[BruceBanner]

My current All-in-one printer has died, so I'm looking for a replacement. It goes without saying that (due to posting here) I am a keen amateur photographer, therefore to be able to print A4 size photos is attractive (I'm one of those lazy people whom rarely visits a dedicated printers).

I have a small Canon Selphy printer which does I think 4x6's, pretty decent. It's been nice to occasionally print off a nice pic for friends or family when they've been around and I've snapped a nice pic etc, I'm just wondering if I can continue this trend (and surpass it) by either printing 4x6's in a higher DPI/quality and even larger, whilst also maximising ease of procedure (such as how to quickly get the picture from camera to printer>print with ease)...

My current camera is a Pentax K-50, but no doubt I will upgrade in a year or two, so if there's a printer that would work well with a Pentax that has wifi then that might be quite relevant. My understanding is a 16mp camera can easily output to A4 in very high quality, what's going to hold me back is the printer not the camera in this regard?


I'm also considering this time round not to bother with All-in-one's and instead invest separately in a flat bed scanner and separate printer. We also have film cameras here and artistic hand drawn work that to be able to scan digitially at a higher quality than what a all-in-one can do is attractive.

I know this is all very vague, I have set no budget or anything, I'm just basically curious as to hearing what experiences users here have with converting their digital pics taken with Pentax's to an actual real photo, and if they can chime in with their 2 cents etc. My experience to date is very little, I've literally just bought All-in-one's on sale at 50% off in supermarkets etcc, just because mainly at that time it was focused around document printing and low scanning needs etc. You pay for what you get I guess...


Cheers,


Bruce

[lithedreamer]

Hey Bruce,

I'm not sure if there's an equivalent rebate where you are, but if I could afford it now, I'd pick up an Epson SureColor P800 ($1200, but $900 after rebate in the U.S.). It's one of two photo printers I used while I was in school, and produces great prints, whether they're 8x10s or 13x19s. Its advanced black and white mode is very good, which can sometimes be a problem with inkjets.

[UncleVanya]

Canon Pixma Pro-100 is quite good but large.

[stevebrot]

Canon Pixma Pro-100 is quite good but large.

...and often very attractively priced. I have one and like it very much. Ink can be rather expensive.


Steve

[dms]

I use an older (RX595) 6 clara ink all in one Epson (maximum 8.5" wide paper of essentially any length), and the current Epson1430 model should be the same--except handling larger paper (13" wide I believe) of essentially any length.

I used this printer (RX 595) to proof larger (about 24"x36") prints from large (pigment ink) professional epson printers that my college uses--and the prints are indistinguishable. The Epson 1430 is around $250--and unless you are selling prints and the client wants absolute longest life--there is no point in spending more IMO. Well anyway no difference for matte paper.

I do mostly matte, and that is the basis of my conclusions. I do print glossy--and they look fine--but I don't recall ever using these to proof the above large (pigment ink) printers. For glossy paper there maybe deeper blacks/more vibrant colors using a higher end printer--I don't know but I suspect there is.

Also I use photoshop and let it control the colors.LR should be similar--not sure about other software.

[eddie1960]

I got the pro 10 to replace an older canon pro 9000. Definitely a very nice printer and has pigment inks instead of the dye based pro 100., on sale there won't be much difference in cost (I think I paid $75 more) worth it for the inks imo. I don't print enough to justify the pro 1

[dms]

About your saying:
"whilst also maximising ease of procedure (such as how to quickly get the picture from camera to printer>print with ease)"

That is not possible or desirable if you mean to be serious about printing and getting close to optimum.

No matter what the screen shows--it is not showing a print in reflected light--and there are choices to be made--matte vs luster vs glossy, etc. Printing is about making a print (could be a small part of the image) and then making changes--anyway that is the case for many images.

[BruceBanner]

Wow, great feedback there guys (and gals?), what about flatbed scanners, anyone know much about them?

[lithedreamer]

Wow, great feedback there guys (and gals?), what about flatbed scanners, anyone know much about them?

No problem.

When I have the money, I'm going to pick up an Epson V800 series scanner since it supports 4x5 and 8x10 film. Their V600 is probably the best value ($200 in the U.S.) if you don't need to scan large negatives, though it does produce slightly worse scans (still pretty good). If you have money to burn or unique needs, there's the V850 with a few extra accessories that might be useful. You can also pick up V750 on the used market, it's very similar to the V800.

[Alex645]

Bruce,
If you can live with 4x6" prints, nothing is going to beat a new under $100 Canon Selphy in terms of price and speed with dye subs.

Canon SELPHY CP1200 Wireless Compact Photo Printer 0599C001 B&H

At school, with heavy usage, I can justify the DNP DS80 for prints up to 8x12" dye sublimation and the Epson SureColor P800 inkjets and nice monochrome up to 13x19".

At home, Iʻm very happy with my Epson XP-434 all in one with scanner and printer that is Wifi connected.

Epson Expression Home XP-430 Small-in-One Inkjet C11CE59201 B&H

$55 is a great price until you start buying replacement ink for more than that, but Iʻd only use it for personal use and if money is an issue, Iʻll send my files to Costco.com for printing.

[p38arover]

Bruce, where are you located?

Your mention of A4 prints seems to preclude the USA.

[BruceBanner]

Bruce, where are you located?

Your mention of A4 prints seems to preclude the USA.

Updated now, I'm located in Australia.

[eddie1960]

I'd look here https://epson.com/estore-clearance-center

For a scanner maybe, I had the worst printer experiences with them, absolutely horrible service, went through several replacements not one of which worked , was treated poorly and the support had no escalation channel . They make the best scanners though so it would be worth a try.

[clickclick]

I also have been very pleased with the Canon Pixma Pro-100. I recently saw another rebate offer where it was about $125 after rebate. As mentioned, the ink is expensive, but all the printer manufacturers get you on the ink. While it is big, I have found the 13"x19" print size really nice. Now that I can do that, I wouldn't want to go back to being limited to just A4/8x10 etc.

[eddie1960]

I also have been very pleased with the Canon Pixma Pro-100. I recently saw another rebate offer where it was about $125 after rebate. As mentioned, the ink is expensive, but all the printer manufacturers get you on the ink. While it is big, I have found the 13"x19" print size really nice. Now that I can do that, I wouldn't want to go back to being limited to just A4/8x10 etc.

compared to the HP printers the ink is cheap though as print heads are separate from the ink