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View Full Version : Commercial photo printer advice

Cygnus Studios
Aug-07-2008, 12:10 PM
I am seeking some advice on a commercial printer. I sell quite a lot of "coin/currency" photos and have used an offsite printer for large prints. I am weighing the pros - cons of doing the printing myself.
Most common size is 13x19 prints with a few larger. I have attempted searching online for printers, but have yet to find a good site that suits my needs.
I would like the keep the budget in the $4000 to $7000 range. All suggestions would be welcomed.
Art Scott
Aug-07-2008, 12:45 PM
What is the largest size you sell? Epson has very good quality and reasonable prices on printers......Most of the pros I personally know that do their own printing use Epson......the other few use HP and the rest have a Pro Lab do ALL their printing.
Cygnus Studios
Aug-07-2008, 01:20 PM
20x30 has been the largest, but these are few and far between. For poster size, I would not mind asking the clients to wait. I would like to offer my clients the ability to pick up the standard sizes on site. Something up to 16x20 would be perfect.
Sam
Aug-07-2008, 03:18 PM
20x30 has been the largest, but these are few and far between. For poster size, I would not mind asking the clients to wait. I would like to offer my clients the ability to pick up the standard sizes on site. Something up to 16x20 would be perfect.

There are a lot of excellent 17" roll / sheet fed archival printer options available for way under your budget.

I would look at the type of paper you plan on using. If you prefer a semi gloss or gloss, the new HP's have a gloss optimizer that seems to work very well. If you like a fine art, matt type paper you will get great results from ether the Epson, or Canon offerings.

Sam
Sweeper
Jan-18-2009, 06:30 PM
I realize that this is an old thread but, Epson has incorporated the "gloss optimizer" for some time now. I run both an R-800 as well as an R-1800. Nothing but praise for Epson. Before that it was Canon and prior again, HP.

13x19 is very standard (or at least rapidly becoming a contender) so I am wondering why there is not more 13x19 printing available. And more importantly, why is SmugMug not exploiting this size as an available option.
At least, the last time I checked, they were not.

...Steve