Re: Looking for a good photo printer

"flambe" <fac187@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:DIRjj.323$nK5.124@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> IMHO
> The reason Epson should remain the top, but not only choice, for most 
> users is that Epson manufacturers a wide variety of paper surfaces and 
> bundles good canned paper profiles for Epson papers with their 
> printers.
> This makes achieving high quality results somewhat easier with Epson 
> printers and Epson papers with less futzing.
> Epson ink is expensive and you have to be religious about avoiding 
> clogs.
> I highly recommend the Epson r1800 for photo printing. If you do not 
> want to deal with gloss optimizers for glossy prints, really a 
> non-issue, then I would get without hesitation the new replacement for 
> the venerable ink based 1280, the model number escapes me.
> My experience with the previous generation of Canon printers was very 
> frustrating as I did not find Canon's profiles for the pitiful few 
> paper surfaces they sell to be as reliable as Epson's and Canon's 
> methods for color management unintuitive and not necessarily reliable. 
> Perhaps this has changed with newer drivers, but since Canon still 
> does not sell a variety of paper surfaces with canned profiles (matte 
> or glossy, take your pick) you are on your own in this regard. Also 
> Canon, more than other printer vendors, tends to sell "new" generation 
> printers that use the same ink as prior generation printers so they 
> are hardly "new," just repackaged.
> Most of the reviews I have read of newer high end HP printers (apart 
> from the massive roll paper professional uints which appear to be the 
> state of the art) are from sites where issues about color management 
> are not considered. However the reviews have been favorable and HP 
> sells more paper types than Canon.
>
>


My original comment was only based on expereince. I have an Epson R200 
and a Canon IP4300 both of which produce superb photo results even 
though the Epson is six-colour but the Canon only five. The Canon 
however is significantly (perhaps 3x) quicker than the Epson.

As for paper I think I can honestly say that, whilst the result 
differences between Epson paper and other manufacture is quite noticable 
on the Epson, the difference gained by using Canon paper is not so 
marked.

I regularly use a gloss paper from Aldi or gloss or silk papers from 
Partner/Stationery Box the latter being own brand and the results are 
little different on Canon paper. The Aldi paper works well on the Epson 
but the Partner does not seem so good.

One thing that is noticable is drying time. Canon on Canon or Epson on 
Epson is pretty well dry as it comes out of the machine. I once printed 
A4 using the Epson on HP paper and it took nearly an hour to dry 
thoroughly!


-- 
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com