If you was to spend $5k on a Photo printer what would you get?

[hyperasus]

I have a rich friend that is in to photography. He just got a high $ SLR camera and wants to buy a high end photo printer. He said he is willing to spend 5 to 6k on a good laser photo printer. Do such “laser photo printers” even exist. I always thought Ink Jet’s were higher res than Color Lasers printers. It has been awhile since I have looked in to any printers other then the typical $149 HP at the local BestBuy.

 

[juliendogg]

i don't belive color laser printers can match the quality of a good inkjet printer. I would recommend something like this...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16828102142

My sister was a professional photographer. I've never heard of using color laser printers for digital photography. It's generally considered a bad idea and a waste of money. I get awesome results from my canon ip5000. Excellent printer.

J.

 

[hyperasus]

Thats what I thought. I was looking at that very canon printer on newegg when you posted lol.

 

[laynlow]

He doesn't want laser, but he might want dye-sub.

 

[hyperasus]

What is dye-sub? Never heard of it.

 

[Vulcan]

Yeah, he should get a dye sublimation printer. You can get (better than) lab quality prints from a good dye sublimation printer.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question583.htm <--- check out this.

 

[hyperasus]

Thanks for the link. That looks very interesting and may be exactly what I am looking for. Can you recommend any companies that are well known for this type of printer?

 

[Vulcan]

Thanks for the link. That looks very interesting and may be exactly what I am looking for. Can you recommend any companies that are well known for this type of printer?

Olympus makes a consumer oriented dye sublimation printer which costs about 500.00. See here: http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_product_lobbypage.asp?l=1&bc=23&p=19&product=935

For a pro level priner I would check out Kodak. They run about 500.00-4000.00, http://www.kodak.com/global/en/prof...ub/thermalPrinters.jhtml?id=0.1.18.22.7&lc=en

 

[aeiou]

Dye sub used to be way better for high image quality, but nowadays inkjets are generally just as good and sometimes better. The only thing color lasers are good for as far as photos go is proofing. I shadowed a newspaper photographer a while back and they used a color laser for the meetings deciding what would go in the paper.

If I had $5000 to spend on a printer, I would get one of these:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...293&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

awesome printer. We used the smaller version of that printer in yearbook when I was in school. Amazing.

 

[laynlow]

If I were you, I would head to photo.net and start reading. If he is serious enough to drop that kind of coin on a printer, he will also want to learn about color management and work flow too.

 

[1cem4n]

God, I could make an awesome computer with 5k.... Laynlow, he should read up on those type of things as High End Cameras for professionals rarely have an auto focus function let alone anything else.

-1cem4n

 

[aeiou]

God, I could make an awesome computer with 5k.... Laynlow, he should read up on those type of things as High End Cameras for professionals rarely have an auto focus function let alone anything else.

-1cem4n

Huh? What are you talking about? It is rare, even for a profesional camera, to not have autofocus, unless you are talking about medium format or large format cameras. Even many medium format do have auto focus and they definately have many other electronics.

This is about the ultimate medium format camera-
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...280&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

and this about the ultimate 35mm style digital camera-
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...004&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

 

[millhouse]

hmm.. with 5k, i would pick up an expensive kodak printer, along with lets see, an X2, 7800Gt, 3ware raid card, etc... lol. Man, that sure is alot of money to spend on a printer... wow.

Anyways, from the recommendations so far, i like the ones that Vulcan listed. They look pretty nice.

 

[{PMS}fishy]

I have a rich friend that is in to photography. He just got a high $ SLR camera and wants to buy a high end photo printer. He said he is willing to spend 5 to 6k on a good laser photo printer. Do such “laser photo printers” even exist. I always thought Ink Jet’s were higher res than Color Lasers printers. It has been awhile since I have looked in to any printers other then the typical $149 HP at the local BestBuy.

How many prints and what size?

I have a Kodak ML500 ($16,000 DyeSub) and an Epson 4000 (InkJet $1750)

The Kodak does about 3 8x10s a min, and I use that for packages.

The Epson mainly for black and whites, as it has much better contast than the Kodak, but the durability just isn't there.

 

[koontz946]

hmm... 5-16k on a printer... whats your budget for paper and ink?

 

[hyperasus]

This guy spends more money on his cameras then most of us do on our car. He has been doing photography for many years he is just new to digital. I am thinking I will tell him to go with a good Ink Jet (probably the canon i9900) and that Olympus dye sub that costs $500. He can use them both and get a feel for the technology before he drops a boat load of cash on something high end. If he likes the dye sub but wishes its prints were higher quality then we can look in to a high end dye sub printer. What do you guys think? Is that a good plan or am I just wasting $500 an Olympus that will end up in the trash?

 

[koontz946]

i wouldnt lead him to base his view of dye-sub on a $500 printer... maybe advise him to use someone else's high-end dye-sub before buying his own... but the $500 would be like an intel guy trying to convince an AMD guy that a 2.0ghz proc with HT is an accurate assessment of the intel line, while disregarding the 860... ya kno?

 

[aeiou]

The inkjet should be fine on its own. dye sub used to be the desired technology, but now ink jet has gotten just about as good. The i9900 is a great printer.

 

[hyperasus]

while disregarding the 860... ya kno?

And where do i buy this 860 I want one LOL... just kidding. The problem he is going to have with Ink Jet is the speed. You can drive to the one hour photo and get the prints developed faster than some Ink Jets can do a photo print.

 

[{PMS}fishy]

This guy spends more money on his cameras then most of us do on our car. He has been doing photography for many years he is just new to digital. I am thinking I will tell him to go with a good Ink Jet (probably the canon i9900) and that Olympus dye sub that costs $500. He can use them both and get a feel for the technology before he drops a boat load of cash on something high end. If he likes the dye sub but wishes its prints were higher quality then we can look in to a high end dye sub printer. What do you guys think? Is that a good plan or am I just wasting $500 an Olympus that will end up in the trash?

If you want inkjet, get the Epson. I can't speak highly enough of it. it can handle 17" wide media and I think up to 3' long. I havn't tried. I have printed some 16x24 prints that came out sweet. You can get big ink cartridges for it too, and they last pretty long. Its very sharp, and can do a lot of stuff. Heck you can even print on canvas, which I tried, and is pretty neat.