Printer

[new-Mac-owner]

Hi, I am looking to get a Good Printer For my Grandfather as a birthday Present and I was Wondering What to get he has a Nikon D-80 He needs one that is Able to put the Sd card in without having to go into the computer that can produce go picture Quality other than Hp,Also he has the old Glass Slides I saw somewhere an adapter the you can print them also. Please let me know or Pm under 400.00 Would be Great but if its-good it has to be spent-Thanks

 

[Hmac]

I can't help you with a printer, but my observation has been, after many years of inkjet printers, that recurrently clogging jets and printer maintenance were so problematic for me that I gave up printing my own images. I now just upload the ones I like to Kodak and have them print them for me. I've found that when you consider cost of ink and paper, Kodak (or others) is generally cheaper-per-print, the quality is better, and not having to maintain and continually buy ink cartidges and expensive paper is a major plus. That frees me up to just use a good old fast, reliable, and maintenance-free color laser printer for my general printing needs. IMHO.

 

[OreoCookie]

I have an Olympus P-11, the quality is much better than with inkjets (you don't see any dots even with a loupe, because there are none!), colors are mixed directly. They have the same resolution as minilab prints.

You cannot use memory cards, but you can use pretty much any digital camera and print via the camera. However, the print quality will be lower than if you print via the computer (this is true quite generally for any solution).

 

[Hmac]

Per my post above...

With all photo printers you need to weigh the inital cost of the printer and the per print costs carefully, some of those cheap inkjet printers use very expensive color cartridges. The Olympus P-11 sells for ~$149 and the Print Packs come in 40- and 100-sheet sizes. If you buy the 100-count Print Packs ($30-35 online) then it costs ~ $.33 per 4x6" print. The 40-count cost is considerably higher at ~ $.50 per 4x6" print. You'll save money in the long run with the larger quantity even if you don't intend to use that much. The paper comes in two separately wrapped packages of 50 sheets each to help keep it fresh.

Dye sublimation printers were another option I considered - I have a friend who is a professional photographer and uses one a lot for rapid proofing. But...I can't pass the costs on like he can, and 4x6 prints from Kodak cost me less than $0.15 each, comnpared to the above-quoted $0.33 above for the typical dye-sub printer.

 

[OreoCookie]

Dye sublimation printers were another option I considered - I have a friend who is a professional photographer and uses one a lot for rapid proofing. But...I can't pass the costs on like he can, and 4x6 prints from Kodak cost me less than $0.15 each, comnpared to the above-quoted $0.33 above for the typical dye-sub printer.

Consider it a cheap alternative to Polaroids. That's what I do anyway. Most of the pictures these days either make it into a printed album or are sent around electronically.

 

[GoCubsGo]

How big does he want to print? There's the Epson Picture Mate, but you're limited in size. I haven't seen many decent printers since the Epson 925 (old) that take CF and SD cards. Technology and ink quality has come a long way, maybe printer companies found the inclusion of a card reader to be silly. I know I wouldn't want to print straight from camera.

 

[Hmac]

Consider it a cheap alternative to Polaroids. That's what I do anyway. Most of the pictures these days either make it into a printed album or are sent around electronically.

True. And I confess that for the most part, the prints I have made are done so for framing, not keeping in a scrapbook or loose in a drawer. As a result, most of my prints are 5x7 or 8x10 for framing, or photo montage, or printed photo albums. Anything that I might print at 4x6, I just put up on my photo storage account and share them that way.

 

[Batt]

Kodak 5300 all-in-one. Good prints, cheap ink, cheap price ($99.00), built-in card reader.

 

[OreoCookie]

As a result, most of my prints are 5x7 or 8x10 for framing, or photo montage, or printed photo albums. Anything that I might print at 4x6, I just put up on my photo storage account and share them that way.

You're right, most of my prints are large and I go to my favorite photo shop for that. But for quick pix for grandma, it's a great solution.