metro_dust Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 Im starting out a new 3D Viz buisness and I am in the process of researching photo printers and digital cameras to purchase for my company. I was hoping some of the professionals on this forum could give me some advice and insite into either what your using or what u wish u were using. Right now we are looking into both the Epson 3000, and the HP DesignJet 10 ps. We are looking to spend somewhere under $2000 for the printer. Cameras are up in the air, just looking for some solid advice on which routes to go. Thank You in advance for your time and help. :winkgrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgarcia Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 Printer: Wish I had an Epson 1280. It does full bleed (no borders) up to 13x55 (on a roll fed paper). Digicam: I own a Sony DCS-S85. Excellent camera w/ controls that are easy to use. It has plenty of maunal controls as well (focus, exposure compensation, white balance, manual exposure modes, and spot metering). Also it incorporates a Carl Ziess Lens (made by Sony licensed by Carl Ziess) which are considered the best lenses in the world due to their multi-coating and sharpness. I am very happy with this camera. I bought it for around 480 US dollars 3 months ago and I believed Sony has now discontinued it but you can still find it. One thing you have to buy right away is a larger memory stick (128MB is good - I got mine for 60 US dollars at Outpost.com ) because the 16MB stick that ships with the camera will only hold about 8-9 3.9 megapixel images (largest size for camera). For plenty of digital camera goodness check out DPReview.com for comprehensive reviews. Best of luck. Xavier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 The Epson 3000 is a workhorse of a printer. I've had mine for about three years now and it has been great. I added two larger format printers, but they are very expensive. The 3000 is too old to really think about now, unless you can get one at a substancial discount. What you should really be looking at is an Epson 2200, which is about US$700. The difference is the 2200 has a better print engine, and is a seven ink printer, where the 3000 is four. However, the 2200 prints to 13" small dinm. while the 3000 goes to 17". Do you need the extra real estate? How often would you need it? If only very occasionally, you might just go with the smaller but newer model, and send large prints to a service bureau. Ink consumption is what's going to break the bank. The 3000 uses much larger carts so is more affordable there. Are you planning to sell prints to clients/ If so, better get yourself ready for the time and expense of getting in good calibration and buying the best media, which can run to $5 per sheet. For my bigger printers I spend about $20 sheet for full-size paper. If you are not going to be selling prints to a client, just get a decent Epson or HP photo model that does 8.5x11". Digital cameras: I use Nikon, and they are good. They are all good these days. Just don't go overboard getting more resolution than you need. Better to spend more on storage media and batteries (rechargable are best). I use an IBM Microdrive of 512MB, they come in 1G for the same $350 or so I paid for .5G. The drives are a bit slower than flash memory, but were cheaper...check now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgarcia Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 Concerning the nikons - they are unbearablly slow. Slow focus aquistion, slow lens barrel extension, slow and confusing menus.... I had a Nikon Coolpix 4500. Couldn't stand it. But that is just my personal taste because I was used to using a Nikon F100 35mm film camera (I still have and love btw) - which is about as quick a film camera you can get. Try to get your hands on a few models of digital cameras before you buy. I recommend Canon or Sony and Fuji. Hope that helps you. Xavier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 Hi Metro Dust, From the reviews I was reading lately, it looks like Canon is taking the crown (Speed, quality, price and ink use). Look at the Canon i950 (13"x19")- cheaper than what you had in mind (less than $500) but, like Ernest said before, I don't see a reason for anything bigger unless you are going to be a full time print house. We had the Epson 3000 where I worked before. Can't say its no good, but it sure is an old machine. As for digicams - they really are all good nowadays, but what do you need in it? Large zoom? mobility? Here is a great site with lots of good reviews. If I was on the market for a new digicam, I would probably get the FinePix S602Zoom from Fujifilm. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgarcia Posted May 11, 2003 Share Posted May 11, 2003 One thing i forgot to mention is the sony camera's use INFO Lithium batteries which in my DSC-S85 will run for 180 minutes (yes three hours) with LCD screen on . 