Looking to buy photo printer for home. Brand, Quality?

Question

I have a great Olympus digital camera. It is about three years old, 3.2 megapixels and 10x zoom. It seems to be great to me for family stuff. I would like a photo printer at home to print off photos of our new baby. We have a regular laser printer that works, but it's not photo quality. What is the best photo printer under $200?

Answer 1

I love my Epson Stylus Photo RX620, available direct from Epson for $129.99. It's also an EXCELLENT flat bed scanner. I've owned one HP and one Canon and one other not worth mentioning prior to this and, although the others were supposed to be "photo" printers, there is little basis for comparison.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=54782584

They have a new generation of "Ultra High Definition" printers that are supposed to blow MINE out of the water. All I can say is, they must be good if they are better than this one, as I am not interested in replacing it at all. They are showing 3 models - ALL for under $200!

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/Landing/UltraHiDefinition.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes#Compare

The R260 must be the new version of OMG's R200, so it would be a GREAT buy for $79.99. If you don't want a scanner, I'd suggest the "mid-line" R380, which has an LCD display and a built-in card reader for $139.99.

The RX580 is also a flatbed scanner for $179.99.

Answer 2

Here's another vote for Epson. It was always "Epson printers and Canon scanners." I don't know what's been going on with scanners lately, but Epson is still the top choice for printers. All of their R models are great for photos.
I personally use their cheapo R220 ($100). With glossy photographic paper and a 10 MP camera, the image quality is good enough to frame full page landscapes and press your nose to the glass. With a 3.2 MP camera, you don't have quite enough resolution for that, but with portraits you usually view the picture from a foot or two away - full page prints should still look great.
If you want smaller prints, put 2 or 4 on a page and use a cutting board trimmer. Or put 2 panoramas on a page, or a few dozen passport pictures... whatever you need.
I can see the point of those picture printers that only take 5x7 inch sheets, but I find that format too limiting.
To keep costs down, you can consider no-name brand photo paper and no-name brand ink cartridges. I don't but they're 90% as good at 20% the price. (All printer manufacturers subsidize their printers and make a killing on the official cartridges.) Also, the R220 uses several cartridges that can be replaced individually. Not all printers do, and it sucks to replace an all-in-one cartridge just because you're out of magenta. Even so, home printing is pretty expensive. For normal stuff, it's still easier and cheaper to upload / drop off your memory card.

Answer 3

I have an epson R320 -- I bought it about 3 years ago for under $200 - i think about $180 -- I went to a photo school and it made great prints! My school used only epson printers -- get good paper too - it makes a huge difference...

Answer 4

I have an older Epson 1270 it makes great prints which I sell. Look at the printers in their lineup. I have found that their photo paper works the best. I like the matte finish the best.

Answer 5

I would buy a Canon, I have one. Very sharp pictures. Now, it consumes quite a bit of ink, so after printing a bunch, I calculated that between the price of ink and photo-paper, it costs me quite a bit more than if I go to Costco or Sam's. So I don't print them anymore. I use the printer for other purposes.

Answer 6

I have had an HP, (OK, but not too impressive) Epson x2 (great printers, but both of mine had ink use issues and required frequent head cleanings, and one had paper feed issues) and my current printer, a Canon i6600 which I like a great deal. I have always used OEM ink, but have friends who use 3rd party ink and get along fine with it.
There are lots of paper manufacturers around. My advice, try OEM paper first, it will be profiled to match your printer. I can tell you now, my Canon printer does not like regular Kodak glossy, but accepts Epson paper as family.
If you want to print mainly 4x6's for albums, the Epson Picturemate is a great stand-alone printer. But it doesn't print anything bigger than 4x6.
Good luck!

Answer 7

I have owned 3 Photo printers ,Epson R800,R1800 R2400. I have tried others and the epson is my favourite.

Answer 8

Epson stylus CX6400

Answer 9

Hmmm Selphy, or Canon Pixma. And yep, the paper makes a BIG difference. :D