[Sailor]

Can someone point me to a brief tutorial on ink jet printers? I use a quite pedestrian HP Photosmart 2575, 3-in-1 model, and while I have no current plans to replace it, I'd like to better understand the specs of what's available and how those specs manifest themselves in a printed photograph.

Thanks,

Jerry

[Alvin]

Your printer looks like my mom's just yours has a LCD screen. Her printer was a deskjet all-in-one. On yours, I don't know what the lcd screen is for (picture preview?).

I know my mom's printer is capable of printing some surprisingly decent 4x6" and 8x10" prints using the HP photosmart paper. Even Staples branded paper seems to work fine too. I prefer the matte finish paper over the glossy type. I also used the printer to print CD covers/labels with great results (matte finish). One tip - wait for the ink to dry before picking up your photo (about two minutes after the printer completes the print). Sometimes the paper is still damp and I've managed to smudge a few prints touching the glossy paper while it was still wet.

Printing gets quite expensive - I'm guessing ink and paper add up to about 55-60cents(CDN)/4x6 print, so I will use the printer if shots are needed immediately, otherwise I go to my local Shoppers Drug Mart to get better results. They use Kodak printer/paper there, print within an hour (or, rarely, two) and charge about $0.40/4x6 print. You must be saying drugstore?!?! Surprisingly, I got better prints from my local "Shoppers" than I do from Black's Photography.

[-=JoN=-]

I had something similar to that model.
I bought the optional photo ink cartridge (replaces the black ink tank w/ another colour one)


my biggest problem was, none of my stuff was calibrated. what i saw from my monitor is different from the actual image, which is different from what came out of the printer. I wasted a lot of ink and paper trying to get a good balance on each print. This was back when I worked with film, so another aspect of that equation the scanning process of the negative was also in the mix.

My prints came out dark usually. a good thing too look for, like with the good photo papers (ilford, and such) they have inserts on how you should set your printer to get maximum results with the paper. it was a good benchmark, and I adjusted accordingly in the other areas. still not as good as If i edited it and had it printed (getting a someones ICC profiles also help out a lot in getting a print spot in)