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Printing recommendation?

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FunPhotons:
What online printers do you recommend? I'm picky about colors, who calibrates their system?


If you have any recommendations for purchasing a printer I'd like to hear that too, as I wouldn't mind being able to do my own prints too (even if it is more expensive)

YellowJersey:
I must confess that I'm not terribly knowledgeable when it comes to printers and profiles. I also find trying to figure it all out myself to be difficult and frustrating. This being the case, I tend to use the following method when making prints:

Step 1) Edit the photo on your comp so that you get the result on screen that you'd like to see in print (using a calibrated monitor, of course)

Step 2) Get a small print of the edited image from Step 1 made

Step 3) Compare the print to the on-screen image and determine what needs to be done. For example, if the print's colours are too cold, then warm them up a bit.

Step 4) Get another small print of the edited image from Step 3 made

Step 5) Repeat as necessary until desired print result is reached.

Obviously, if you know your printers and profiles then you'll be able to predict your print results without having to use such a trial-and-error riddled method. So take my method as a tentative recommendation as there are better methods out there.

Jettatore:
That's actually a fairly reasonable method Yellow, and with reasonably high-end monitor/printer and calibration you shouldn't have to go back and forth that often.  If you have the cash there are monitors out there that will alter the whites displayed on screen so that they look more like/match the paper profile you are printing to, rather than appearing so much like illuminated pixels, they also cost an absolute small fortune.

To the OP.  If you want something for small prints or just something cheap to test your colors or a crop of your image at full size, Canon's SELPHY line is both cheap and of fairly high quality.  You might want to read reviews because other vendors sell similar products that might be as good or better, I don't know because I was given a SELPHY and never considered it for purchase first, but the results it's capable of are quite, quite good and I have an older one.  For bigger printers, I don't know the current market at all and cannot help you, good luck though.

TrumpetPower!:
In all honesty, I'd suggest a cheap printer with refill-friendly cartridges, plus a spectrophotometer. The ColorMunki is getting rave reviews, and the i1 Pro (either original or the new pro version) is the gold standard in the graphic arts industry (but really just entry-level in the world of spectrophotometry). If you go with either, for the best quality results, ditch the software that comes with the spectrophotometer and use Argyll CMS (assuming you're not afraid of the command line).

For desktop printers, the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 has a lot going for it, especially if you go with Lyson Cave Paint pigment inks. Cheap, large format (for certain small definitions of "large"), good quality, refill-friendly. I've got one as my small one-off / ream-feed printer. My real printer is an iPF8100...fantastic machine, but hardly what you're looking for.

Cheers,

b&

awinphoto:
Bay photo all the way. I got my monitor calibrated, use their economy version, never had any problems printing commercially and personally. Great prices and quality.

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