[Gadget_Guy]

Hi,

I used to have a small Kodak printer dock that I used to make standard prints from my photos.

It worked well with my wife's P&S Kodak camera and it pumped out hundreds of prints over the years, however it just died.

The only problem with the printer is that it was horribly proprietary. I had to use the Kodak software which I hated to view, edit, and print from, so I hardly used it for my shots from the Pentax.

We need to replace it so that we can print in-house again. I don't think we need to go to anything large format. 4 X 6 or 5 X 7 would be the max we need for things like photo albums, collages on the wall, and giving prints to the Grand Parents etc.

Any suggestions for a decent in-home photo specific printer that uses reasonable media and supplies? I want to stay away from ink-jet as in our experience we found the ink would dry up sooner than we could use it.

We do not need a printer for anything else except these photos.... there is already a colour laser in the house for day to day printing.


Thanks.

D.

[christinelandon]

Since you state that you don't want to use ink-jets, the only other alternative that comes to mind are the small dye-sublimation photo printers from companies such as Olympus and HiTi. These are fairly expensive, though, as are the three-color dye ribbons used as their consumable medium. However, the ribbons are stable over time, and the photo results are lab-quality, with excellent tonal gradation (no half-tone drop banding!) and good color on glossy paper.

IMO, though, I would find the cost for such a 4X6 printer pretty steep, and would put up with cleaning the heads on a small photo printer from Epson or Canon as a good trade-off.

[BrianK]

I was of the same mind as you with ink always drying out. Our camera club did a shoot for a dance event and we printed out 4 by 6 and 8 by 10 images on an Hp inkjet and they were fantastic.

When my fax machine and an Epson printer died I picked up one of the HP Multifunction photo printers using the same engine as the one we used for the shoot.

It has a dedicated tray for 4 by 6 and uses the main tray for other sizes. The main thing to watch is to get a model that uses the 6 colors of Vivera ink ( ink cartridges 02 ). That way you can replace only the color that is low. You can buy the whole set of ink with 150 sheets of photo paper for the cost of one cartridge for the older models. $43.00 Cdn

The model I have is an HP 6180 all-in-one (discontinued) but there are several models from Hp that use these ink cartridges including printer only units. The ink is supposed to be longer lasting and more moisture resistant as well. (Can't say for sure) I have had it for almost a year and zero problems.

My color laser image drum is running out and I am toying with the idea of not replacing it as I can by a whole new printer cheaper than the drum. I was thinking that I can buy a lot of ink for the 6180 for the price of a new color laser.

[JohnV3]

I have an HP Photosmart 8250 (discontinued) that also uses the six 02 ink cartridges. It makes outstanding prints and the ink doesn't seem to dry up from non-use like the Canon printer I had before. The print colors with the HP appear more vivid than with the Canon.

[flyer]

I have a HP Photosmart D7160 and never had the ink drying on me. When it cleans up the heads, it recycles the ink, so you don't lose any. Be aware that if you don't use HP photopaper, it almost doubles the ink consomption.

[Gadget_Guy]

The printer that just died used a very interesting teqnique for making the prints.

The cartridge layed down a thin coloured layer of yellow, cyan, and magenta, then finished up with a clear layer to seal everything up.

It worked quite well (4 passes per photo) and the pictures were decent.

The printer could sit for months without use and the media and cartridge showed no signs of non-use.

I was hoping to find something similar to this.

Technology is: continuous-tone thermal dye transfer

D.

[Gadget_Guy]

This would be the newest version of what I had:

KODAK EASYSHARE Photo Printer 500


I know Canon makes something like this and so does Sony.

D.