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Yeah, not a terribly exciting subject, I'd rather be buying graphics cards or something, but I need to get a photo printer as a gift. Any recommendations? Looking at one of those compact models with the built-in memory card reader. Quality and economy are the most important criteria. Pictures must be extremely good, but the ink and paper can't be too expensive. I've been looking at the HP Photosmart A526 or the Canon Selphy CP740. Any opinions?
The canon pixma range are pretty good photo quality printers, most have the single ink tanks which help bring down the cost a little. Not sure which have in-built card readers, however i'm sure some will have.
I recommend a Canon Pixma MP620/MP630 depending on how much you are willing to spend.
The print quality is amazing on both models and I think both have built in Card Readers and a Scanner.
this seems like a good deal atm, maybe a bit more than you want though
HP Photosmart C4472 http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.204-7236.aspx
Those Pixma's look nice (might get one for myself...) but it needs to be a compact dedicated photo printer rather than a big all-in-one.
the epson dx4700 is a good un
cheap when replacing ink also
Just so long as you realise that many of the compact printers won't print larger than 5"x7" (a little less than A5 size). I'm sure you do know that, but it's a pretty big stumbling block so I felt it necessary to point it out, so if bigger is important, keep your eyes peeled.Quote:
Originally Posted by badger
I have the Cannon Pixma IP 4600, had it for ~2 months, its the best printer I have had. The prints are great. It doesn't have a card reader though. Ink is quite cheap, although not as cheap as the ink for the IP4500 (the previous model).
I'd just point out that there's a couple of potential contradictions in there.Quote:
Originally Posted by badger
Firstly, if quality is important, paper choice is critical and the heavier and better papers aren't the cheapest.
Secondly, the cost of ink is, broadly speaking, inversely proportional to the cost of the printer. THe really cheap printers tend to have small ink cartridges, and the ink is therefore generally commensurately more expensive.
So a LOT depends on precisely what you mean by the emphasis on quality. You can get cheap printers that do a pretty reasonable job of photo printers, but if it's a discerning user looking for quality, you're going to be looking at more expensive printers, especially if you want to keep running costs down. For instance, Epson's 3800 is pretty (comparatively) cheap to run, but that's because it's a Pro-grade A3 machine intended to be users by heavy users, so it uses high capacity cartridges which will cost you about £300 to replace, and that's the ink, not the printer which is about £900. But, if you're a heavy user, it pays back in that they last a lot longer than cartridges in cheaper machines.
Clearly, that's an example at the enthusiast/business user end of the market, but much the same principle holds true at the other end too ..... the £50 printers tend to be expensive to run, so are fine for light users but are false economy for heavier users.
What I'm suggesting is to think carefully about what the person you're getting it for is going to be doing with it. If they're going to be using it a lot, you won't necessarily be doing them any favours with a cheap printer, as they'll wither end up binning it due to running costs, or spending a fortune on inks when it'd have been cheaper in the long run to buy a more expensive machine.
Care needs to be exercised with buying photo printers.