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Printer for Christmas

#1
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12/1/07 at 7:48am
  • Joined: December 2004
  • Location: KY
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My wife is into scrapbooking and she would like to print out pictures from our digital camera. I do not know the first thing about picture printers. We currently use one that came with the computer. What are the features that I should be looking for? Obviously we would like the most for the least amount of money.
I am also wondering about photo editing software. We have the generic software that comes with the camera. Is it worth it to buy anything better? We will be using a 4-year-old no frills e-machine. I don’t have it specs in front of me, but they are nothing to brag about, so the software would need minimal requirements.
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#2
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12/1/07 at 8:26am
  • Joined: October 2003
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Re: Printer for Christmas

my wife also does photos for scrapbooking and believe me, if your wife is a fanatical about it as mine, you are not going to find a printer for under $500 that meets all those scrapbook needs (like archival)

We just got a cheaper hp 5120 (I think) and it does ok for a quick picture, but we still 90% just send the pictures to sams club or some other major processing place as the pictures are so much better.
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#3
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12/1/07 at 6:57pm
  • Joined: March 2001
  • Location: Rochester, NY
  • Post Count: 6,315

Re: Printer for Christmas

Dave,
Identifying your priority and price range will help a lot. Is it top-notch photo printing? Is it archival prints, for 30+ year lifetime? Or is it general house-hold use? And what's your price range?

For that matter, do you even need a photo printer for your wife's hobby? Would you (she) be happier uploading the photos to Target or Flickr and ordering prints for pickup or even home deliver? Or take a memory card to Target and have them printed there while you shop?

It's cheaper to print through a service. And it might be easier; editing and printing your own set of photos can be time consuming. But printing at home a few singles now and again can be quick and convenient.

Another question is how much effort and money you want to spend editing photos. You can print as shot. Or do basic color adjustment and cropping for free with Picasa (PC) or iPhoto (Mac)? Or perhaps a $100 for Photoshop Elements for more control. Or go the "pro" route and get Photoshop for $500.

If you want a general purpose printer that prints good photos, I am thoroughly pleased with my Canon Pixma MP600. It's a scanner, copier, camera card reader, inkjet printer, and of course photo printer. It's easy to use, has a great physical and interface design. And 4x6" photos look very good.
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#4
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12/2/07 at 5:38am
  • Joined: December 2004
  • Location: KY
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Re: Printer for Christmas

These pictures will be used as a hobby only. If she is going through all the effort to make these books, I feel that they should last long enough to be passed down to the kids when they are all grown up. $500 is about double was planning on. The Canon Pixma MP600 for unde $200 doesn't look too bad. She doesn't want to mess with the memory card thing, but the Flickr printing may be a good idea. I think I will hold off on the software until I see her get more comfortable doing the basic photo fixes.
Thanks for your input.
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#5
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12/2/07 at 5:49am
  • Joined: November 2002
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Re: Printer for Christmas

I would suggest a simple and inexpensive printer which can do photos as well as standard printing. That way if your wife loses interest you still have a useful printer. I prefer printers with seperage colored ink cartridges rather than the tri-color cartridges. I presently have a HP K550 - mine works good but I know folks who've had trouble with them.
The photo software I use is Nova Photo Explosion and I've been pleased with it. The interface is intuitive and the price is right.

Martin Luther observed that the human race is like a drunkard who falls off his horse on the left and makes up for it by falling off the next time on the right.

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#6
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12/2/07 at 10:23am
  • Joined: March 2001
  • Location: Rochester, NY
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Re: Printer for Christmas

Quote:
Originally Posted by drobbins
If she is going through all the effort to make these books, I feel that they should last long enough to be passed down to the kids when they are all grown up.
You're looking for archival quality prints -- long lifetime prints. This is an interesting issue: will digital photos last a lifetime, like silver-halide prints did?

If you're truly interested in getting prints that will last 50+ years, I think you need to do some research. I'm not current on this, and don't want to flippantly recommend a printer whose prints might fade away 10 years from now, too soon for your grandkids to enjoy.

Printer manufacturers have been working on this for a few years now. Epson had a good reputation for archival prints on their brandname paper with their pigment-based inks.

I suggest searching for "archival photo printers" and also looking around http://www.wilhelm-research.com/ .
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