Photo Printer Choice
in [Printers]
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From: JC_Chicago on 24 Feb 2010 15:16 Lon;1163280 Wrote: > Patty wrote: > > I'm currently looking for a photo printer to make decent photo > prints. At > > this time, I plan to put the prints in frames under glass. > > > > I'm currently looking at the Epson 1400, which is on sale this week > for > > $199.00 and sounds like a very good price. > > > > My second choice is an Epson R1900 at a bit higher price, approx. > $399.00. > > The two mail in rebates on the 1900 take a while to receive, but they > DO > arrive. > > > > I'm just wondering if the additional clost of the R1900 is worth it > for > > making prints. I'm not a professional photographer, but I am a > serious > > amateur. I'm using a Nikon D90 for taking photographs and PhotoShop > > Elements (considering upgrading to regular PhotoShop) for editing. > > > > I'd really just like to hear opinions and thoughts on both these > printers > > before I decide which way to go. Thanks so much. > > If you are at all serious or even like very very nice professional > grade > prints that look like high quality photographs or better, get the 1900. > > The inks are different on the two, the 1900 uses the hi-gloss > ultrachrome series. It also has colors that tend to produce better > tones in the reds, oranges, etc. than the 1400. Plus, the gloss finish > > which works with papers other than just Epson will give you something > that looks exactly like a very high quality gelatin print. Profiles > for pro grade papers tend to be easy to get as well. > > The 1900 is a tad faster in the real world. > > The black/gray tones are a bit better on the 1900 as well with the two > separate black inks. This not only helps if you try black and white > printing but also in tones in color printing, but also in plain paper > text printing. > > I have the 1900 and use it as a utility printer in addition to photos, > CDs, etc, and regularly print 11x17 technical line drawings on it. > > If you really want to see either of them come alive, upgrade to full > PhotoShop and start surfing for filters. Hi Lon, I too am loving the quality of prints on photo paper with this printer R1900... but I'm not having much luck in using it as a utility printer. When printed on photo paper, the colors look as they should. But when printed on plain paper or card stock, the colors look very faded. The red looks super dull and so does black and everything else. I have tried everything - mixed and matched all the settings and it's not working. With pastel colors, I have had to adjust the colors of the document to be super bright. Then it prints as I wanted in the first place -- a light pastel. But if I can never get the printer to accurately capture the color of the document. The colors look worse than on my cheap canon inkjet I got for free. Any ideas? I choose "plain paper" and have chose best quality as well as normal... and same problem. The colors look muted, almost faded.
From: Lon on 26 Feb 2010 21:55 JC_Chicago wrote: > Lon;1163280 Wrote: >> Patty wrote: >>> I'm currently looking for a photo printer to make decent photo >> prints. At >>> this time, I plan to put the prints in frames under glass. >>> >>> I'm currently looking at the Epson 1400, which is on sale this week >> for >>> $199.00 and sounds like a very good price. >>> >>> My second choice is an Epson R1900 at a bit higher price, approx. >> $399.00. >> >> The two mail in rebates on the 1900 take a while to receive, but they >> DO >> arrive. >>> I'm just wondering if the additional clost of the R1900 is worth it >> for >>> making prints. I'm not a professional photographer, but I am a >> serious >>> amateur. I'm using a Nikon D90 for taking photographs and PhotoShop >>> Elements (considering upgrading to regular PhotoShop) for editing. >>> >>> I'd really just like to hear opinions and thoughts on both these >> printers >>> before I decide which way to go. Thanks so much. >> If you are at all serious or even like very very nice professional >> grade >> prints that look like high quality photographs or better, get the 1900. >> >> The inks are different on the two, the 1900 uses the hi-gloss >> ultrachrome series. It also has colors that tend to produce better >> tones in the reds, oranges, etc. than the 1400. Plus, the gloss finish >> >> which works with papers other than just Epson will give you something >> that looks exactly like a very high quality gelatin print. Profiles >> for pro grade papers tend to be easy