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Printing photos with cheap colour lasers
Has anyone here printed photos with an entry-level colour laser
printer like the HP 1600, 2600 or their competitors ? I know that they are not meant to compete with high-quality inkjets for printing photo-type images. Reviews either give only passing mention to this aspect or they don't mention them at all. Quite understandable as this is not their primary function. Still, it will be interesting to know how they compare with entry-level or somewhat better inkjets for printing photos. |
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Printing photos with cheap colour lasers
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Printing photos with cheap colour lasers
On Aug 16, 2:47 am, "Jonathan" wrote:
wrote: Has anyone here printed photos with an entry-level colour laser printer like the HP 1600, 2600 or their competitors ? I know that they are not meant to compete with high-quality inkjets for printing photo-type images. Reviews either give only passing mention to this aspect or they don't mention them at all. Quite understandable as this is not their primary function. Still, it will be interesting to know how they compare with entry-level or somewhat better inkjets for printing photos. Try taking a memory card to Wal-Mart and print some out and see how they look. You don't mention what camera was used to take them so that would depend also. It is always cheaper to have them done with a commercial machine anyway. If you plan on experimenting at home you will have to use good paper as well. If you are planing on buying a printer you would be wise to see the results before you bought one. You should bring some prints of your won and test it out yourself. Many places will accommodate this and don't make the purchase if not. Jon. I live in a place where I don't have the luxury of such options. No local computer shop stocks color laser printers, and even if they did, they wouldn't open a new cartridge just to test-print a photo for a prospective customer. There are four photo labs in my town. The nearest one consistently turns out washed-out, underexposed prints. The other three are hit-or-miss. I have no immediate plans to buy a colour laser printer. I was searching for information I could mentally file away for future reference. |
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Printing photos with cheap colour lasers
On Aug 15, 1:32 pm, wrote:
Has anyone here printed photos with an entry-level colour laser printer like the HP 1600, 2600 or their competitors ? I know that they are not meant to compete with high-quality inkjets for printing photo-type images. Reviews either give only passing mention to this aspect or they don't mention them at all. Quite understandable as this is not their primary function. Still, it will be interesting to know how they compare with entry-level or somewhat better inkjets for printing photos. Don't know about the low end ones, but the high-end ones print photos "so-so". They're okay, but not "photographic". And with the high end ones, the DO print *FAST* (not minutes per page, but how many pages per minute). |
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Printing photos with cheap colour lasers
On Aug 15, 4:32 pm, wrote:
Has anyone here printed photos with an entry-level colour laser printer like the HP 1600, 2600 or their competitors ? I know that they are not meant to compete with high-quality inkjets for printing photo-type images. Reviews either give only passing mention to this aspect or they don't mention them at all. Quite understandable as this is not their primary function. Still, it will be interesting to know how they compare with entry-level or somewhat better inkjets for printing photos. I have a colour laser at work. The prints are just acceptable to print maybe a DVD cover, but certainly NOT a photograph. If you are looking to print cheap at home, I just posted a blurb on a CIS. You can read about it on my website. Feel free to ask questions... Rudi http://www.geocities.com/rudedude121...nk_system.html |
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Printing photos with cheap colour lasers
On Aug 15, 4:32 pm, wrote:
Has anyone here printed photos with an entry-level colour laser printer like the HP 1600, 2600 or their competitors ? I know that they are not meant to compete with high-quality inkjets for printing photo-type images. Reviews either give only passing mention to this aspect or they don't mention them at all. Quite understandable as this is not their primary function. Still, it will be interesting to know how they compare with entry-level or somewhat better inkjets for printing photos. Lasers handle images differently than inkjets, while they can make acceptable publications, reports etc the dynamic range is no where near that of an inkjet. An expensive laser say a Xerox Phaser, laser not solid color, or above, the images are the same or worse than even cheap 4 color inkjet printers. New 6 or 8 color inkjets are close, so say better than traditional photographic prints. Pigment, and some dye, inkjet printers have the ability to print their photos to last longer than chemical photo prints. Lasers on good paper have some lasting properties but no where near the other two media. If you want to do reports or small publications buy a laser, photos get an inkjet especially if your local photo print isn't very good. Epson refurb has a good deal on the R1800, a nice printer for glossy color prints. Yes there is a learning curve, but not daunting. Tom |
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Printing photos with cheap colour lasers
On Aug 16, 6:02 pm, tomm42 wrote:
On Aug 15, 4:32 pm, wrote: Has anyone here printed photos with an entry-level colour laser printer like the HP 1600, 2600 or their competitors ? I know that they are not meant to compete with high-quality inkjets for printing photo-type images. Reviews either give only passing mention to this aspect or they don't mention them at all. Quite understandable as this is not their primary function. Still, it will be interesting to know how they compare with entry-level or somewhat better inkjets for printing photos. Lasers handle images differently than inkjets, while they can make acceptable publications, reports etc the dynamic range is no where near that of an inkjet. An expensive laser say a Xerox Phaser, laser not solid color, or above, the images are the same or worse than even cheap 4 color inkjet printers. New 6 or 8 color inkjets are close, so say better than traditional photographic prints. Pigment, and some dye, inkjet printers have the ability to print their photos to last longer than chemical photo prints. Lasers on good paper have some lasting properties but no where near the other two media. If you want to do reports or small publications buy a laser, photos get an inkjet especially if your local photo print isn't very good. Epson refurb has a good deal on the R1800, a nice printer for glossy color prints. Yes there is a learning curve, but not daunting. Tom Thanks for the replies, everyone. Sorry I didn't have time to reply to each post as it appeared. You've confirmed what I already suspected - that a colour laser printer falls far short of inkjet quality for printing photos in each corresponding price class. As usual, RPD has delivered - unlike some NGs where there are at least a few regulars who seem to take delight in finding something to flame in almost every thread, no matter how the OP frames his post. |
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Printing photos with cheap colour lasers
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Printing photos with cheap colour lasers
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#10
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Printing photos with cheap colour lasers
Paul Rubin wrote:
writes: Has anyone here printed photos with an entry-level colour laser printer like the HP 1600, 2600 or their competitors ? We have a somewhat fancier one where I work but I think the quality is about the same. The prints you get are usable for identification or documentation purposes etc. but not really good for display. Buy a daily newspaper with a color photo on the front page. The prints from the laser printer look about as good as that. I have an HP2550 colour laser printer. I use if for document printing. The problem that you will likely find with colour laser printers in this price range is the inability to handle the photo paper stock. I tried once just as a test. I know the printer would not be able to produce a display quality photograph. While the imagery is fine, the printer itself scraped some of the toner off the output as it was passing through the printer thus leaving scratches in the final product. Producing images for documents on paper and light card stock should not be a problem. -G |
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