Toronto Photography Meetup Group

thinking of taking the plunge in printing my own images

i see a lot great price all in one wireless printers...this ideally is what i would be after
although i am wary of a quality printer for under 100$. i have no concept of prices for printers so are any of this printers any good?
any model suggestion?
why are they so cheap?
i have friends that swear by pigment ink over dye.... your thoughts?
and in a perfect world i would want a printer that prints 11x14....but that may be asking too much

I'd start by printing with somebody else, like a printing company specializing in photo prints to see if you like your photos when printed first. I hardly doubt you will find a printer that will print 11x14 for a $100

Unfortunatley in Photography its tough to get good quality products for cheap .. If you want to print really nice photos with a decent printer your going to need to invest I've heard good things about the r1400 (Epson)

Check out the camera stores and browse the printers. Choose one you like and look up the consumer reviews. The better printers start above your $ 100.

I'm an Epson user myself and I'm glad I did since I print on transparencies now and tons of help using this substrate.

Pigment over dye depends on how you use it. Dye wins if you want a fast print turnaround at live events and functions. The good ones don't come cheap either.

ok thanks people. just confirmed what i expected....too bad for me

Yeah, pigment over dye is an on-going discussion. I have an Epson R1900 which can now be had for probably $300 or so, back when I bought it, it was $600-700 I think. It can print up to 13-14in wide and the quality is quite good. Good enough for a hobbyist, the printer is probably in the serious hobbyist/prosumer category.

any decent inket printer that uses pigment ink will cost at least $100 for the ink alone

If you want 11x14 pigment prints you'll need to budget at least $1000 for the sort of quality that will differentiate it from what is available at a pro lab

this includes colour calibration device/software, the printer, high quality pigments and paper...