Photo Printer < $150.

[grw46]

I need some thing that will give me the best photo prints I can get within a $150 budget capable of at least A4 size .

I do not need a scanner , wifi or other bells and whistles.

For light home use only.

Cost of printing is not a deal breaker.

Separate ink tanks preferred .

My short list is
1 Canon Pixma IP4700.
2 Epson T50.

I would also consider a superseded or used model if that would give me a better unit (this is not a offer to buy!!.)
Thank you.

[flash]

I lean toward Epson, I have two (R1900 and rx650) and have had no problem with them, as to models well the more ink tanks the better, a secondhand one is fine, both of mine were bought off ebay, the rx650 brings out very good piccys running 6 ink tanks, it's also a scanner, the r1900 running 8 tanks is a dedicated photo printer for me

[grw46]

Thanks Flash .
Is the dpi a major factor ? the Epson is rated at 5760 With 6 tanks against the Canon at 9600 with its 5 tanks and finer ink heads.
Does this translate to a difference you can "see" in the photos. Cheers.

[flash]

all depends on the scale you blow them up to or the pixels in the camera, i find the average A4 shot at 10 mega pixels (my faithfull old Fuji s9500) printed with the Epson Rx650 is fine to all but the strongest critic, I have done a few on my R1900 shot with my new canon 50d that are simply mindbogglingly clear at A3 cropped tight, we travel a lot and shoot a lot of piccys, we then pick one or two that are "representative" of that trip and print them to A4 frame them and place them on the wall, all we get is "ooh's and Ah's" from guests so they cant be too bad, I'm more than happy with the quality and printing cost of the Epson RX650 and leave the "special stuff" to the R1900 which is more expensive to run, I dont think you would pick the print quality until you grab the special "glass" eyepiece the printers use, to the naked untrained eye the prints are perfect

[kiwi]

I've an epson r290, excellent really

[ameerat42]

grw46. How's your retirement fund? Even at 2800 dpi for a 4x6 inch print I had to wait "hours" on my Epson Photo 810 (now retired). Am.

[Calxoddity]

Thanks Flash .
Is the dpi a major factor ? the Epson is rated at 5760 With 6 tanks against the Canon at 9600 with its 5 tanks and finer ink heads.
Does this translate to a difference you can "see" in the photos. Cheers.

short answer - no, unless you're looking at the prints through a magnifying glass, and even then, not really.

I use a HP Photosmart 8230 (old faithful) and an Epson R1900 - dots aren't visible in either as printing artifacts. The only time you'll see dots is if the image being sent to the printer is pixelated due to uber-cropping and the printers seem to try to smooth that out for you anyway. I have an A3+ print of a 6MP D40 raw that was cropped to around the equivalent of 4MP and printed at around 175dpi, I think it was - looks great!

Regards,
Calx

[grw46]

Thank you all for the help.
I'm pretty much decided on the Epson T50 that I can get delivered for $143.00 It's slightly dearer than the Canon but has the extra ink tanks
Think I'm going to keep the old Pixma IP3300 for every thing but photos.
Will order mid week so if anyone has a better suggestion fire away.
Cheers

[flash]

let us know how you go with it.

[Gremlin]

Old thread but i bought a ip4700 today, attached to a imac, inital prints for testing quality seems good, but i seriously need to calibrate my monitor!!!

[Regnis]

I too am in the market for a good printer around this price? just wondering how you went with it 'grw46'?

[Regnis]

I lean toward Epson, I have two (R1900 and rx650) and have had no problem with them, as to models well the more ink tanks the better, a secondhand one is fine, both of mine were bought off ebay, the rx650 brings out very good piccys running 6 ink tanks, it's also a scanner, the r1900 running 8 tanks is a dedicated photo printer for me


the Epson Stylus Photo R1900 Ink Jet Printer is $910
http://www.shopbot.com.au/m/?m=Epson+Stylus+Photo+R1900+Ink+Jet+Printer