Hey, I'm a new member but have browsed the board for a couple of weeks. I just wanted to know what types of printers do you use to print photo's, and how do you like them?

I use an Epson 1270. And I'd marry it if it was legal :)

Is that the new 6 color one?? Looks pretty good, Do you use it to make profesional prints for customers?

An 1160. Our divorce has just come through.

The 1270 was one of the first 6-color versions. There are a couple of new generations now. I do use it to make images for customers. They are universally delighted.

thanks, becuase I am just starting with photo editing, im going to make family prints so I want the quality to be the best, but also as i get good start doing photo retouching for other people, now im mostly into online backend programing and photoshop looks like fun.

I am not going to marry my 1270, but I am going to buy it some MIS quadtone VM inks and try it out with the Paul Roark curves.

I did kiss it when I unwrapped it this Christmas (bought it reconditioned from www.amatteroffax.com for $238). I put that info in there for some who might be interested.

Sharon

Sam,

Why the divorce? Have you had problems with the 1160?
I thought about getting one to use with the Cone piezography.

Sharon

Originally posted by greg
...photoshop looks like fun.

Listen. Run while there is still time! Save yourself before it's too late!

kidding. :D Photoshop IS fun, although it might make you pull your hair out from time to time!

Thats a pretty good price, I think im goign ot lean towards that printer too, just wnated to make sure it was good enough for professional photos. What do you think about the lexmark z series?

Greg, if you cruise the Adobe boards, you'll see that most of the people there use Epson's. And frankly, I used their experience to make my decision. I don't know anything about the Lexmark, they may be great. My personal decision was based on what people (like Doug) who have a lot more experience than me choose.

I am sure there are some great non-Epson printers out there. I just don't have the money to experiment. ie. I went with the herd. moooo

My refurbished 1270 looked brand new when I got it. I couldn't find any evidence it had been used. I checked the company out at www.resellerratings.com

I subscribe to the epson-leben inkjet group and have learned a lot there.

I'll shutup now.

Sharon

Just wondering, how much did you pay for your used 1270?

Hi Greg,

It was $238, plus a very reasonable shipping fee. The funny thing was, I found that you can get different prices from the same site using different search engines. I was using mysimon.com I think when I found this price.

I don't know if this was used or not. It certainly doesn't show any wear.

One hint though. I wish I had read more about this before. You don't need the paper holder to make large prints off a roll. I bought a roll of photo paper and a paper holder. The directions said to cut the paper so I didn't need the holder.

Sharon

Sharon - I was being facetious - the 1160 is in fact a perfectly decent printer, ESPECIALLY (I've heard) when used with the Cone piezography system. WHICH I can't get in Zimbabwe, nor can I get ordinary Epson cartridges without remortgaging the house. Hence my problems, but you being in US should get along just fine with the 1160 - good luck!!

Sam

Okay, sometimes I want to divorce various parts of my computer too. Sometimes I want to....well, I better not say, it's running pretty good now. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something intrinsic to that printer. :)

Thanks Sam,

Sharon

I am using the 1270's little brother, the 870, since (1) I am a cheapskate and found one *new* for $94, and (2) I am not a pro and have little need to produce anything bigger than 8x10, and if I do I can always send it to a bureau. I couldn't justify the extra cost for another 3".

The 870/1270 are more or less the gold standard for photo inkjets. For about 3x the money you might be able to find an entry-level dye sub printer, similar to the ones you find at the Kodak kiosks. Hard to beat the initial cost for the Epsons, though, and I have not found the expendibles to be all that expensive---a box of heavyweight matte paper, 50 letter-size sheets, runs about $10 by mail-order, and color cartridges are about $18. I can print four 4x6 photos on a sheet of heavyweight matte if I crop or scale them just a little, and that brings my per-image cost down to way under what even a drugstore reprint would cost.

Now, getting it set up perfectly has proven to be a chore for many. I find that color works quite well, to my eye anyway, but that black-and-white is often not quite up to par. Getting scanner calibrated to monitor calibrated to printer is always frustrating and rarely 100% successful, but the therbligs can be kept to a minimum with some experimentation.

H/P deskjet 952c
prints look wonderful/great color/sips ink/problem with h/p photo quality paper smudging if wet...if I take a q tip and smudge a corner...it will smudge. With Thomasgeorges suggestion of only using matte heavy weight paper this isn't a problem anymore....I am going to get an epson though!

