9 (or similar), A4 is way too small in the long run. The largest size suitable for non-commercial, hobbyist use (except when you're a freak) is A2+ format, or a printing width of 17 inches (43 cm). If you're certain that you'll never want to print that size then you may settle for an A3+ printer. But even when you hardly ever will print in A2 format, you may still consider an A2 printer because the ink cartridges are larger and therefore, much cheaper per milliliter.

 

I wouldn't consider any brand other than Canon, Epson, and Hewlett-Packard. Inkjet printers come in two varieties; those which use pigment ink and those which use dye ink. For fine-art photo printing, you want a pigment ink printer. Inkjet photo printers are also fine to print a few documents on normal paper but if you've got large quantities of written pages to print out then you'll want an A4-format laser printer for that.

 

The smallest 17" inkjet photo printer in the market is the Epson Stylus Pro 3880. The predecessor to this, the Stylus Pro 3800, is almost as good and is easily available in the used market for little money. These two are the only 17" printers that a single person can lift and carry. The drawback: no roll paper; sheets only. The corollary to that: no large-format panorama printing. 17" printers that can take roll paper are so big and heavy it takes at least two to carry. The 17" models to consider are Canon iPF 5100, Epson Stylus Pro 4900, and HP ... umm dunno the HP model. For 17" inkjet photo printers, that's it, basically.

 

The choices are MUCH wider in the field of A3+ printers. Good luck!