Recommended Printer?

[ADF]

Hey guys,

 

I'm looking to upgrade my home printer from a $60 Canon from a couple years ago.  I am getting a new job that i will likely need to use a (2 side scanner, 2 side color printer, wireless connectivity, and fax would be nice to have), however i am getting into photography as a hobby and i'm looking for something that will be able to produce good quality color prints.  I've looked around the internet, but most of the printer reviews are really generic, and the specs for printers on manufacturer sites are also very generic, still acting like WiFi is a new feature. I guess i'm looking for recommendations for an all around great printer for business printing and high quality photo printing.

[Bombastinator]

41 minutes ago, ADF said:

Hey guys,

 

I'm looking to upgrade my home printer from a $60 Canon from a couple years ago.  I am getting a new job that i will likely need to use a (2 side scanner, 2 side color printer, wireless connectivity, and fax would be nice to have), however i am getting into photography as a hobby and i'm looking for something that will be able to produce good quality color prints.  I've looked around the internet, but most of the printer reviews are really generic, and the specs for printers on manufacturer sites are also very generic, still acting like WiFi is a new feature. I guess i'm looking for recommendations for an all around great printer for business printing and high quality photo printing.

Some of this might be helpful.  A lot of it is just plain out-of-date.

 

Haven’t looked at photo quality color printing in a long while, but it used to be the only thing to use was large format specialized cannon inkjet or go to a service.  The photo quality paper had a special gel finish on it to keep the dots round and it wasn’t even remotely cheap.  There was and probably still is also serious archival issues that need to be kept in mind.  Photos want to last a long time and coal lake dyes fade.  Dyes that don’t fade exist but they’re wildly expensive.  To make it more fun inkjets need to be used regularly or they dry out.  All in all it’s kind of a big mess.  An art quality printer that does business printing isn’t going to do either one particularly well and is liable to be quite expensive.

 

Like I said, I’m out of date, but if you’re “just getting into it” I’d say at least for the moment concentrate on the business issues for a printer and outsource the hard copy art stuff until you know you’re going to actually be doing enough of it for it to make sense.

 

If you print regularly but don’t actually print that much inkjet may be the winner.  If you do a LOT of printing or you don’t print often home laser might be preferred.  I’m in the second group so I got home laser.  I can leave the thing sit for 3 months and if I need a form or something boom there it is.  I didn’t even bother getting color.  I’ve also got an old inkjet art printer.  Cost more than the laser printer/scanner/fax thing I got now.  It’s around somewhere.  Huge thing.  I suspect I can’t even get cartridge for it anymore and the ones I’ve got are dry and dead. 

[atxcyclist]

I recommend Canon printers for a few reasons:

 

-3rd party ink off Amazon always works

-Driver stability seems to be better than other printer brands

-Printer longevity is good, on-par with HP for sure

-Printer cost is typically less than HP

 

Now, if you want decent photo reproduction, you might have a tough time getting that in a multi-function that will also scan. There might be some high-end multi-functions that do well with both prints and scans, but a dedicated photo printer is much better. I have a Canon Pro-100 at work that I print photos on, it's superb.

 

[Bombastinator]

26 minutes ago, atxcyclist said:

I recommend Canon printers for a few reasons:

 

-3rd party ink off Amazon always works

-Driver stability seems to be better than other printer brands

-Printer longevity is good, on-par with HP for sure

-Printer cost is typically less than HP

 

Now, if you want decent photo reproduction, you might have a tough time getting that in a multi-function that will also scan. There might be some high-end multi-functions that do well with both prints and scans, but a dedicated photo printer is much better. I have a Canon Pro-100 at work that I print photos on, it's superb.

 

Heh.  That’s not how it used to be.  Once upon a time HP ran the razor blade model.  They sold the printers at a loss but the ink was something like twice it’s weight in gold and they went nuts trying to keep you from using other brands.  Cannon didn’t do it that way.  The printers cost 4 times as much but the ink was affordable.  I don’t know if color ink got archival or not.  For non archival ink yellow went first and blue went last.  Eventually all that is left is this weird faded thing that is nothing but blue and looks only vaguely like a picture.  Takes a while. For really really archival (100years+) the only yellow that worked was cadmium.  Horrifically poisonous.  Dunno if they fixed that one or not.

[dizmo]

Honestly, don't bother getting an all in one expecting to print photos. If you want to print photos get a proper Canon Pixma printer. 

[mr moose]

I personally have these and love them:

 

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/brother-mfc-j432w

 

The panel on the side holds refillable ink cartridges/tanks.  There are no electronics in the cartridge at all and you can refill with whatever ink you want.   They do a very good job on photo paper (obviously not as good as as dedicated photo printer) and the scanner etc are all good.   Cheap to run with generic ink, no re-flashing or worrying about chips in cartridges. and not too hard on the pocket.

[ADF]

1 hour ago, atxcyclist said:

I recommend Canon printers for a few reasons:

 

-3rd party ink off Amazon always works

-Driver stability seems to be better than other printer brands

-Printer longevity is good, on-par with HP for sure

-Printer cost is typically less than HP

 

Now, if you want decent photo reproduction, you might have a tough time getting that in a multi-function that will also scan. There might be some high-end multi-functions that do well with both prints and scans, but a dedicated photo printer is much better. I have a Canon Pro-100 at work that I print photos on, it's superb.

 

I was leaning toward Canon or HP from what i saw looking around.  I'm not an Epson fan, I have an Epson that i'll calibrate the heads on then print 2 times and it needs re-calibrated.  My wife and i both agree we have had bad experiences with Epson and Canon seems to be very reliable.  The HPs seem to have great specs and review as well, however canon seems to be what my preference is and i'm leaning toward canon.  Thanks for the input!

 

17 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Honestly, don't bother getting an all in one expecting to print photos.

I also think you are right..  I might just get a fairly budged all-in one then get a proper photo printer.

 

Here's what i think i'm going to do.. 

 

I think I'll get a smaller all in one the PIXMA TS9120 I like the size capability and the form factor for the price.

Then I'll probably wait a little bit (so the wife doesn't kill me) and get a legit Photo Printer.  The PIXMA Pro-100 is pretty expensive, i was hoping to find an all-in-one that could do good photos for about the price of it. all in all I think it's worth spending a little more for both.

 

Do you guys think that is a good idea?

[ADF]

8 minutes ago, mr moose said:

I personally have these and love them:

 

https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/brother-mfc-j432w

 

The panel on the side holds refillable ink cartridges/tanks.  There are no electronics in the cartridge at all and you can refill with whatever ink you want.   They do a very good job on photo paper (obviously not as good as as dedicated photo printer) and the scanner etc are all good.   Cheap to run with generic ink, no re-flashing or worrying about chips in cartridges. and not too hard on the pocket.

Rough review on that one LOL.  I like the idea of the ink cartridges not having electronics in them.  I'm pretty sure most companies design them to only print so many pages and to last only so long before breaking themselves.

[mr moose]

3 minutes ago, ADF said:

Rough review on that one LOL. 

It's a printer, the multi functions are pretty much all with bull spit of each other for quality.  If I had to buy another tomorrow it would be one of these.   Hell, I have saved so much by using cheap ebay ink from china that if the machine dies after 2 years I will still be in front (not that I like the ecology of the situation). 

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, ADF said:

I also think you are right..  I might just get a fairly budged all-in one then get a proper photo printer.

 

Here's what i think i'm going to do.. 

 

I think I'll get a smaller all in one the PIXMA TS9120 I like the size capability and the form factor for the price.

Then I'll probably wait a little bit (so the wife doesn't kill me) and get a legit Photo Printer.  The PIXMA Pro-100 is pretty expensive, i was hoping to find an all-in-one that could do good photos for about the price of it. all in all I think it's worth spending a little more for both.

 

Do you guys think that is a good idea?

You should be able to grab a cheap laser printer all in one. That's what I'd aim for. The Pro-100 is the printer I was thinking of, but don't get it from Canon; after rebate, it's only $179 if you grab it from B&H instead of $299.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/893738-REG/Canon_6228b002_Pixma_Pro_100_Photo_Inkjet.html