Posted by Don Gemmecke on February 16, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Now that I've got my official state recognized name registration and have hung a few photos for sale locally, I'm ready to upgrade from an HP all-in-one that prints a max size of 8.5 x 11 to something that will print a larger size with a "photo quality" finish. My budget won't accommodate a good Epsom or Canon. Noticed an add in the recent Outdoor Photographer's magazine for the HP Photosmart B8550. Did a little on-line search and found mostly very good comments about color brilliance, etc. Only negatives seem to be size of footprint, lack of a cord and ICC profile. Any pro or semi-pro photographers had any experience with this model?
Posted by John Mumaw on February 16, 2009 at 10:44 AM
The B8550 only uses four inks...black, magenta, cyan and yellow.
In order to achieve the best quality color prints, you're going to need a minimum of six inks (incl. photo magenta. photo cyan).
If you plan to print black & white, then you'll need a printer with additional shades of gray inks, as well.
A dedicated photo printer is about the last item that you want to try and cut costs with. Better to just have an online printing service like Mpix do the work for you then to use a four ink inkjet printer for saleable prints.
Posted by Steve Robinson on February 21, 2009 at 5:02 PM
I have the HP B8550 and it is a very nice printer at a reasonable price. It has 5 ink cartridges: black, cyan, magenta, yellow, and photo black. It makes a very nice black & white print. The carts that come with the printer will run out fast if printing a lot, but HP has 564XL carts with twice the capacity. I got mine from Amazon for $199.
Discussion
2 repliesIn order to achieve the best quality color prints, you're going to need a minimum of six inks (incl. photo magenta. photo cyan).
If you plan to print black & white, then you'll need a printer with additional shades of gray inks, as well.
A dedicated photo printer is about the last item that you want to try and cut costs with. Better to just have an online printing service like Mpix do the work for you then to use a four ink inkjet printer for saleable prints.