First time digital printer: whaddya get?

[Philip]

I've been reading up on what kinds of printers are being used these days but I haven't yet got a sense of what I need.  Can someone who knows printers suggest something?
I work entirely from scanned film (playing with it in Paint Shop Pro and some other software).
I'd like pretty straightforward, out-of-the-box operation of the printer.
I'm primarily concerned with small prints (up to say 5x7 inches).
I'd like to get good proof images that will give me some idea of what I'd get from having them printed by a professional, for example in a bigger print than I could print.
Black is important to me.
I'd like to get images that will not fade out of existence in a week of sunshiney display (but ultra-long-term archival preservation is not important to me).
I'm willing to pay up to about $500 Canadian  (= about US$400) but would prefer to pay much less!
The printer needs to run from a computer. (Some cheapie printers seem only to run from cameras nowadays.)

Any ideas?

- Philip

[bruce]

I have an hp7150 that gives good images. The downside is that it uses lots of ink, and the Hp ink cartridges are expensive. If I had it to do over I would probably go with an epson, if for nothing more than the flexibilty of the inks.

[jake]

I would recommend the Epson R1800. It is a bit more than your price range, but I think it does color and B&W printing straight out of the box better than any printer in its price range. If you don't want to stretch the budget, the Epson R800 is the next best stop. Both have the newer Ultrachrome inkset, glossy paper capability - even for b&w, and 8 print cartridges, meaning printing on a variety of papers without switching out ink cartridges. Differences are media size (13x19 vs. 8.5x11) and archival strength of the inkset (100-200 years vs. 80 years.) Either one would be a good bet.

J Ake :twisted:

[Philip]

Thanks for the tips, Bruce & Jorn.  Sounds like Epson may be the way to go.

[P C Headland]

I have an HP 7660, and when that meets the printer scrap yard, I'll get another HP.

I have had absolutely no problems with it, great colour and excellent B+W, and NO blocked print heads.  It prints well straight out of the box.

If you set the quality level one notch down from maximum, the ink usage is quite a bit less, but there is no real difference in output quality.  I have not had any problems with fading either, and have used HP and Ilford papers.