New here and looking for some guidance....

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2
Name
Jenny
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi everyone

Nice to be here. I've been having a read of some of your posts and thought I would nip in with a question of my own if possible. Forgive my novice language...!

I bought my husband a camera last Christmas, a Nikon D3500 (which I don't think is anything too exciting compared to what people are using here!), and he's grown from strength to strength with it. He's really enjoying it and is now a member of a local group at home and has received a fair bit of positive feedback.

I'm looking forward to this Christmas and thought I would buy him a printer to use at home. No bigger than A3 at a push (but mainly A4 in general terms) and it's probably only going to be used from time to time when he's feeling particularly fond of an image (a couple of times a month?) but I understand the quality is important more so than usage. From looking here and online, I have found the following models and wondered if anyone here had any positive or negative experience on using these particular brands?

I'm not looking for something too professional (unless you think it would be more beneficial or financially better in the long run?) but it would be useful to know if I am way off course here:

1. EPSOM XP-15000
I found a decent price online (I heard they retail for a lot more)

2. EPSOM EXPRESSION XP-970
Quite inexpensive but I haven't seen many reviews for this.

3. CANON PRO 1000
This is outside of my budget but from what I can see, Canon is the best brand to buy. I'd be willing to invest if you thought it was worth it. We won't need A2, though, so perhaps a bit too extravagant.

4. EPSOM SC-P400

Thank you so much for your time. I know you'll have better things to do!

Jen :)
 
Jenny,
I'm not trying to put you off purchasing a printer for your husband.

However printing your own images sounds simple but it is a whole new area of learning for your husband. It may be better to consider using a commercial print company for the small amount of printing that you're suggesting.

There are a number of very good commercial printing companies that you could use. Another option for a Christmas present may be to book your husband on a printing course before buying a printer. This is so that he can better understand the requirements of personal image printing. Most of the UK Paper suppliers offer print workshops


I'll list some things that you need to consider before you purchase a printer for your husband to print his images with, please note there’s probably more items to consider and others on the forum may come in with their thoughts on this:-

1. As well as the outlay for cost of the printer you need to factor in paper costs and replacement cartridge costs.
2. Unless you intend to print on paper produced by the Printer manufacturer (Canon or Epson) using a generic ICC profile (supplied with the printer) you will need Custom ICC Profiles to match your paper/s of choice.
3. Monitor calibration is important to ensure correct printer output colour, this is important to ensure the image you see on the screen is matched by the output from the printer.
4. Calibration devices and software would be required for both Mac and Windows machines.
5. Printers (Ink Jet) need to be exercised regularly (at least once a week) to prevent print head clogging, you may get away with this if the printer is used for other printing rather than just your husband’s "couple of times a month" requirements.
 
Jenny I agree with much of what Peter said above, especially about level of use, head clogging, and ink costs. Also printers at the sort of level you're looking at tend in my experience to have a limited life expectancy and this might be factored into the environmental cost of having one.

There is a learning curve involved in printing whether at home or by a lab, in how the images are prepared for print.

However a high level of success can be had without being a slave to Peter's point 4, that a calibration device is needed.
 
Hallo @JenSym005. Yes I agree that printing at home is a whole new learning curve. I would suggest that you have a look at the Canon TS series of printers which I think would be more than adequate for your husband's needs at the moment. I have just replaced my Canon MG6150 printer which I have had for about 5-6 years and which I used to print all my club competition entries. The judges might have dissed my images but none of them criticised my printing! I think the printer when I bought it would have been about the £120 mark, not expensive. Although you could buy an A3 printer, personally I have never needed an A3 print and on the odd occasion I would need one, I would just send it out for printing.
Perhaps he could have a word with his camera group to see what they all use. But I certainly would recommend Canon as a home printer.
 
Hi there

Thank you all very much for your help and advice. I understand. Even if he chose to print a few pictures here and there, it probably wouldn't be a sound investment looking at it now. I appreciate your help here and you've no doubt saved me a lot of money! There are a few sales going on near me so at the very least, I could look in to buying something quite unsophisticated. Thanks for the advice about Canon as well.

I'll go back to the drawing board

Jen :)
 
Don't know why but there is a feel to printed images I hold in my hand. I think digital is good but the essence comes only when it is printed.
Print gives life to the images. Digitals don't acutally exist in reality. Prints is what stands the test of time and remains there on the wall for the generations to come.
Even if technology advances to any extent but the origin will always remain there. Its the art thing . Just a feeling and emotion attached to it.Finding logical reason to this won't take us further I think
I love to get the prints done more often and put a collage on the wall. It actually adds up to the living space as if it has come alive.
Best Regards
Manish
 
I'm pretty sure that in the last 50 years I've taken at least 150,000 pictures. Even if I printed and kept only 10% of those I'd be sinking under 15,000 prints - I'd need a warehouse to store them!

The great advantage of digital is that I can see any of those images on any convenient screen and share them with anyone almost instantly. Go back to all the hassle of developing and printing? No thanks: I'll stick with the future which in this case at least is much better than the past.
 
I'm pretty sure that in the last 50 years I've taken at least 150,000 pictures. Even if I printed and kept only 10% of those I'd be sinking under 15,000 prints - I'd need a warehouse to store them!

The great advantage of digital is that I can see any of those images on any convenient screen and share them with anyone almost instantly. Go back to all the hassle of developing and printing? No thanks: I'll stick with the future which in this case at least is much better than the past.

All well and good until you walk into someone`s home who has beautiful photos that they took that look stunning on their walls.

Then people walk into your house and sigh when you say " let me get my usb stick and laptop out to show you something "
 
All well and good until you walk into someone`s home who has beautiful photos that they took that look stunning on their walls.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: what you think is stunning I might think is boring (and vice versa). In any case, the damned things so quickly take over, even if you use Blu Tack and change the display at regular intervals...

PictureWallApril9th.JPG
 
@JenSym005 I hope this is ok jumping in on this thread.

I’ve been thinking of replacing a mono only laser printer I inherited as it’s becoming temperamental and it’s now working intermittently. I’ve been wondering if there was a suitable inkjet that I could also utilise for photography too (I would like to print more as there is something about prints that’s better long term than digital copies on hard drives and I like the wall prints I have).

@Scots_quine I would be interested in your thoughts about the canon TS range. I’ve had a look thought it and a little unsure what is really a good printer for photography prints. I had a look through the TS range and picked out a low end and higher end printer:


Canon TS3350
Canon TS6350

From specs it looks like the TS6350 would be the better option for photography because of the five seperate inks (better quality colour printing?) and that it accepts up to 300gsm paper. I would love to get to a point where I could print my favourite images well on good paper. A4 paper would be fine, if I wanted larger then a professional printer would be the better option. I’m happy to pay a little more if the print quality is better. As long as ink costs aren’t too excessive I would be happy especially if it could double up as my normal use printer too.
 
@rob-nikon the TS6350 should be fine as it has the separate inks. I have always found Canon printers to be good. I normally use BlueBox inks from premierphotographic instead of Canon inks which are a fraction of the price of Canon cartridges.
 
@rob-nikon the TS6350 should be fine as it has the separate inks. I have always found Canon printers to be good. I normally use BlueBox inks from premierphotographic instead of Canon inks which are a fraction of the price of Canon cartridges.
Thanks, I thought separate inks would give better print quality. It seems to be a good introduction to printing.
 
I would be interested in your thoughts about the canon TS range. I’ve had a look thought it and a little unsure what is really a good printer for photography prints. I had a look through the TS range and picked out a low end and higher end printer:

Canon TS3350
Canon TS6350

From specs it looks like the TS6350 would be the better option for photography because of the five seperate inks (better quality colour printing?) and that it accepts up to 300gsm paper. I would love to get to a point where I could print my favourite images well on good paper. A4 paper would be fine, if I wanted larger then a professional printer would be the better option. I’m happy to pay a little more if the print quality is better. As long as ink costs aren’t too excessive I would be happy especially if it could double up as my normal use printer too.

I have a Canon MG5250 which I think has the same (or similar) 5-ink set. It gives decent results with good paper and a little care tweaking the options in the print dialogue (I've been printing from Aperture though, and have no experience with anything else yet). The TS 6350 is what I've recommended to my daughter, but she hasn't bought one yet. Seems like a good buy, though you'l never get the full quality of results from a higher spec printer.
 
I have a Canon MG5250 which I think has the same (or similar) 5-ink set. It gives decent results with good paper and a little care tweaking the options in the print dialogue (I've been printing from Aperture though, and have no experience with anything else yet). The TS 6350 is what I've recommended to my daughter, but she hasn't bought one yet. Seems like a good buy, though you'l never get the full quality of results from a higher spec printer.
Thanks for the reply. I don’t think I really expect high quality results at the price. As long as they are quite good that would be nice (I won’t be selling these prints). It’s a thought of killing two bullies with one stone. We need a new printer and it would be nice to be able to print a few images too. If some come out well I expect I will probably send them off to pro printers for some bigger A3 prints or better quality. I don’t think my wife would be happy me getting a pro A2 sized printer due to size or price!
 
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