Printing photos at home cheaply!

[Quadophile]

With the HiTi 630PS and a digicam, you can take digital pictures and get 4x6 digital prints without using a computer.

Ulike inkjet prints which have no water or UV resistant qualities this type of printer could well prove to be the future of home printing. If you are thinking of buying a photo quality injet printer WAIT! Check this one out as you may just save a lot of money now as well as in future printing costs.

Read all about it
Here

 

[1nteger]

Very interesting looking piece of kit, Quad...

I'm currently looking for printers for two purposes:
1. Printing good photo quality images up to A4.

2. Document printing...mainly b&w text, but sometimes colour (Basically i get through about a ream - 250 sheets - of paper every week or so at home)

My budget isn't vast...I only want to spend around £200, but i also don't want to get lumbered with excessive ongoing costs for ink etc. I know u aren't in the UK, but what would you go for in the value-for money good all-rounder printer range? Or...should I consider paying a little more and get a basic B&W laser, and a seperate colour printer like the one you just flagged up?

Interested to know your views (or any one else's )

 

[Quadophile]

It really depends on what your needs and requirements are. I know you to be a knowledgable user of gadgets and understand the computer equipment well. Nonetheless, you have two options

Go for a very good qulity photo printer with speed and quality likes of Epson or HP in the upper range and take care of the complete needs like printing photos upto A4, printing text documents as well as printing text/graphics in color.

Buying a laser printer will not serve you well as you will not be able to print any thing in color. Unless you want a chain of printers next to your computer.

The second option is to wait a while and see if something similar comes along like in this thread which will handle A4 as well. I will not be cheap for sure, besides I am not sure if they will or will not come up with something like that. The way the technology is headed one never knows!

 

[1nteger]

OK...but as a knowledgable digital camera user...and presumably printer user too...which photo quality printer would you go for if you want to print quite a bit of b&w stuff as well?

 

[Quadophile]

My choice would be Epson

 

[1nteger]

Thanks Quad! You are about the third person in the last couple of days who's said Epson over the others. (I don't mean in this forum...just pople I've talked to)...but I'm getting more and more convinced to get an Epson.

 

[Ian]

As it happens - I now have this photo printer to review! It is sitting next to me right now, and it looks like it could be something good!

I should have the review up in just over a week Are there any points you want me to take a look at especially for you both? I'll be doing some pretty extensive testing, but if there are any things you want me to look at specifically or outside of the review, let me know

I have about 10 photo sheets to use up on testing this - so I will have to find some interesting photos!

 

[muckshifter]

Don't forget to use at least one Black & White photo ...

 

[Quadophile]

I trust you with the review and know for sure you are fully capable of covering everything I can think of. I will be anxiously waiting for your review!

 

[Ian]

Cheers Guys

I've printed one photo already, and I was simply amazed at the quality... it really does look like something from the photo development shops, even with a 1.3MP camera!

About 22p cost for each photo and 1 min printing - I like this unit I'll have the proper testing done by next weekend

 

[1nteger]

Oops! Since my last post in this thread, I've gone and bought a HP PSC1205 'All-in-One' (printer, scanner, copier thingy)...£99.

Does everything I want, and I'm very impressed with the speed and quality...not that my expectations were high at that price:spin:

I may regret it later..when I have to pay a fortune for ink!

 

[floppybootstomp]

Quad, that's an interesting piece of kit and may be just the thing I've been looking for.

Ian - I await your review with interest.

As for printers, in my limited experience I absolutely favour HP printers over anything else. I've tried a couple of Epsons (took one back the same day, it wuz crap) Canon and HP. Out of all, even the budget HP printers gave good definition prints, although they were slower than their peers.

atm I have two colour printers - HP 843C - slow, very good quality, not very economical on ink costs; Canon S750 - fast, very economical (seperate colour ink tanks) but of less quality than the HP 843C. I also have a Samsung ML4600 Laser mono printer which gives great quality B & W printing very cheaply. You can pick one up as low as £75.00 right now as it's being superceded by a fancier looking model to meet today's style conscious market. Check out PC World & Staples.

 

[Quadophile]

Bravo Ian,

You have done a wonderful job in reviewing this printer. I knew you would take care of everything I could think of!

For those who missed the review on the front page of this site should take a look by following this link

 

[brownpride]

i love printing my photos at home its cheap !!!!!!!!!

 

[Ian]

Originally posted by brownpride
i love printing my photos at home its cheap !!!!!!!!!

Do you use a photo printer like this too, or an inkjet? I have started printing all of my photos at home now

 

[PaulineC]

Has anybody out there any ideas on what I can replace my 4yr old Epson 670 with. I had thought of a multifunctional but I've benn told that they are not as good at printing photos as stand-alone printers. My thoughts at the moment are the Canon i560 or the canon MP370. Unless an Epson would be streets better I would prefer another make mainly because the Epson printer head is not user repairable.

 

[Quadophile]

The current breed of Epson photo printers are very good, can you reconsider your option?

 

[PaulineC]

Hi there Quad,

If I stick with an Epson, the ones under consideration was the stylus C44UX or the styus C80. There is a big difference in price, so is the more expensive one tons better.

 

[Quadophile]

I will check both the models and get back to you with my thoughts on the two models.

 

[Quadophile]

Pauline,

You could check out the two models namely Epson Stylus C64 (£55) and C84 (£85) both are very good printers and use new Durabrite inks in separate tanks (cheaper to repalce as well) The difference between the two is speed, C84 is about 25 percent faster. The other difference is that C64 can print upto 10x15cm borderles prints whereas C84 can print borlerless prints upto A4 size. It really boils down to what your needs are. The price mentioned is only for reference since I checked one of the sites but you may find them cheaper also if you do a good search.