to get as well. >> >> The 1900 is a tad faster in the real world. >> >> The black/gray tones are a bit better on the 1900 as well with the two >> separate black inks. This not only helps if you try black and white >> printing but also in tones in color printing, but also in plain paper >> text printing. >> >> I have the 1900 and use it as a utility printer in addition to photos, >> CDs, etc, and regularly print 11x17 technical line drawings on it. >> >> If you really want to see either of them come alive, upgrade to full >> PhotoShop and start surfing for filters. > Hi Lon, > > I too am loving the quality of prints on photo paper with this printer > R1900... but I'm not having much luck in using it as a utility printer. > > When printed on photo paper, the colors look as they should. But when > printed on plain paper or card stock, the colors look very faded. The > red looks super dull and so does black and everything else. > > I have tried everything - mixed and matched all the settings and it's > not working. With pastel colors, I have had to adjust the colors of the > document to be super bright. Then it prints as I wanted in the first > place -- a light pastel. But if I can never get the printer to > accurately capture the color of the document. The colors look worse than > on my cheap canon inkjet I got for free. > > Any ideas? I choose "plain paper" and have chose best quality as well > as normal... and same problem. The colors look muted, almost faded. > > It could be your paper. More on that later. Try not accepting the defaults. I usually go into the advanced settings and turn the brightness down to about -10 I also use only the Fine or Photo setting. Try the Epson Vivid setting with Gamma 2.2 vs 1.8 and see which you prefer. Once you get something that looks good, save it as the default for Plain Paper. I use the HP Brite White 500 pack even for utility printing. For anything beyond that, I use the HP Premium Brite White. I had a box of the Epson Bright White, but havent opened it yet. It may be as good as the HP, but I've had very good luck with the HP papers on Canons, Epsons. It does like a bit of darkness added to my old eyeballs.
From: Patty on 8 Mar 2010 15:01 On Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:47:27 -0500, me wrote: > On Sat, 9 Jan 2010 11:59:13 -0500, Patty <patty(a)iainttellin.com> > wrote: > >>I'm currently looking for a photo printer to make decent photo prints. At >>this time, I plan to put the prints in frames under glass. >> >>I'm currently looking at the Epson 1400, which is on sale this week for >>$199.00 and sounds like a very good price. >> >>My second choice is an Epson R1900 at a bit higher price, approx. $399.00. >> >>I'm just wondering if the additional clost of the R1900 is worth it for >>making prints. I'm not a professional photographer, but I am a serious >>amateur. I'm using a Nikon D90 for taking photographs and PhotoShop >>Elements (considering upgrading to regular PhotoShop) for editing. >> >>I'd really just like to hear opinions and thoughts on both these printers >>before I decide which way to go. Thanks so much. >> > > It depends what you want. The 1400 I beleive uses dye based inks. The > 1900 uses a higher gamut set of pigment based inks like my older R800. > What is your workflow, ie what color space do you shoot, process, edit > and finally print in? Do you use or intend to use a color managed > process? If you work in sRGB space you will give up one of the > advantages of the Ultrachrome pigmented iks used in the 1900, their > wider gamut. I'm the OP and I've recently come into some money (don't we all love that?) and I've decided go go with an Epson 2880 which currently has a $200 rebate until March 31st. I've gone back and forth with printers, nearly bought the 1400 a couple times, but for some reason, just couldn't make that decision, perhaps because somewhere deep inside I knew that wasn't the printer I should get? I think that, at this point in time, I want to get something I'm going to be happy with, and the 2880 seems to fit that bill, rather than settle for second best and not be as happy. I think that an Epson 2880 is the closest I'm going to get to professional without dropping the $1200 for a 3880, which really might be much more than I really need at this time. Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I am very appreciative of all the comments everyone made. It really helped me to decide what direction I needed to go in. Patty
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