New photo printer

I want to replace my old HP PhotoSmart 7150 with something smaller,
neater, a built-in scanner, and very importantly, better output.

The PhotoSmart's OK, but not brilliant.

The model I was considering was the Canon Pixma MP970, but I'm not
really up-to-date with printing.

Are the latest dye-based inks significantly better than they were five
years ago? Is it worth trying to find something that uses pigment-based
inks?

Is the number-of-ink-colours (7 in the MP970) a pointless bragging game
between manufacturers?

Thanks for any suggestions. I hope to get better and more consistent
prints from now on.

Daniele

D.M. Procida wrote:
I want to replace my old HP PhotoSmart 7150 with something smaller,
neater, a built-in scanner, and very importantly, better output.

The PhotoSmart's OK, but not brilliant.

The model I was considering was the Canon Pixma MP970, but I'm not
really up-to-date with printing.

That's an all-in-one, I think. Do you really need one? Maybe it
might be better to buy just a printer.

Are the latest dye-based inks significantly better than they were five
years ago?

I believe so.

Is it worth trying to find something that uses pigment-based inks?

Definitely. For permanent colour, pigment is still the only way to
go.

Is the number-of-ink-colours (7 in the MP970) a pointless bragging game
between manufacturers?

No: light cyan and light magenta certainly improve image quality, as
does grey. Some of the additional colours such as vivid magenta give
an expanded gamut. This won't matter for most photographs, but is
very useful if you really need to hit specific colours.

Andrew.

Andrew Haley wrote:

I want to replace my old HP PhotoSmart 7150 with something smaller,
neater, a built-in scanner, and very importantly, better output.

The PhotoSmart's OK, but not brilliant.

The model I was considering was the Canon Pixma MP970, but I'm not
really up-to-date with printing.

That's an all-in-one, I think. Do you really need one? Maybe it
might be better to buy just a printer.

The upgrade to Leopard broke the drivers for my ancient Canon scanner,
which I've now given away, so yes, I do need one.

Is it worth trying to find something that uses pigment-based inks?

Definitely. For permanent colour, pigment is still the only way to
go.

Is the number-of-ink-colours (7 in the MP970) a pointless bragging game
between manufacturers?

No: light cyan and light magenta certainly improve image quality, as
does grey. Some of the additional colours such as vivid magenta give
an expanded gamut. This won't matter for most photographs, but is
very useful if you really need to hit specific colours.

Thanks. Now to find which printers use pigment inks.

Daniele

D.M. Procida wrote:

Is it worth trying to find something that uses pigment-based inks?

Definitely. For permanent colour, pigment is still the only way to
go.

Thanks. Now to find which printers use pigment inks.

Answer: none, unless you go for a very expensive model aimed at the
professional market - I think I'll have to give that a miss.

Daniele

D.M. Procida wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:


Is it worth trying to find something that uses pigment-based inks?

Definitely. For permanent colour, pigment is still the only way to
go.

Thanks. Now to find which printers use pigment inks.


Answer: none, unless you go for a very expensive model aimed at the
professional market - I think I'll have to give that a miss.


Not true. All the popular Lexmark office/photo printers use pigment
inks, albeit just a simple colour range like the basic Epson Ultrabrite
inks (also pigment). My Lexmark X5470 cost approx $100 and has swappable
'office type' and 'photo type' carts, prints rather well on many paper
types, and also happens to be a fully featured send/receive colour fax
machine with auto sheet feeder, a decent quality scanner (has replaced
my Epson 1660 for documents), an OCR machine, and a colour copier. It's
also Mac OSX compatible and the only annoying thing is that despite
having a good built-in modem, this is inaccessible to the computer so I
have to use a little USB modem to send faxes direct from the Mac. I
guess Lexmark disable sending from the computer to force you to print a
page then fax it...

David


--
Icon Publications Ltd, Maxwell Place, Maxwell Lane, Kelso TD5 7BB
Company Registered in England No 2122711. Registered Office 12 Exchange
St, Retford, Notts DN22 6BL
VAT Reg No GB458101463
Trading as Icon Publications Ltd, Photoworld Club and Troubadour.uk.com
www.iconpublications.com - www.troubadour.uk.com - www.f2photo.co.uk -
www.photoclubalpha.com - www.minoltaclub.co.uk
Tel +44 1573 226032

D.M. Procida wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:

Is it worth trying to find something that uses pigment-based inks?

Definitely. For permanent colour, pigment is still the only way to
go.

Thanks. Now to find which printers use pigment inks.

Answer: none, unless you go for a very expensive model aimed at the
professional market - I think I'll have to give that a miss.

Did you not find the Epson R800?

Andrew.

Yeah, I finally had a chance to look at it and it looked good but for some
reason I wasn't impressed, and then I ran into the Epson Stylus R1400 and
R1800's and I am stuck drooling over these. Does anybody have them, heard
about them and are there any problems with them??

Thanks in advance.

Not4wood


"Andrew Haley" wrote in message
...
D.M. Procida wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:

Is it worth trying to find something that uses pigment-based inks?

Definitely. For permanent colour, pigment is still the only way to
go.

Thanks. Now to find which printers use pigment inks.

Answer: none, unless you go for a very expensive model aimed at the
professional market - I think I'll have to give that a miss.

Did you not find the Epson R800?

Andrew.

D.M. Procida wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:

Is it worth trying to find something that uses pigment-based inks?

Definitely. For permanent colour, pigment is still the only way to
go.

Thanks. Now to find which printers use pigment inks.

Answer: none, unless you go for a very expensive model aimed at the
professional market - I think I'll have to give that a miss.

Epson R800.

Andrew.

D.M. Procida wrote:
Andrew Haley wrote:

I want to replace my old HP PhotoSmart 7150 with something smaller,
neater, a built-in scanner, and very importantly, better output.

The PhotoSmart's OK, but not brilliant.

The model I was considering was the Canon Pixma MP970, but I'm not
really up-to-date with printing.

That's an all-in-one, I think. Do you really need one? Maybe it
might be better to buy just a printer.

The upgrade to Leopard broke the drivers for my ancient Canon scanner,
which I've now given away, so yes, I do need one.

Sure, you need a scanner, but you don't need an all-in-one. You're
almost certainly not going to get the best printer that way.

Andrew.

"D.M. Procida" wrote in
message
...
I want to replace my old HP PhotoSmart 7150 with something smaller,
neater, a built-in scanner, and very importantly, better output.

The PhotoSmart's OK, but not brilliant.

The model I was considering was the Canon Pixma MP970, but I'm not
really up-to-date with printing.

Are the latest dye-based inks significantly better than they were five
years ago? Is it worth trying to find something that uses pigment-based
inks?

Is the number-of-ink-colours (7 in the MP970) a pointless bragging game
between manufacturers?

Thanks for any suggestions. I hope to get better and more consistent
prints from now on.

Daniele

If an all-in-one is what you're looking for, the Pixma MP970 will disappoint
you. The Pixma MP600 is a better buy and delivers great dye-based 4x6
photos.
If you want something that delivers a bit larger print, look for the Pixma
MP810 -- great color!