Originally posted by kaulike
I am using the 1270's little brother, the 870, since (1) I am a cheapskate and found one *new* for $94, and (2) I am not a pro and have little need to produce anything bigger than 8x10, and if I do I can always send it to a bureau. I couldn't justify the extra cost for another 3".

The 870/1270 are more or less the gold standard for photo inkjets. For about 3x the money you might be able to find an entry-level dye sub printer, similar to the ones you find at the Kodak kiosks. Hard to beat the initial cost for the Epsons, though, and I have not found the expendibles to be all that expensive---a box of heavyweight matte paper, 50 letter-size sheets, runs about $10 by mail-order, and color cartridges are about $18. I can print four 4x6 photos on a sheet of heavyweight matte if I crop or scale them just a little, and that brings my per-image cost down to way under what even a drugstore reprint would cost.

Now, getting it set up perfectly has proven to be a chore for many. I find that color works quite well, to my eye anyway, but that black-and-white is often not quite up to par. Getting scanner calibrated to monitor calibrated to printer is always frustrating and rarely 100% successful, but the therbligs can be kept to a minimum with some experimentation.

Is the 870 the same exact quality (6 colors) just 3 inches less?

It's more than 3". The 1270/80/90 print up to 13"X44". But if you don't need or want the larger size, then, yes they are the same. (As far as I know)

Sharon

I guess no one likes the 2000P. Am I the only person who has one.

Anthony, I think DJ has one of the 2000s....the only thing standing the way of my getting one is that my 1270 keeps plugging along and doing excellent prints. There were some problems with metamerism regarding the 2000 but I suspect alot of that was just user unfamiliarity with the unit and perhaps not taking enough time to properly profile it etc.. The longevity of the prints it produces is well worth the cost of the unit, in my opinion, and if Epson would just add refillable tanks to it and dump the cartridges, I would probably get one now, even if my other printer is still functioning..Tom

thanks for your reply Tom. I was begining to think I purchased a lemon.

The 2000 is no lemon, it just seems to have a rather steeper learning curve than Epson is willing to admit to. It took me over $100.00 worth of ink and paper plus 2 days of "fiddling" to get the results I wanted from my 1270, but it was worth it. To me, anyway, it seems most hardware manufacturers tend to down play the fact that every device has a learning curve attached to it, and as a consiquence folks tend to get discouraged when the device fails to perform as expected right out of the box as the makers literature all too frequently implies it will...cant even begin to count the times that has happened to me...dont get discouraged, just plan on spending a couple days and some dollars really "digging in" to the controls and getting a good feel for the printer and you will be amazed at the quality of prints that little honey will produce. Good luck, Tom

Does anyone have any experience printing on watercolor paper with the 1280? I know I have read that it can, I'm just wondering if anyone has tried. I am thinking about geting a 1280 for the occasional retouch job, but I really want the larger size so I can make small versions of my art Giclee prints.

I have the 2000P. Absolutely wonderful....unlesss.....you want to do Black and White printing. I haven't had all the problems with metamerism that so many think plague this machine. I have never seen better prints from a computer. Also bought the ICC profiles from inkjet mall for this. You definitely need to calibrate your monitor to use this though. Very very happy, except consumables are rather expensive and the printer is very slow. But if you want quality, the wait is worth it....

Fosnocht
You might try this site (http://www.atlex.com/) for low cost Epson printer supplies. I use them and the product and service is very good. I have the 2000P too. I really don't see what they mean by poor quality black and whites but I do have troubles with metamerism especially in the Sepia tones. I do love the prints though and I haven't had any trouble with the machine at all.
DJ

I really appreciate everyones positive feedback on the Epson 2000P. I have not calibrated monitor though - this may be the cause of the some of my problems. Like skin tones that are too yellow or too red. Also, I have heard that the blacks are not true blacks. This is why I still have my 870 as a backup.

I'm still working on my list of new hardware for my business. I currently have an Epson C80 printer and am thinking of replacing it with a better photo printer - possibly an Epson 1280. I've seen prints from a 1280 and am impressed.

The 2000P is about twice the price. It is worth the additional expense?

I expect to be doing touchup work for scrapbookers, not museum quality stuff.

The C80 does a decent job, but I've tried printing on Epson high end paper with it and the results were disappointing. I don't think I can sell my service if the best I can do is low-end paper.

Any feed back would be greatly appreciated.

Margaret

Why not try for a 2nd hand 6-color Epson printer? I bought a 2nd hand 1200 for less than half its retail value, and it does everything that I need.

Good idea. You can get some excellent deals on refurbished models and still get a warranty with it. It's worth checking in to. We've done that before and did real well with it.
DJ