Printing

[dallasrover]

If there is already a topic, please excuse the repeat, I did not see one. Does anyone print their shots at home? I have never gone down the path of printing digital shots at home, is there a good cost effective home printer that anyone has experience with? One that maybe does up to 8x10 or 10x12?
Thanks for any information.

 

[Honu]

I do my own for nicer prints
But I am kinda a color nut since its my living

Printing at home is not about saving money its about imediacy and control and if you learn you can get better quality than some labs nice printer quality profiles and a accurate monitornare key things
Also you can get test packs of paper and find some really nice papers

Comapnies like shades of paper or book smart studio are good companies their are also some larger companies like lexjet that have their own media etc.... Color HQ is another

The best printer does not exist each printer and comapny have pros cons ?
I prefer the high end canon but Epson are just as nice but chances are this is way over your budget

In your price range epson 2200 I would say get the 3880 so you can do larger prints if you can swing it but the 3880 are like $1000 ?
Otherwise just to have prints the HP Or Epson printers in the sub $200 or so do a decent job papers like ilford are available in 8x10 for a good price at costco alsonlook for some of he models that have larger cartridges like some of he HP printers and cost per print will be lower


Again its not about saving money its about imedicay and control if you just want a few prints once in a while and good quality use someone like mpix and you will be ahead money wise

Hope this helps

 

[off-roader]

First off, I'm not a pro, but I do like to make prints of my macro work.


I used to make my prints with an Epson printer using their pigment based inks using at home printer calibration, monitor calibration, etc., etc. but as has been noted, I determined I did not require the immediacy and have since switched to printing using Costco believe it or not... for the price and with the availability of color profiles to match colors, they cant be beat for their convenience and quality.

Oh, one big issue I have with home printers is they frequently clog up when they're infrequently used. FWIW, I wasn't using a high end printer so that may have had something to do with it.

 

[Lost Canadian]

I print from home using an Epson 3800. I say if you're going to do it from home though spend the money on a good printer. Ironically enough ink replacements are typically cheaper with high end printers, and the quality of the cheaper printers isn't even in the same league. If you're not willing to spend the money you're still better off sticking with a lab.

 

[Pathfinder]

Like Trevor, I use an Epson Stylus 3800 inkjet printer. I like the quality of the images I print, and the immediacy. They are also very good test prints if I am going to have a larger version of the image done by a lab.

You need to understand color profiles, monitor calibration, and image editing to really get the most value from a fine art inkjet printer. Prints will be cheaper from Cosco. I do not print because it is cheaper ( it is not ) , but because I can get better quality if I do my end correctly.

Without hardware monitor calibration tools, paper profiles, and properly edited image files, you are better off shooting jpgs, and having a commercial firm print your images.

 

[dallasrover]

Thanks for the input and information. I use Lightroom 3 to cleanup, edit and play with the shots. Just have never done much in the way of printing my own really, I have always just taken them to be done. I also do not make my living with it, so I guess I will weigh my options and budget. Thanks again for any information.

 

[Tucson T4R]

As mentioned above to get a correct color match when printing at home you need to know the paper manufacturer and download their ICC profile. Most of Costco's photo paper is made by Illford (spelling?). Once I downloaded their ICC profile and told LR to use the color profile instead of letting my printer manage it my prints are now coming out pretty darn close to what I see on my monitor.

I'm just using a Epson photo R320 printer which not even close to a high end printer and they come out decent. I need to save my pennies and upgrade my printer someday. :sombrero: