A good printer for under $100?

[adriankeith]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm looking to get a decent photo printer (printing sizes up to 8.5x11 or larger

if possible in the price range) but I don't know what to look for. I found a

Canon Pixma ip8000 for 40$ but I don't know if it's a good printer. I've tried

searching for reviews on products but still, I don't know what to look for in a

printer. Can I find a printer for under 100 or even under 50 that will produce

some great prints? The photos will probably be viewed at about a foot or so away

so super fine detail isn't really a big deal. I just want to start printing my

own photos.

 

On the same note, where can I find good paper? I was told about Ilford's

printasia, but I can't find that anywhere. Can you recommend any other paper

that is cheap but makes for great prints? Thanks in advance!

 

-Adrian

[bobatkins]

The ip8000 isn't bad but the 6310D ($99) is better. The 8000 is 4 color, while the 6310D is 6 color.

 

Even the cheaper printer will give pretty good results. You'll end up spending more on ink and paper than the printer though. That's why printers are so cheap. They make their money selling you supplies!

 

I'd go with the Canon papers if you have a Canon printer and Canon inks. I've been pretty happy with it, either matte, glossy or their new art papers.

 

You won't get larger than 8.5" x 11" for under $100 though.

[raysgallery]

The Epson Stylus R220 Photo Printer is a very good Printer for less then $100.00. It will print on CD & DVD disc all so. I bought it to print on DVD's, but I can tell very little difference between it and it's big brother I have. The Epson Photo R2400 at $800.00. I highly recommend the R220

[raysgallery]

P.S. Staples has their paper buy one get one free sever times a year. Someting else to think about is buying very large paper and cutting it down to size. I paid for a $50.00 paper cutter with just one box of 13 X 19 photo paper.

[jordan_w.]

I don't think the R220 is actually still being made. I may be wrong though. You could possibly find one used.

 

I use a Epson C88+ that produces good results. It should be available for $80-$90.

[robert_koenig1]

The Epson photo printer at that price point is now the R280. If you are looking for photo

quality as your main objective, go with this over the C88. I use the R800, and based on

experience with numerous printers, definitely recommend Epson for photos.

[john_wilson10]

I know you said you wanted the photo printer for printing sizes up to 8.5x11, but let me give you a little "road less traveled by" advice. If all you want to do is print photos, I say get one of the Canon Selphy 700 series printers.

 

The Selphy does one thing, and does it really well: print 4x6 photos. (If you need larger pictures, you need another printer, really.) The photos are high quality, and print fast (about 1 minute). The printer automatically puts a protective coating on the surface of the print, so if the cat sneezes on it you can just wipe it off. (I mean, the prints aren't waterproof, but they hold up far better than any Walmart or Target print.)

 

It's a dye sublimation printer, so it has no nozzles to clog. I had some concerns with it doing black and white prints, but they came out great. Anyway, you buy the special paper with the ink cartridge, so you don't have to mess around with matching special papers to inks, and gloss vs. matte, and all that garbage that is so much fun to fiddle with. (Hey, I like fiddling for maximum arty quality as much as the next OCD photographer, but if I'm printing a couple photos for grandma I don't want to even THINK about printer settings. I just want the photos printed and mailed out!)

 

If you get the best deal on refills from Amazon it winds up being about 26 cents a print. More expensive than Target but Target is across town and your printer is next to your desk. If you buy refills from your local camera store, it's a smidge more expensive, but on your way home you can feel self-righteous and better than those other photographers who only care about getting the lowest price instead of caring about the community.

 

Since the ink is in these sheets on a roll, and since you only get 108 pieces of printer paper when you get the refill, you know exactly how many prints you have left before you run out of ink. Do you want to make a couple dozen prints of that red rose macro you did? You'll never run out of just one color, no matter how much of it you print out.

 

Did I mention that every print is a postcard? Get a ballpoint pen and a stack of postcard stamps, print out a dozen photos, and get in touch with those friends in college you haven't seen in years.

 

If you shoot in JPEG (ugh, but beyond the scope of this discussion) you can plug your camera or your card directly into the printer and pick photos to print from the printer itself. No computer necessary -- fun for vacations!

 

Okay, the downsides: You don't get to play around with all those foofy papers. If you put foofy papers in your printer, the ink won't stick right, you'll jam it up and make a big mess, so don't even bother. You can ONLY print at 4x6, unless you buy some other accessories, but even then you can only print just a smidge wider so it's not even worth it. If you want a 5x7 or 8x10 you have to take it to your local camera store and pay extra.

 

This thing really heats up in the summer. If it gets too hot, it will wait until it cools down to print any more. On the hottest days of the summer (we don't have air conditioning) it was taking several minutes to do a single print.

 

The biggest drawback is the dust. Dust gets between the ink sheets and the paper, and leaves spots in the image. Oh, and woe be unto you if a hair gets in there! (hint: try taking out the cartridge and carefully extracting the hair if it wound itself around that thin spindle thing on the inside.) If you let it sit around and accumulate dust and make a print every three weeks or so, you're going to be miserable because the prints will come out all spotted. There's a little cleaning cartridge that comes with the printer but as far as I can tell it just pushes the dust around. The only real cure is to keep printing until the dust shakes itself out of the printer. Solution: make a few prints a week. (Hey, you have to do that with an inkjet anyway or else the nozzles will clog!)

 

If you go on vacation for a week, put the printer in a plastic baggie, trust me.

 

In short, I love mine. I just can't imagine doing 4x6 prints on a larger printer. I have printed thousands and thousands of photos on it (my stack of proofs and rejects alone is over 4 inches tall), and it's starting to make the most ominous squeaking noises but it just keeps going and going and going. I have the 710, but they have newer models out now. Any of the dye-sub selphys are just fine. They even sell them at Target and I've convinced a couple people to buy one in the store and I don't even work there.