Good >Printer< for AP-Photos (recommend)

[Stub Mandrel]

My epson eco-tank does a smashing job, but you have to raise the gamma a lot of the faint detail disappears into the black (my my hey hey).

[p14b]

OK it’s time to add my findings (Remember these are my findings based on my everyday needs for a printer, but one that can give a good Astro-Photo-Print as well, also nothing I say here is set in stone! they are just the basics that would allow me to improve my Photos, from what I have read up on and advise given to me)

First of all a big thanks to all who posted on this

The printer I went for in the end was the Canon TS-8050 All in One A4 Printer. Cost was £89.99 (budget was £250)

Why > having followed what people said on here! I also asked in other places, even emailing professional printers, reading through hours of reviews and forums, most if not all pointed me to either Epsom/Canon, and in the end I chose Canon as I wanted to use it for everyday use with the odd Astro-Photo, and Canon on this model uses the 6 x Ink Carts (2x different blacks/ 1x Grey/Y/M/C) which is very suited to Black/White mono printing which was the closest thing I could find write ups on, as literature on how to print Astro-Photos is non-existent, without getting into too much detail a normal 4 ink cart printer uses only B/Y/M/C, so my old printer would have a lot of cast colours in the off-Black areas in my attempted photo-prints, so the final prints had either a heavy Cyan cast or a Magenta cast which never looked too good, whereas with this printer the blacks and off blacks have far less colour cast as it can make use of the grey ink cart.

Inks > OK like many people spending as much on a set of inks as the actual printer cost! is just not going to happen, but that does not mean let’s get the cheapest of the cheap non-genuine inks, again I did a lot of looking into this and there are a few great non-genuine ink suppliers out there with great feedback from novice to professional users, I chose Aoioi 6 ink carts at £16 (with an extra free big black cart so x7) installed and seen as genuine by my 8050 printer and they produce excellent quality photo prints when tested first on a few snaps of my visit to the lake district, and then later on my Astro-photos. (Will add a few photos below)

Photo-Paper > Never even entered my head at first that photo paper is just as important as the printer or the inks, but having got great advise on this subject without even asking! I was happy to follow up on this and buy top quality Photo-Paper; the printer did come with some Canon plus Glossy II which was one type that is highly recommended, fantastic quality photos having used my 3 rations of 4"x 6" LOL!!  In the end I chose to buy and use Kodak Ultra-Premium, as I saw some actual photos printed out with this, it was also the most recommended and I only payed £12.50 for 60xA4 + 50x 4"x6" really is top quality photo paper that does not stick to the glass when framed. 

How to process/printer set up for Astro-Photos > This is an art in itself which I am just discovering myself, so can't really add much as of yet, like Neil in the post above says, if you print straight from your PC you will most probably find the photo prints out darker with the lighter wispier bits of your image disappearing into the blacks, you can adjust the gamma or brightness, but there is a lot more to it if you want it fully understand it, from calibrating your monitor/printer and loads of other mind bending stuff, I did try printing directly from Adobe Light Room letting adobe control my printer drivers with some success but it really is the start of many more hours research and work. (Which I'm happy to share fully on here given time)

I will add more info in time, but if anyone is looking like I was to replace an old or broken printer that they can print off the odd astro-pic, the Canon TS-8050 is a great little printer, and I’m a Nikon D5300 camera user  but joking aside as I have never done the brand loyalty thing, if it works buy it use it, and this printer really does print out the best photos I have seen and all for under £100.

Having started AP last August below are my main targets I set out to re-image before end of this year! which I also wanted to print out myself so I can say it was all my own work! frame it and hang it. 

Not easy to capture for viewing on here! But the photos below give you some idea, better than me waffling on anymore!

Thx Paul 

 

 

           

 

[spillage]

Those photos do look very impressive. If you ever have an issue with the canon using non canon inks just hold the the button with the triangle on it for about 60 seconds.

[Alien 13]

The images look very good, my first attempt with my Epson with third party ink was very bad.

Alan

[carastro]

I normally go to a local print shop, some of them come out OK and some not so good.

Additionally I have a digital photo frame in the living room where I can do a "slide show".

Carole 

 

 

 

[StuartJPP]

I hate home printers. A massive money pit. If you use them frequently they cost you in ink. If you use them infrequently they cost you in ink because of the head cleaning so either way you pay. Best is to use them often to be honest.

So my suggestion for things like this is to take the file to a physical professional printers and get them to print it off for you. If they are good, they will do a few different versions and you will only pay for the one that you want. Well that was my experience anyway. Finding a decent one is a gamble, but not all are bad and neither are all good...try to catch them on a not so busy day...

Only cost me about £2 for an A3 print...I may have got lucky with these guys though.

[mystyco]

I have a Canon Selphy cp1000 and have printed all my AP photos with it. They have the same quality as the pictures I used to print at the mall. One of my best AP investments.

[p14b]

1 hour ago, mystyco said:

I have a Canon Selphy cp1000 and have printed all my AP photos with it. They have the same quality as the pictures I used to print at the mall. One of my best AP investments.

Thanks for the share, its nice to here from people who are already printing out there own AP-Photos, any tips are most welcome as AP-Printing is new to me and very different to normal photo printing.

Having now used my Canon TS-8050 for a few weeks, I have to admit its far better than could of ever of imagined, as you say the quality of the photos are really amazing, I understand some peoples negative points but I work from home, and I did say at the very start of this post! that a home printer is a must for me, so now being able to print all my work stuff as well as the odd normal-photo and AP-photo is great.   

[Stub Mandrel]

B prepared to adjust the gamma of your images, lovely even black skies can become a grey mess or a galaxy can shrink to half its size as its faint outer reaches disappear into the background!