Laser printing

[Karin]

Is anyone using colourlaserprinter to print the pages?

Is there any good lasercolourprinters for that purpose?

Edgee to edge printing?

I just am thinking of having an one and I just would like to get opinions about
using a laser for printing.

I think the most special pages I would develope in netlabaratories but for quick seeing about the result or some quick daily photos I think laser could be ok?

I have not printed anything with laser so I really do not know if this is
out of question thing?

What do you think about this?

Karin

[Mary]

Hi Karin
The first thing that comes to mind is that a Laser printer is a heat set process and an Ink Jet sprays the ink on the paper. The big down side of this for photos is that you can't use the coated papers in a Laser because of the heat process. In my experience the pages printed on a color laser look a little flat and dull to me. Others may have additional ideas based on their experiences. :)

[fotogirl19]

I use a MagicColor 2400. It's a little different, using CMYK, but I really like it. You can't go borderless on this one, inkjet printers are better for that. But, I find it more economical on ink, being you can go 1500 to 4500 per cartridge.

[fotogirl19]

Hammermill has a great gloss paper for laser printers.

[Kay]

Further to what Mary said, I read this article in PC magazine about choosing a printer for printing photos and it said,
Even more surprising, the old rule that lasers can't print photos well is not valid anymore. Many of today's color laser printers—even inexpensive $400 to $600 printers—can print reasonably good-looking photos. The main shortcoming is that the laser version of glossy paper is much thinner than real photo paper and closer to a satin finish than a true glossy finish. Even so, if you mount the photo behind glass in a frame, few people will notice. Without picking up the photo, it's hard to tell the difference.
If you choose to go this route, be careful picking your printer. Photo quality can vary greatly among nonphoto printers, especially among color lasers.

[fotogirl19]

I don't really like for my photos to be too glossy, being they will be placed inside a glossy page protector anyway.

[Sharpli]

I've posted elsewhere in the forum about my experience with my Konica Magicolor 2300W. I very much prefer my Epson inkjets (yeah, I now own three of them!).

[fotogirl19]

I also own 2 Epsons, 1 Lexmark, and 1 HP photo printer. I just got tired of buying ink all the time, because I do a lot of printing. As far as inkjets go, I prefer Epson. My HP is used for 4x6 and 5x7 photos only.

[Sharpli]

Have you tried "compatible" Epson ink. I buy from Abacus and it's WAY less expensive and the quality is indistinguishable from Epson.

[fotogirl19]

Have you tried "compatible" Epson ink. I buy from Abacus and it's WAY less expensive and the quality is indistinguishable from Epson.

No Kidding! I checked out the site and they are 1/2 the price! Thanks

[Mary]

Further to what Mary said, I read this article in PC magazine about choosing a printer for printing photos and it said,
Even more surprising, the old rule that lasers can't print photos well is not valid anymore. Many of today's color laser printers—even inexpensive $400 to $600 printers—can print reasonably good-looking photos. The main shortcoming is that the laser version of glossy paper is much thinner than real photo paper and closer to a satin finish than a true glossy finish. Even so, if you mount the photo behind glass in a frame, few people will notice. Without picking up the photo, it's hard to tell the difference.
If you choose to go this route, be careful picking your printer. Photo quality can vary greatly among nonphoto printers, especially among color lasers.
I also read that and went to Best Buy and Frys to see samples from the laser printers the stores recommended in that price range. The papers were thinner and felt quite flimsy compared to inkjet paper and without being under glass or in a shiny sheet protector they looked rather flat and some of the colors were quite dull. When I looked at a sample of one laser it looked pretty good but that printer cost $2000. I print all my photos on a semi-gloss paper so I really wasn't looking for shiny glossy laser prints. I wish I could find a cheaper way - some weeks I feel like I spend more on ink than I do on food.:o

[fotogirl19]

I guess being in the Printing business, I'm used to CMYK printers so I know how to adjust them for the best colors. As far as photo papers I use Hammermill Laser Gloss which has good results. I also use Cougar cover for photos that I don't want glossy. Again, I either frame or use page protectors, so I make up for my gloss there.

[IreneO]

We have a color laser - HP. I have not been able to get a really good print. They look okay until you compare them with a photographic print or inkjet print. I've played with a lot of the settings and still I'm just not happy with a laser print.

[Sharpli]

We have a color laser - HP. I have not been able to get a really good print. They look okay until you compare them with a photographic print or inkjet print. I've played with a lot of the settings and still I'm just not happy with a laser print.

I agree - although mine is a Konica/Minolta.

[momadoodle]

What is the web address for Abacus? I didn't have any luck googling for it. I have an Epson printer and am interested in pricing their paper.

Thanks.

[Sharpli]

Here's the link.

http://private.abacus24-7.com/

You can find it by googling abacus ink. You're right, just plain abacus doesn't work that well. Sorry, I should have posted a better address.

[amlance]

I agree with fotogirl19 - I use my Epson printer for all my color prints. B&W are done on my HP.

[Babywearing Mama]

I have an OKI 3200 (laser) and it prints great. Somebody told me it is one of the best for pictures. Just spent $225 on four ink cartridges though...ugghhhh! But from what I understand, they last a lot longer than most.???

[IreneO]

Is the compatible ink rated the same as the Epson inks for longevity?

[cats4jan]

From all I've read and heard, using off brands can cause your jets to get gooey and plug up. The formulation will not be the same - the color may be acceptable for your needs, but - if you have an expensive large format printer - I don't know if it's worth it to take a chance.

However, if I owned a cheaper printer - I would probably not be too concerned.

[Babywearing Mama]

Irene,
Could you say that so that I can understand...newbie and all. ;)

[scrapperjlc]

I like the color laser printer so much better that I took my layout images to work and printed them off there on the color laser printer. They do have a little bit of a glossy look to them. They turned out quite nice. I shrunk them to 8x8 to fit the paper. I would buy one if I had the $$! I think ours at work is an HP Color Laserjet 5550.

Jodi

[Babywearing Mama]

I take back my post above...I wanted to see the difference, so I had a LO printed at Costco ($1.48 a sheet) and it was WAY better. (dh said, "it's better") But I say, WAY better.

So now I *need* an inkjet...

[tlccreates]

I have a Dell color laser and it does a great job on LOs but not up to the level of my epson 1280. It was okay for an album that I needed to get done while the epson was ill but the yellow looked bad, so one sunset LO was unacceptable. The toner puts down a bit of a sheen and you can use ordianry paper. I put my pages in sleeves that have cardstock inserts already so all of my LOs are printed on paper weight even from the epson. I LOVE the Photo Quality Inkjet Paper from Epson for my inkjet printing !