High Quality Photo Printing at Home

[Oat Willy]

[This thread contains messages originally posted in the "Evelyn Lin" thread. They have been copied here for convenience and to provide context to the discussion. Please feel free to continue the conversation about high quality photo printing at home here -- Snowman]

Hey Evelyn, question - I noticed on your site that you are offering signed prints of any of the images in your photosets of the members choice. Are these prints made directly from the original large digital files, and, are they inkjet prints, or lab produced? Are they on high-end photographic paper, or home use Epson paper?

[HypoLuxa-HermesPan]

Originally Posted by Oat Willy Hey Evelyn, question - I noticed on your site that you are offering signed prints of any of the images in your photosets of the members choice. Are these prints made directly from the original large digital files, and, are they inkjet prints, or lab produced? Are they on high-end photographic paper, or home use Epson paper?

I think there's a middle ground you're missing here. Epson makes very high-end, consumer affordable lab quality printers that print on very high-end Epson paper. So you can have this setup at home for prints that are as good or some cases better, than lab prints. The Espon R2400 for example is under $1000 and it uses 5-star Epson paper with archival qualities.

[Oat Willy]

That may be true, but i hate inkjet prints, just a personal preference

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Oat Willy That may be true, but i hate inkjet prints, just a personal preference

Oat, I think Hypo is right on this point. In fact, I think there are many photo inkjet printers and some inexpensive dye-sublimitation printers that you would be hard pressed to tell between something printed at the lab and something at home these days. The quality is quite remarkable.

[HypoLuxa-HermesPan]

Originally Posted by Snowman Oat, I think Hypo is right on this point. In fact, I think there are many photo inkjet printers and some inexpensive dye-sublimitation printers that you would be hard pressed to tell between something printed at the lab and something at home these days. The quality is quite remarkable.

Oat Willy, you can't think of it in terms of what you're used to seeing in ink-jets. For all purposes, it is lab-quality (and better in most cases now than traditional photo-process prints). If you go to photo-labs, THIS is what give you. They just have larger sizes that cost more, but the 13"x19" printers are consumer-targeted at around $1000 and they use the same paper and inks as the labs. So, while it's an ink-jet technically, it's BETTER than traditional photos. In fact, this is the process that will eventually replace traditional photos.

[vagueries]

Originally Posted by HypoLuxa-HermesPan In fact, this is the process that will eventually replace traditional photos.

kinda off-topic, but i want more info. got informational links on this? academic curiosity

[HypoLuxa-HermesPan]

Originally Posted by vagueries kinda off-topic, but i want more info. got informational links on this? academic curiosity

Just real world experience as I have one in-house and when I go out to a lab, they have a larger one. As for quality, it is tops, and I mean tops--better than the old method. You can't think of them as ink-jet prints anymore.

As far as informational links, I'm sure you could go to Epson.com or Google it, or go to B&H Video's site and look at the customer reviews.

Epson R2400 and R3600
Epson 5-star papers (Ultra Premium Photo Paper-Luster, Velvet Fine Art Paper, Ultra Premium Presentation Paper-Enhanced Matte)
Inks and paper are 200 year archival quality
Printer uses 9 inks (swappable Photo Black vs. Matte Black depending on paper use)
Cost to print a full color 13x19 print full bleed? About $3 to $4 each (so you know if it COSTS YOU that much to print it yourself, it HAS to be exceptional).

Evelyn, sorry to hijack your thread. Perhaps this should be in the Tech Talk threads.

[HypoLuxa-HermesPan]

Snowman, I noticed the R2400 link didn't work. Here is a link you may want to modify with your referral code:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...ix=epson+r2400

It also looks as if I should have referenced the R3800 in the threads (instead of 3600--wrong number).