M.Chapman Posted November 3, 2022 Share Posted November 3, 2022 (edited) I currently use a very old Canon IP4200 printer for photo printing sizes from 6x4 up to A4 and have been delighted with the quality of the results using Canon's Yellow, Cyan, Magenta and Photo Black Chroma Life inks and Canon Photo Glossy paper. I particularly like the photo black ink which provides a great contrast range. But unfortunately this printer is no longer supported by MacOS. My current workaround is to drive it via a Windows 7 Virtual Machine hosted on my Mac using Parallels. But if I upgrade to Ventura I'll need to buy new Parallels licences (£100) and, if I ever swap to Apple Silicon machine, these solutions won't work at all. I've also got a much newer low cost "all in one" HP Envy 4520 which I use for day to day (non-photo) printing. It can print photos but the quality is nowhere near as good as the Canon IP4200. Ideally I'd like to replace both these printers with a single printer that is compatible with Monterey and Ventura OS and Apple Silicon. Any suggestions on a A4 photo printer which gives good quality results? Ideally it would be an "all in one" so I can scan on it too and it should have Wi-Fi connectivity. I don't print lots of photos (maybe 10/month), but do print quite a bit of other stuff (web-pages, letters etc.) at lower quality. Ideally it would use no more than 5 inks (Y,C,M,PhotoBlack & Black) Mark Edited November 4, 2022 by M.Chapman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted January 6, 2023 Author Share Posted January 6, 2023 (edited) Answering my own question here. I went for the Canon TS6350a and am very pleased with it so far. https://store.canon.co.uk/canon-pixma-ts6350a-wireless-colour-all-in-one-inkjet-photo-printer-black/3774C068/ I got mine from John Lewis where it's currently £20 cheaper. https://www.johnlewis.com/canon-pixma-ts6350a-three-in-one-wireless-wi-fi-printer-black/p6157902 Mark Edited January 6, 2023 by M.Chapman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 (edited) For anyone else reading the thread who may want another voice, I came here to suggest the Epson XP-8500. I use one and have been very pleased - pop some nice thick glossy photo paper in and it will print beautiful, contrasty and colourful A4 photos, but it does eat (drink?) ink. It may be the case that the 8500 is now superseded slightly by another version number as mine is a few years old. Edit: Checked Amazon. Looks like it's now the XP-8700. £99. Edited January 7, 2023 by Cal more info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids readily available to the general public and printers are there to get us hooked on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted January 7, 2023 Author Share Posted January 7, 2023 (edited) I see there's a printer review in this month's Digital Camera Magazine which includes the Canon TS6350 (which I bought) but also includes the Epson XP-970, which looks to be a pretty good value and compact all in one A3 printer, which I could have been tempted by as an alternative. https://www.epson.co.uk/en_GB/products/printers/inkjet/consumer/expression-photo-xp-970/p/27796 Mark Edited January 7, 2023 by M.Chapman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 15 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said: Printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids readily available to the general public and printers are there to get us hooked on it. Even more expensive than covid vaccines.🙂 Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 2 minutes ago, Allan Bell said: Even more expensive than covid vaccines.🙂 I'm also hooked on it, but I try to limit my addiction, last time I worked it out it was around £600/litre and that's for big cartridges from a 17" 'wide format' printer. I need eight but the latest printers sometimes need 12! Still small desktop printers like the ones discussed here don't (hopefully) waste a lot of ink on automated cleaning as the ink is on the head itself and moves with it. Wide format printers are beautifully made but need to be used regularly, mainly because the ink is some way from the printer head and flows through long flexible tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 1 minute ago, Harry Harrison said: I'm also hooked on it, but I try to limit my addiction, last time I worked it out it was around £600/litre and that's for big cartridges from a 17" 'wide format' printer. I need eight but the latest printers sometimes need 12! Still small desktop printers like the ones discussed here don't (hopefully) waste a lot of ink on automated cleaning as the ink is on the head itself and moves with it. Wide format printers are beautifully made but need to be used regularly, mainly because the ink is some way from the printer head and flows through long flexible tubes. I thought you were going to say you were hooked on covid vaccines but you quickly qualified the statement.😃 Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 2 minutes ago, Allan Bell said: I thought you were going to say you were hooked on covid vaccines but you quickly qualified the statement.😃 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FOTOLINCS Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 I stopped doing my own prints years ago. Ink is ridiculously expensive and more so when a print or prints go wrong as happens from time to time. I have found a local lab that I like and because I use them so often I get a discount so a win win I reckon! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 3 minutes ago, FOTOLINCS said: I stopped doing my own prints years ago. Ink is ridiculously expensive and more so when a print or prints go wrong as happens from time to time. I have found a local lab that I like and because I use them so often I get a discount so a win win I reckon! Hi FOTOLINCS I am in Lincolnshire too, and have done some of my own printing but find it a protracted job which takes up too much of my time, and wondered if you like to let us know the name and address of your print lab. It would help us both by gaining more business for the lab and possibly help reduce costs even further. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 17 hours ago, FOTOLINCS said: I stopped doing my own prints years ago. Ink is ridiculously expensive and more so when a print or prints go wrong as happens from time to time. I have found a local lab that I like and because I use them so often I get a discount so a win win I reckon! I also have a now idle Canon printer sitting on my desk. Once I discovered a good local lab my own printer ceased to make financial sense. Unfortunately they have since moved from a convenient location that I could easily reach by public transport, or on a sunny day by bicycle, to a remote trading estate, but they do offer a postal service, which works out being a bit more expensive! https://www.digitalab.