Digital picture question

frank_f15 · Oct 12, 2002

jeff: glad u are having more sucess with the new printer driver, think u will see a more marked improvement with photo quality paper. i always hear and read that for best results, use the printer manufactures ink and paper, this is not only from manufacture but have read this many times in magizines. don't know if it is true or not. but i alway use epson ink and photo paper. anyone agree or disagree?

Buck · Oct 12, 2002

Frank,

I agree completely. For example, the Epson uses far less black ink for a photo than HP. The paper is optimized for the printers' colors. Therefore, using the manufacturers paper makes logical sense.

From experience, I have found that using HP paper on my Epson STYLUS 900 sucks, whereas the EPSON gives an excellent result.

Buck

Jeff396 · Oct 12, 2002

Yeah, I still have a pack around here somewhere from when we bought the printer. If I ever find it I will give it a try. That's what happens when you move so often.....can't find anything when you want to./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Jeff

RoyJackson · Oct 13, 2002

Another alternative to printing at home is to send the images to an online printer.
We used <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.shutterfly.com/index.jsp>Shutterfly</A> and were very happy with the results. Considering the cost of paper and printer cartridges, it was actually cheaper at Shutterfly if you've several pics to print. In my case, they were Wedding pictures to be printed out 8"x10" and 5"x7". They looked really nice. There were 18 images to print. Total cost was < $90.00.

Also, once printed, you really need to protect the picture. If you put it right into a frame (wih a glass or plastic cover), no problem. I've also laminated them.

I believe the professional outfits use a paper with a stabilizer or process them after printing to protect the photos.

rf33 · Oct 13, 2002

Frank,

I used to work for a company making aftermarket inks for ink jet printers, and take it from me, you are better off staying with the maunfacturer's brand if you intend to print high resolution photos. I was an ink chemist, and I can tell you from lots of hours of experience that the inks that the manufacturers (especially HP and Epson) made are outstanding quality. If you stick with the manufacturers ink and photo paper, you will be quite pleased with the print output I think.

Anonymous Poster · Oct 13, 2002

Buck and Bmac, thanks for your input. I ended up buying a Canon A40, a relatively new camera that has been very successful according to the comments on the internet forums. It has 2 megapixels, a 3X Optical Zoom and a 2.5 Digital Zoom. Reviewing the manual it appears that it has a lot more features than I will ever use but it does have an AUTO setting that will be useful for me! I bought it locally for $225. After using it briefly, I wish I had the battery concession for the world! As fast as it uses batteries, my first supplemental purchases were a battery charger, some NIMH batteries and an AC adapter. Thanks again for your comments. They were very helpful.

Buck · Oct 13, 2002

Farmhouse,

Well where are those photos of that Kioti?

Buck

bmac · Oct 14, 2002

farmhouse - I like Canon stuff. As I mentioned, my wife has a Canon G1 and it works great. My digital camcorder is a Canon and it also has nice optics. I checked out the A40 and it looks like it has a lot of features for this price range. I think you made a good choice. The Compact Flash storage media is very nice as it is readily available and not proprietary. I never would have expected you to find a 3x optical zoom in this price range. That's wonderful. Good buy.

Anonymous Poster · Oct 14, 2002

bmac, as you mentioned the CF cards are not proprietary and we should point out to everyone that all CF cards are the same. If some people want extra cards or a larger memory for more photos at a higher res. then they can buy them at a local computer store for alot less money than the camera store. We have a canon G2 and have one 256meg card two 128meg cards and we get alittle over 100 shots per card at high resolution on the 128 card. They make much larger cards past 1gig but if you start to fill one of those up you could almost retire by the time its done downloading! We shoot at a high res. and then dumb down the images for emails or posting. The more memory the better, can't let the wife run out of space while taking pics of her grand kid!