Thread: Today I bought an A3 printer

Originally Posted by dmdigital

I did the sums and with paper stocks and ink supplies it was cheaper to get photos printed by a lab.

That said if you need a printer a bargain is always good.

Derek, I agree with you on the economics but how do you get a lab print to turn out the way you visualise the end product? My tries so far have been disappointing. So much so I'm planning to do what Dullbird has done too so I can "tune" the printed product.

It's pretty normal to have the paper go wavy when using plain (thin) paper and with full page photo's. Try a bit of decent weight Canon paper and see how it goes.

One thing I found is that it's a lot easier to get good results using Canon paper with a Canon printer, HP paper with a HP printer and so on. The printer driver matches the chosen paper to its known 'calibration' for an optimal result.

It must be printer replacement time, I've just bought a HP Officejet Pro X551 dw high speed inkjet to replace the laser, up to 70 ppm according to the blurb.
It's been a major frustration to find a printer that prints good photos and crisp text on quality plain/presentation paper.

Kaye writes a journal of our trips which is probably 30% photos with the rest text. The laser does the text well but photos are a bit ordinary where as with the inkjet it's the other way round and slow. Each journal is approx. 200-300 pages (double sided).

The cost per page with the inkjet should be a lot cheaper too. I don't expect the HP text to be as good as the laser but hopefully will be 'good enough' with the photos much better.

Horses for courses.

Best of luck with the new printer, you might have got a bargain there. I was drooling over a new Canon photo printer yesterday whilst looking at the printer market, it had 12 ink cartridges .

Deano

Hope you get some real enjoyment from printing your own images. Let's not forget it's all part of the process & can be very satisfying to see your image printed from your own input. ( can also be very frustrating )

Should you start to use " nice " paper of which there are many , Ilford , Canson , etc etc. Try downloading the papers ICC print profile from there web site, it can really help with some fine tuning.

Just a thought.

Best regards Chris.

Yeah I was reading that last night Chris.

Have to say even though I had a slight wave in the paper and a two small marks. I was happy with what I got and it was great to hold it in my hands and examine it closely.

It was great to look at the finer detail in the photo printed as they were Macro shots.

I really think all its going to do in the end is enhance my photography.

I'm sure I'm going to go through the frustrations of things not printing the way I want but those experiences are only going to help round me better as a photographer I reckon.

Yes mate I think your right about the printing process helping with your photography. It's one more step to that final image that gets you thinking about the whole pathway, composition, colour & or tone effects to the whole or each other. Print size & format ( got a thing for square format at the moment ) I blame Mr Bruce Percy. Even down to the Mat & framing you may choose.

The different paper textures also make a dramatic difference to the overall "feel"
Of an image form high contrast & sharpness to softer almost impressionist feel.

It's worth trying some sample packs of papers to get a " try before " you buy so to speak.

Any who, all good fun for the whole family, well more for you really.

Enjoy!

Regards Chris

Didn't realise you could get sample packs. I think I would like to try printing an image I have on display currently on to a textured paper. The image I created (for a small amateur exhibition) was done to look like an oil painting rather than a photo so I would be interested to see how I could get this printed up on A3

image.jpg
Screen shot from add just to show what's in the pack. Touch image to enlarge!

This might be worth a try, lots of paper options in 8 X 12 , cheap way to experiment befor printing large. Also handy because the different textures may require a little colour adjusting to get it just how you like it .

Regards Chris.