Buying a reliable photo printer

[Gerald McClaren]

I would like to get into photo restoration and is shopping for a photo printer. I had narrowed my selection to two photo printers. The printers are the Epson Stylus R800 and the Canon ip8500. I don't know which one to buy because both had great reviews and their ratings were very high. Can someone please give me some first hand information if they have any of these printers. i.e quality of printed photo, ink, print head reliability etc.

Gerald McClaren

[Nanls]

Don't forget to check the price of consumables for each printer. I have had Epson printers for years and had a number of Epson Stylus models (not the one you posted) and have always been happy with their output.

[Vikki]

I have, and highly recommend the R800. The prints are stunning, but most of all they are water and fade resistance, and, when used with Epson ink and paper, have remarkable archival quality (most important when printing for customers). The prints from this printer are better than any lab I've ever used.

Check out the Epson R1800, it's pretty much the same as the R800, but will print large, portrait sizes.