Printer, Paper, Pricing.....Advice?

[wheelhot]

Hello everyone,
Well I am currently thinking of investing into a photo printer. Now first of all, I never properly print my own photo and I have very little knowledge about photo printing.

Currently I am thinking of the Epson R1900, its ink seem cheap (compared to Epson better professional inks which goes around $50 per color) and overall seem to be a good printer. Anyone got thought bout this printer and got other recommendations? I don't know bout Canon or HP printers but it seems many photographers I met swears by Epson prints. And if any of you all got any other printer suggestion, do tell.

Alright, as for what I am planning to do with the printer, is well for 2 things, personal and business. Personally, I would like to print some of my work and future work, I guess those who say your photo deserve to be brought to a hard media instead of only a digital copy is true and business wise, randomly I will be asked to take photo of events and my friend who's in charge of the event, told me that some of the visitors that day asked if they may look at the photos taken (by me) and they loved it and wished to own some. So I figure, I can sell them the photo prints instead and make a few extra bucks on the process rather then selling just JPEG which I feel wont value much.

Anyone know how prints are charged?

 

[Artful Dodger]

Hope this helps with regards to price of prints for the large size(s). My friend sells his 13x19 for $75 and that doesn't include framing because everyone has different tastes and it also adds to the cost. Other sizes, I'm not sure about the prices because he mainly sells the large prints.
As far as printers, if you like what Epson offers then it's a great deal for you I just bought the Canon PRO9000MKII in August and for my needs it works great. Now I'm not sure but if I read correctly, the Epson might print up to 44" long depending upon the model, not sure but for some photos that would be cool.
Good luck and I'm sure you can't go wrong with the current models out there

 

[wheelhot]

wow, thanks jcpenn. That would be awesome, I wonder how long can the ink lasts They only do Epson?

Thanks, that definitely helpful Artful Dodger, and yea, I remember reading a web page and he says that it seems now many major print manufacturers finally got it right with the colors that he don't know how to compare printers anymore

 

[Artful Dodger]

Also since I forgot to mention this is check the manual before hand if possible simply because as with the Canon, the manual explains that it can print up to 14x22 or 24" when using the front feed. Paper can be as thick as 1.2mm and their one type of paper is about 93lbs and will lastly handle certain kinds of bristol board. Not sure how effective that would be for photos but for my art work it sure was nice to read that.
I also used 5x7 to get my colors to match my screen since ink and paper at any size larger than that will cost you so that size seemed just right to fine tune prints for me at least.
Different papers are hit or miss I've found but aside from the printers own brand I found Illford Pearl to be really nice and very good with cost per sheet on the larger sizes. Amazon seems to have good prices on the 13x19 stock and has been given some great feedback. I do remember some folks here praising the Illford brand so just something to think about.

I agree with other statements that the printers have come along way and are close to each other in quality. The one that did surprise me was the HP unit however that person also shoots using a D3 and all primes so I'm not sure where the balance is met (maybe someone can input here). The prints were very nice and he mostly prints all 13x19 unless it's a wedding of course. I do have an Epson R300 for printing on dvds and that printed those like a champ which is nice to hand out with a photo on it for folks to see.

Good luck and enjoy