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 36 minutes ago, Bryan said: I also have a now idle Canon printer sitting on my desk. Once I discovered a good local lab my own printer ceased to make financial sense. Unfortunately they have since moved from a convenient location that I could easily reach by public transport, or on a sunny day by bicycle, to a remote trading estate, but they do offer a postal service, which works out being a bit more expensive! https://www.digitalab.co.uk/ Thanks for that link Bryan - they look really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, Bryan said: Once I discovered a good local lab my own printer ceased to make financial sense. Unfortunately they have since moved from a convenient location that I could easily reach by public transport, or on a sunny day by bicycle, to a remote trading estate, but they do offer a postal service, which works out being a bit more expensive! https://www.digitalab.co.uk/ Yes, thanks for the recommendation, very good to know of a decent printing company. I'm wondering how strict they are with respect to you having to be a professional photographer, do you have to have an actual registered business? Presumably they don't want the general public to see what their wedding or portrait photographer actually pays, I see that in order to register you fill in a form and "a member of our team will be in touch". You have to give a website URL but I wonder if it needs to be weddings & portraits. "Please note – this is a professional only service and you must have a relevant business to use the Digitalab service." They have an alternative for non-professionals: https://riverandcoast.co.uk/ Edit: Actually just looked at my website and I do have a Wedding section, and Architecture, and Interiors... I should look at it more often. Edited January 9, 2023 by Harry Harrison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 3 hours ago, Harry Harrison said: "Please note – this is a professional only service and you must have a relevant business to use the Digitalab service." I got as far as checkout without being, er, checked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 (edited) 37 minutes ago, spacecadet said: I got as far as checkout without being, er, checked out. Thanks, I can understand why they do it of course. I'm certainly interested in 'professional' quality, I haven't compared the offerings on the two different websites as yet. When I did do Weddings I used Colab in Birmingham, they were great, long since gone I'm afraid but lovely quality. I happened to do a couple of Weddings pre-Covid but just gave them the edited images on a thumb drive, very unprofessional. If I'd known about this lab things might have been different but it's a lot of hassle unless you're charging the sort of prices some of their quoted clients are doing, they probably have someone on work experience to sort it all out. Edit: I just remembered the feeling I used to get as I put their precious Wedding films in the post, that wasn't so good. Never lost any though, did it for quite a few years. Edited January 9, 2023 by Harry Harrison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 4 hours ago, Harry Harrison said: Yes, thanks for the recommendation, very good to know of a decent printing company. I'm wondering how strict they are with respect to you having to be a professional photographer, do you have to have an actual registered business? Presumably they don't want the general public to see what their wedding or portrait photographer actually pays, I see that in order to register you fill in a form and "a member of our team will be in touch". You have to give a website URL but I wonder if it needs to be weddings & portraits. "Please note – this is a professional only service and you must have a relevant business to use the Digitalab service." Never noticed that before, and quite recently bought prints from them for the family, so maybe a new, and unwelcome, development ! I am registered as a sole trader whose business is photography, for tax purposes, so that might be enough ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted January 9, 2023 Author Share Posted January 9, 2023 (edited) I use Loxley. https://www.loxleycolour.com/ for anything larger than A4 as well as greeting cards. Very happy with their results and service. Mark Edited January 9, 2023 by M.Chapman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 3 hours ago, Bryan said: I am registered as a sole trader whose business is photography, for tax purposes, so that might be enough ? Thanks Bryan, I'm sure that would be enough, you are indeed a professional photographer. In fact if I was to use them that would also be for professional reasons so I'm sure that would be OK as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 (edited) 4 hours ago, Harry Harrison said: Thanks, I can understand why they do it of course. I'm certainly interested in 'professional' quality, I haven't compared the offerings on the two different websites as yet. When I did do Weddings I used Colab in Birmingham, they were great, long since gone I'm afraid but lovely quality. I happened to do a couple of Weddings pre-Covid but just gave them the edited images on a thumb drive, very unprofessional. If I'd known about this lab things might have been different but it's a lot of hassle unless you're charging the sort of prices some of their quoted clients are doing, they probably have someone on work experience to sort it all out. Edit: I just remembered the feeling I used to get as I put their precious Wedding films in the post, that wasn't so good. Never lost any though, did it for quite a few years. I meant I didn't get as far as a mention of "trade only". If they just require a VAT number, that would exclude many of us, including me. Edited January 9, 2023 by spacecadet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 39 minutes ago, spacecadet said: I meant I didn't get as far as a mention of "trade only". Sorry, I'm confused now, do you mean you weren't allowed to register or you weren't asked if you were trade? Yes VAT number would scupper it, but it would also scupper most professional photographers just starting out, or simply those earning less than 85,000 who choose not to register. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 2 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said: you weren't asked if you were trade? that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Harrison Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 3 minutes ago, spacecadet said: that OK, thanks, I wonder if they'll 'be in touch'? I guess it's a deterrent rather than a rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 9, 2023 Share Posted January 9, 2023 2 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said: OK, thanks, I wonder if they'll 'be in touch'? I guess it's a deterrent rather than a rule. I haven't gone that far, only as far as the basket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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