Pick the best printer: Epson R800, Canon ip8500 or HP8450

[ken2005]

What is the best printer for 8x10 color portraits? I'm only interested in skin tones and resolution. I'm not interested in speed, price, ink economy, black and white, poster prints, text, graphics, etc. :/

Thanks!

Ken

 

[Grandad35]

Ken,

Are you concerned about longevity? Professionals who sell their prints usually use Epson pigment based printers because they are rated to be much more fade resistant than dye based inks. HP fans will argue that their combination of dye based inks and special papers are almost as good. Canon appears to be looking at this market with their 9910 (only released in Japan at this time) with new inks.

From what I have read in various printer groups, Canon and HP seem to give best color "out of the box" using OEM inks and papers. Epson printers often seem to require some tweaking (and sometimes custom ICC profiles) to get the colors right.

As far as resolution goes, you will get fans for each brand saying that "mine is best". They all seem to be good, as long as you buy one of the higher end printers - don't expect an $80 printer to compete with a $500 printer. I suggest that you take a high quality image file (color managed aRGB) to a store that sells all 3 brands and have them print the same image with the recommended factory settings on each printer that you are considering. Let your eyes make the decision.

As you stated, the other big factors that usually influence this decision (price, operating cost, etc.) are not of interest to you.

 

[LinkinParkIM14]

This may not be helpful, but i am NOT a professional photographist and bought an Epson rx500. It's print head clogged after 4 months of casual use. Multiple head cleaning would not do the job, replacing catridges, everything. So we ended up with a no good printer which we paid almost 200 dollars for. In the end we bought a Canon MP780 (had it for a week now) but i've printed MANY more photos than i had on the other one, and it still hasn't clogged. I would choose Canon because they seem to be more reliable(from others experiance) and actually the best. HP is pretty good too, and since ink price isn't and issue for you, HP may be the way to go. All I want to say is that most likely, that R800 will clog very easily as my RX500 did, which you would not get ANY photis, good or not from it. Certified repair shops for EPSON printers in Houston are open only during my working hours, which is ridiculous. So to get the heads unclogged or whatever is wrong, is impossible for me to do, as it may be for you. I am a anti-EPSON person now. DON'T BUY A EPSON!!!

 

[Grandad35]

I read a few other printer forums that tend to be oriented more toward professional photographers, and the posts in those forums indicate that the clogging issues have been largely resolved in the latest Epson printers if you use OEM ink. My problem is that over 80% of the posts in those forums seem to be made by printer reps, so I don't know what to believe.

Are there any others with experience on the current generation of Epson printers?

 

[Kenyada]

Ken,
You may be interested in the June 28th issue of PC Magazine. There you'll find a head-to-head review of seven top photo printers including canon's i9900 and Pixma iP8500, which are favored, Pixma iP5000, HP Photosmart 8150,8450 and 8750; and Epson's R1800. Though there is not enough emphasis placed on skintones, it is an otherwise thorough comparison.

Kenyada

 

[ken2005]

I read the PC mag article, which is what got me confused to begin with. They gave the Canon the Editors Choice even though it scored lower than the HP for photos. That's all I'm interested in with a photo printer - photos - not speed, etc. I'm not really concerned with longevity, since I don't print that much and I have everything on disc for future printing if I ever need to reprint. I just want the best possible print for portraits, that's all. I'm not greedy. I don't want everything - I just want the best.

 

[Endmukbud]

One thing i suggested to you is.......................................
find a store which can give you a live true test print....
buy each " super highest expensive " glossy paper manufaturer
Bring a full calibrated colourproofing to the store...pay them for the test....
Then there you go. that's the result............choose the best....

the new HP 8750 have 9 ink catridge blue, cyan, light cyan, magenta, light magenta, yellow, black, 33% black, 66% black and PhotoRet Pro
i dunno bout the new canon

 

[ken2005]

Interesting theory, but...there's no way that's going to happen. First, I don't know any store around me with all three printers. Second, they'd never let me do the proper testing anyway. Third, I don't have the time.