Printer recommendations for event work?

Scott_Quier · November 19, 2008

It looks like I'm going to need a photo printer for printing at events (office parties, that sort of thing).

Working scenario is something along the lines of a portable studio (I have all that, aside from a decnt backdrop). Party goes stop by during evening looking for a portrait in all their finery, pay for the print of a certain size. Sometime later before the end of the evening they stop back by for their print.

Requirements:

Print 4x6, 5x7 ... up to 8x10
Decent print quality - obviously doesn't need to be lab quality but should be pretty good
Decent speed would be nice, but not as important - I envision being able to batch the prints
There should be a series of ICC profiles available for various papers - need to manage color from shot to print
Interface very well with WinXP - don't need problems on-site
I'm sure there are other things I need to think about but nothing comes to mind - so, if you see something I'm missing don't keep it to yourself!:D

Any recommendations? I'll, obviously, be doing additional research - just looking for some starting points.

TIA

LiquidAir · November 19, 2008

How many prints are you expecting to make? 13" and smaller printers have small ink cartridges which means the per print cost for ink is relatively high. As an example, I have an Epson 3800 17" printer which uses 80ml ink cartridges and the ink cost is about half of what you pay for the 15ml cartidges for the Epson 13" printers.

When I was looking at printers about 6 months ago I decided that the HP B9180 was probably the best of the 13" printers because it self-calibrates for better consistancy. In the end I went with the 17" Epson 3800 for the lower ink cost and I got a X-rite spectrophotometer for calibration and profiling.

On calibration and profiling:

Calibration is a process which brings a printer to a factory reference state and is important for consistancy. In particular it will give you better peformance from stock paper profiles because in principle your printer should behave the same as the one that was used to generate the profile. Calibrating is not the same as profiling, but profiling works better if you calibrate first.

The HP B9180 can calibrate itself, but if you want to create your own profiles you need a spectrophotometer.

Epson supplies calibration software for the 3800 but you have to buy an X-rite spectrophotometer to use it. Once you have the spectrophotometer, you can also generate profiles. This was my choice, but it is decidedly more expensive.

swintonphoto · November 19, 2008

I'd get this if I had the money - something I have considered. I have a smaller dye sublimation printer, and it is lightning fast and makes durable prints that look really nice. While I prefer ink jets when I have more time, Dye sublimation printers are really fast, and usually require less color & contrast adjustments than inkjets - perfect for event printing:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/385925-REG/Kodak_8939175_Professional_9810_Digital_Photo.html

Scott_Quier · November 19, 2008

swintonphoto wrote:

I'd get this if I had the money - something I have considered. I have a smaller dye sublimation printer, and it is lightning fast and makes durable prints that look really nice. While I prefer ink jets when I have more time, Dye sublimation printers are really fast, and usually require less color & contrast adjustments than inkjets - perfect for event printing:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/385925-REG/Kodak_8939175_Professional_9810_Digital_Photo.html

Ummm .... me to .... If I had the money, but $2,300 is little outside the budget. In all probability, this is going to be a one-off.

Tee Why · November 19, 2008

How about a Canon ip4500?
It's relatively cheap at about $130, prints upto 8.5x11 inch photo quality prints, it's very fast and if you use it with Canon's DPP which has all the color profiles and such built in to their installer if you use a Canon paper. You can also print from the puter or just plug the camera into it and print as well. It's even pretty frugal with inks as well.

I had the Epson RX 580 (IIRC) and switched to this one and am happier with it.

Miguel Delinquento · November 19, 2008

Epson R1900 or R800
Scott,
I would recommend either an Epson R1900 which can do up to 13x19-in or an older Epson R800 which can do 8.5x11-in and is less expensive. These models print glossy photos exceptionally well. Just about all major paper manufacturers have profiles that will work. The ink carts can be on the small side, but they are available widely. I believe that you can get third party inks for the R800 (and the R1800 which the R1900 replaced). The inks should be archival enough too. I have owned an R1800 for half a year and have had zero problems.

I have had fading problems with Canon dye inks, but that was a few years ago and maybe things have changed.The only limitation is that both Epsons don't do B&W as well as say an HP that has dedicated grey ink carts.

M

Printer recommendations for event work?

Comments