Shopping For An Inkjet Printer

[rrose070]

We need one for about 300 full-size glossy photos. The printer, naturally is not the hugest cost consideration - but I know the ink can be crazy expensive. Does anyone have opinions about which is best in terms of not bleeding your pocketbook from ink? Oh and we'll be selling it after this project, if anyone's interested.

[thaitot]

Not sure but it sounds like a job for a kinkos style place or a printer down the street.

Unless they are well you know.

Pictures of your neighbor.

[rrose070]

No, school "picture day" at a hilltribe village, we want to provide each kid with 1 sheet of wallets to cut up and share, 1 nice-sized photo to frame for their parents, and 1 nice-sized group photo of the whole school (about 100 kids) and also extras for the administrators and teachers. But that does beg the question of cost of kinko's-style place versus cost of purchasing the materials. I hate to put it out there - probably noone will reply- but any opinions are, as always, welcome!

[Greenside]

Not sure but it sounds like a job for a kinkos style place or a printer down the street.

Unless they are well you know.

Pictures of your neighbor.

Depends on what you mean by full size too. I'd take them to a lab every time - more consistant quality and far less hassle and (assuming you want good quality results that will last) by the time you've got printer, paper and ink probably cheaper too. You can get prices from Photo Bug* or Digital Photo, both on the third floor of Airport Plaza and either able to produce good results, given the right files.

*Photo Bug's printing branch is on the outside of the moat near Thapae Gate.

Edited December 16, 2007 by Greenside

[FolkGuitar]

We need one for about 300 full-size glossy photos. The printer, naturally is not the hugest cost consideration - but I know the ink can be crazy expensive. Does anyone have opinions about which is best in terms of not bleeding your pocketbook from ink? Oh and we'll be selling it after this project, if anyone's interested.

I don't think 'ink' will be your biggest cost. That would be paper. Unless you use the correct matching paper for your printer, and the correct ink, you won't get the skin color tones to come out correctly. Carpets and curtains have to match!

This assumes that you have calibrated your monitor and set a printer profile that your computer can follow. Without this, and without using the proper paper/ink/printer combination, you will go through a dozen sheets of paper just getting the colors 'about right.' Please do remember that when dealing with photos of darker skinned people, it's important to have the exact skin tones or people will not be pleased that they came out looking purple or green. VERY difficult to get the skin tones right without a lot of experience combined with the correct materials.

Once calibrated, you CAN get much better results from home printing, and I always do my own. But unless you really know what you are doing, you are better off having a photo lab such as "PhotoBug" do your printing for you. Trust me on this one; the reduction of frustration alone will be worth it!!

I do recommend that you include a 'gray card' (18% midtone) in the bottom corner of each photo, (some place that can be cropped out of the final photo,) so the lab can get the exact skin tone for each different person. You can get these gray cards at any good photo store. Of course there is only one 'good' photo store in Chiang Mai....

If you chose to do it yourself, adding that gray card will be a life saver. Just open the photo in PhotoShop, click on 'Image/Adjustments/Curves and select the middle 'eye dropper' at the bottom of the menu. Then just click it on the gray card and all the colors will self adjust. Three seconds and the color correction is done! Another two hours and you might be able to get a decent print!

Edited December 17, 2007 by FolkGuitar

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Chi Chang

[Tywais]

I don't think 'ink' will be your biggest cost. That would be paper. Unless you use the correct matching paper for your printer, and the correct ink, you won't get the skin color tones to come out correctly. Carpets and curtains have to match!

Excellent details FolkGuitar and spot on.

[FolkGuitar]

I don't think 'ink' will be your biggest cost. That would be paper. Unless you use the correct matching paper for your printer, and the correct ink, you won't get the skin color tones to come out correctly. Carpets and curtains have to match!

Excellent details FolkGuitar and spot on.

Thank que... That's why dey pays me de big bucks! (If only they would!)

Let me add to this a bit; while most folks think that they will save money using bulk ink tanks, unless you are using HP printers you run the risk of clogging your print head unless you use top quality inks. (HP printer cartridges each have a new print head, so if it gets gunked up all you need to do is change the cartridge. For Cannon or Epson, you need to send the printer in to be repaired.

It takes these top quality inks to give proper color rendition, as well. For the average snap shot this will not be an issue. For good quality prints it will. It all depends upon the level of quality 'you' require. For me, I stick with Epson cartridges, two Epson printers, and Epson Photo Glossy paper for any important prints. Ones that aren't so important regarding chroma and I'll use a I-J paper from Japan or Hi-Jet Fantasy Paper. The colors are waaaaaaay off with the latter and just a bit off with the former.