Since posting I am grateful for the help and have now managed to find one or
two helpful sales people - face to face - and 'end users' who have shared
their experiences. If I want to print a page mostly photos I hear it will
take as long on laser as an inkjet unless I spend a lot of money.

Studying samples off Epsom and Brother I now know why they don't send
samples with photos as the reproduction is very poor. The Phaser I saw
working in an estate agents produced very poor quality, was very slow at
printing, had a long time to 'copy out of machine' and the software seemed
to make printing an ordeal. The latter could be the way it had been poorly
set up.

So I am not impressed even with my budget of £1,000 to £1,500.

Perhaps I should be looking at Inkjets with separate colour cartridges - I
understand the prints now come out a lot dryer which was on eof my concerns.

Len

"Len" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3fcb2f84$0$12705$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Since posting I am grateful for the help and have now managed to find one
or
> two helpful sales people - face to face - and 'end users' who have shared
> their experiences. If I want to print a page mostly photos I hear it will
> take as long on laser as an inkjet unless I spend a lot of money.
>
> Studying samples off Epsom and Brother I now know why they don't send
> samples with photos as the reproduction is very poor. The Phaser I saw
> working in an estate agents produced very poor quality, was very slow at
> printing, had a long time to 'copy out of machine' and the software seemed
> to make printing an ordeal. The latter could be the way it had been poorly
> set up.
>
> So I am not impressed even with my budget of £1,000 to £1,500.
>
> Perhaps I should be looking at Inkjets with separate colour cartridges - I
> understand the prints now come out a lot dryer which was on eof my
concerns.
>
Regarding inkjets, Epson seems rather a good deal as their printers are very
cheap but beware, they will rip you off on the ink cartridges and these inks
are formulated specifically for Epson papers - using generic photo quality
papers is very hit-and-miss. Also if you don't use the printer for some time
the head blocks and it takes a number of wasted prints or wasted ink through
the head cleaning process to solve the problem. Also Epson is not consistent
in providing upgraded drivers. (Epson will never make a Mac OSX driver for
my printer) Choose Epson if there really is no alternative.

"Len" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3fcb2f84$0$12705$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Since posting I am grateful for the help and have now managed to find one
or
> two helpful sales people - face to face - and 'end users' who have shared
> their experiences. If I want to print a page mostly photos I hear it will
> take as long on laser as an inkjet unless I spend a lot of money.
>
> Studying samples off Epsom and Brother I now know why they don't send
> samples with photos as the reproduction is very poor. The Phaser I saw
> working in an estate agents produced very poor quality, was very slow at
> printing, had a long time to 'copy out of machine' and the software seemed
> to make printing an ordeal. The latter could be the way it had been poorly
> set up.
>
> So I am not impressed even with my budget of £1,000 to £1,500.
>
> Perhaps I should be looking at Inkjets with separate colour cartridges - I
> understand the prints now come out a lot dryer which was on eof my
concerns.
>
> Len


Okidata (USA) site has a form for requesting samples and that includes
photos. I don't know what your intended purpose for a color printer but if
it were for real estate brochure, no doubt it would be sufficient. It won't
compete with photolab though. It's fast because it has 4 drums so it prints
in one pass, . However, it takes a few minutes minutes for starting up,
doing adjustments.

"leo" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:H0Iyb.105$(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Len" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:3fcb2f84$0$12705$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Since posting I am grateful for the help and have now managed to find
one
> or
> > two helpful sales people - face to face - and 'end users' who have
shared
> > their experiences. If I want to print a page mostly photos I hear it
will
> > take as long on laser as an inkjet unless I spend a lot of money.
> >
> > Studying samples off Epsom and Brother I now know why they don't send
> > samples with photos as the reproduction is very poor. The Phaser I saw
> > working in an estate agents produced very poor quality, was very slow at
> > printing, had a long time to 'copy out of machine' and the software
seemed
> > to make printing an ordeal. The latter could be the way it had been
poorly
> > set up.
> >
> > So I am not impressed even with my budget of £1,000 to £1,500.
> >
> > Perhaps I should be looking at Inkjets with separate colour cartridges -
I
> > understand the prints now come out a lot dryer which was on eof my
> concerns.
> >
> > Len
>
>
> Okidata (USA) site has a form for requesting samples and that includes
> photos. I don't know what your intended purpose for a color printer but if
> it were for real estate brochure, no doubt it would be sufficient. It
won't
> compete with photolab though. It's fast because it has 4 drums so it
prints
> in one pass, . However, it takes a few minutes minutes for starting up,
> doing adjustments.

