DIY Printing

Will I get better quality prints done at home on a printer compared to processing done at Jessops, Boots etc.
I was thinking of getting a Canon IP4700 Printer. Has anyone on the forum tried the HP 500 series printers, namely the A532.

Regards

Chris

To be honest, I don't need professional quality prints as they will never be sold, or even hung on the wall at home. But, I use Tescos if I need a good quality print and I've been happy with the results so far.

Yes if you get a good printer. but it will cost.

I have MP810 and the prints are excellent. 5 inks required and expensive when they all go at once i.e. £60+ for canon. Would buy canon again if the quality was as good/better than MP810. A4 is as good as Epson 4800 at local college.

(I've used tesco but the colous were a bit vivid and unreal)

Doug

I get large posters printed at Tesco & find them very good. cannot really comment on small photos as I rarely need smaller than 20 x 16

Try something like a HP9180 with 8 cartridges or HP Z3200 with 12 LARGE cartridges.

It is a lot cheaper to have your prints done commercially than doing them at home. BUT, printing your pics yourself has some advantages. You can print some custom sizes a lab won't do, you can have them right away if you need them fast, and you can control every steps of the process.

One thing mentioned about cartridge prices..I've recently discovered Continuous Ink Supply Systems ( CISS ).

Looking at getting one for my new Epson. The initial outlay is about £40,but that includes 100ml of ink. Ongoing running costs claim to be equivalent to about 50p per cartridge.
Even including the initial outlay, it claims the running caosts equate to 84p per cartridge.

Fotospeed have about the best CISS, I've used one on an Epson R300 for around 3 years with no real problems, I also had it profiled by them and that made a big difference.

Unfortunately, my R300 died recently and I bought an Epson PX700W "all in one" photo printer as a replacement for it and an older Epson "all in one" that also threw it's legs into the air. The bad news was that I cannot use a CISS with the new printer as you cannot get access to the ink tanks with the lid closed, I suspect that this was deliberate by Epson!

As I don't print many shots these days, so my ink usage has diminished dramatically, but I still do a few occasionally. I now use a local or on line photo lab for family prints and for quality or large prints I use DS Colour Labs (DSCL) as recommended by some fellow forum members.

I use a CISS And they are great last for sooooooooo Longgggggggg
FT But One word of warning They do tend to lay down a lot of ink and if you don't use every day or two you will need to clean the nozzle before you print so I would be good if your new printer has a catch tank that can be move and cleaned also make sure the CISS is compatible with the printer (epson have the habit of changing their printing chip often, so ring up the CISS supplier first and ask)

James

I've had my CISS for three years and had no problem's yet but I bought it as a package from Ink express (printer and CISS together (£84.00)

Hmmm..I'm looking at a CISS which claims to be for my printer, which is also an "All-in-one". I asked the question about ink lines as the scanner closes down over the print heads and has a slight overlap down the sides. The CISS company say this is ok as the tubes are only 3mm dia. and will fit.

This is the printer
http://www.epson.co.uk/Printers-and-All-In-Ones/Inkjet/Epson-Stylus-DX9400F

and this is the CISS
http://continuous-ink-system.co.uk/DX9400F_Ciss-continuous_ink_flow_system_for_E...

Any advice or tips on these would be gratefully received.

Hmmm, not too sure. My PX700W is similar in construction and there is definitely no room for the feed pipes. But if they guarantee it will work, then allright!

By the way, the DX9400F is not classified by Epson as a Photoprinter as it only uses 4 inks, the 6 ink and above printers are classified as Photoprinters. It will certainly produce reasonable prints, but not anywhere as good a 6+ ink machine.

It was bought mainly for my daughter's homework, photos will just be for scrap books etc.
The "real" photos will be done via Tescos..or similar.

Having said that, I tried a couple of test prints and they have come out reasonable