I have requested info and samples as they have the same facility on the UK
site
Thanks
Len

"Stewy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bqfdos$2qr$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> papers is very hit-and-miss. Also if you don't use the printer for some time
> the head blocks and it takes a number of wasted prints or wasted ink through
> the head cleaning process to solve the problem.

heavily snipped

I've had an Epson 1270 for quite a long time (nearly 4 years, I think) and I
haven't experienced any head blocks. (Had the occasional one with the older
Epson 600.) Sometimes I use the 1270 fairly heavily, at other times it may not
be used for several weeks. I do turn it off, by pressing its button (which I
think parks the head correctly). Paper used is either Epson's own, or Pictorico
glossy film which is simply superb. All other papers I've tried have been
troublesome to some degree.
It's used in a centrally heated house with humidity varying between about 35% to
55%.
--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm

Hi Len

> Studying samples off Epsom and Brother I now know why they don't send
> samples with photos as the reproduction is very poor.

Yep, compared to the best photo inkjets, affordable-by-normal-humans
lasers still suck for printing photos.

Stan

RE: Stewy's thoughts:

I've used Epsons since the first Stylus Color. They're great.

Yep, you need to use Epson inks and Epson papers for
best results.

As to Mac drivers: unfortunately, Mac market
share is so low (thanks Steve for killing off the Mac clone
business and thereby sealing that miniscularity)
many hardware companies don't
see the upside to expending resources developing Mac drivers.

Stan

In article <3fcb2f84$0$12705$(E-Mail Removed)>,
Len says...

> Studying samples off Epsom and Brother I now know
> why they don't send samples with photos as the
> reproduction is very poor.

You didn't check the Minolta QMS, then?

> The Phaser I saw working in an estate agents produced
> very poor quality, was very slow at printing, had a
> long time to 'copy out of machine' and the software
> seemed to make printing an ordeal. The latter could be
> the way it had been poorly set up.

None of this is found on the Minolta QMS 2350N.
3 Minutes maximum for complex pages to print the
first copy, and then several copies of the same
file per minute. Good inkjets need at least three
times as much.

--
Michael Quack <(E-Mail Removed)>

http://www.photoquack.de/glamour/1.htm
http://www.photoquack.de/fashion/1.htm

Printing photos means inkjet for almost all of us.

Epson is the traditional leader, but Canon and HP are now right up there.
The main thing that might tip me to Epson is the availability of archival
ink, 3rd party cartridges, continuous fill systems, etc. But that will be
there very quickly for Canon

--
******************
Mark Herring
Pasadena, CA, USA
private e-mail: just say no to "No"

*
"Len" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3fcb2f84$0$12705$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Since posting I am grateful for the help and have now managed to find one
or
> two helpful sales people - face to face - and 'end users' who have shared
> their experiences. If I want to print a page mostly photos I hear it will
> take as long on laser as an inkjet unless I spend a lot of money.
>
> Studying samples off Epsom and Brother I now know why they don't send
> samples with photos as the reproduction is very poor. The Phaser I saw
> working in an estate agents produced very poor quality, was very slow at
> printing, had a long time to 'copy out of machine' and the software seemed
> to make printing an ordeal. The latter could be the way it had been poorly
> set up.
>
> So I am not impressed even with my budget of £1,000 to £1,500.
>
> Perhaps I should be looking at Inkjets with separate colour cartridges - I
> understand the prints now come out a lot dryer which was on eof my
concerns.
>
> Len
>
>

On 1-Dec-2003, "Len" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Studying samples off Epsom and Brother I now know why they don't send
> samples with photos as the reproduction is very poor. The Phaser I saw
> working in an estate agents produced very poor quality, was very slow at
> printing, had a long time to 'copy out of machine' and the software seemed
> to make printing an ordeal. The latter could be the way it had been poorly
> set up.

You may want to take a look at the HP line of photosmart printers. They
have great photo printing, are inexpensive, dependent upon which model
you're looking for and what features you are looking for, and currently, are
the only line of printers capable of using the grayscale inks from HP to do
fantastic grayscale (B&W photo) images.

Harry


--
_________________________
(E-Mail Removed)