3 hours battery time is very nice, especially when you're on a trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r2 Posted May 12, 2003 Share Posted May 12, 2003 i'd get the epson 3000 with your budget. here in our studio we have 2 and they have been abused to no tomorrow and still put out quality prints. they are still very fast for inkjet printers and the cartdridges last pretty long. even though the cyan seems to be used up alot, we can just change that one cartdridge instead of the rest. for digital cameras, theres always www.dpreview.com here is another web forum with tons of info. I ended up buying a minolta dimage f100. no complaints there, i use it alot. just make sure you buy some rechargeable 2100mah batteries and you are good to go. when i was looking for a camera, i was on the wall between going high quality or something compact that you can put in your pocket and carry everywhere with you. i ended up going compact. hth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r2 Posted May 12, 2003 Share Posted May 12, 2003 btw i have an epson 1280. my only complaint is its too slow for printing superB size paper. other than that its great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garethace Posted May 12, 2003 Share Posted May 12, 2003 Great idea for a thread actually, printers and digital cameras, since getting the right one of either can make all the difference. Sometimes the extra money spent on this sort of equipment can pay off quickly with intensive use. Chassis, monitor, mouse and keyboard, tablet and printer and camera are the main stays - important not to buy crap or it will be painful. I like the way with digital camera reviews, one can actually download sample shots now. The most important advice i got with digital camera purchases, is a simple piece of advice - buy enough storage, because microdrives are very cheap now, and 2GB media is also available. You never have to delete stuff from the camera then either. BTW, rob galbraith has an excellent forum here dedicated specifically to such questions - try your luck there is my advice, but be warned, this is a MAC centric web site. Just kidding. http://www.robgalbraith.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?Cat= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 12, 2003 Share Posted May 12, 2003 I still haven't seen a printer match an epson for print quality. If you use the portfolio gloss papers avail from epson with their high end printers, you can sell the prints it produces. Its that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garethace Posted May 12, 2003 Share Posted May 12, 2003 The big cherry for me, i think, would be to sell a physical model of the project to a client - i find that impresses them most of all still. An even bigger cherry would be 3-dimensional printing, sometime in the next 20 years maybe. When i go to the trouble of doing a complete digital model, i don't feel like i get as much recognition/payment for doing so by the client. You cannot say to any client - look here is the original .max file to show to the general public! Yeah, i really should invest in a four-colour ink cartridge printer system, if i want to seriously output some visualisation renders. However, i still own a 3-colour system A2 Epson and it is great for printing out base sheets to construct physical models from, which i then photograph. My system is a bit backways actually, i use computer aided 3-dimensional design, to accelerate the working out and making of physical models!!! Hence why i do not use photoquality output so much. I am very attracted by the progress the digital camera has made over the past couple of years and feel sure that my trusty old SLR will not survive much longer. The limitations in terms of storage capacity, is what kept me away from digital until now. But 1GB of compact storage is a sweet spot, price wise at the moment and allows me to take shots at sufficient resolution to print 10x8s of beautiful daylighted physical models. Which can be doctored too of course. I send these uncompressed images away to be processed just like a normal negative and i get back my 10x8s. I find this is alot cheaper for the amount of outputting i currently will likely be doing. [ May 12, 2003, 12:43 PM: Message edited by: garethace ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted May 12, 2003 Share Posted May 12, 2003 An even bigger cherry would be 3-dimensional printing, sometime in the next 20 years maybe.You're only off by 20 years: info, photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garethace Posted May 12, 2003 Share Posted May 12, 2003 zcorp, eh. sounds like a hideous plan to take over the world - don't they know those names went out in the eighties? Anyhow, thanks for the link. Have you done any 3d printed models? I have seen some done by a colleage of mine and for small scale stuff it looks quick and easy. I think the states are way ahead in terms of model making though, i still use my own brain and a sharp knive!!! :ngelaugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.Vestal Posted May 13, 2003 Share Posted May 13, 2003 In the studio: have epson 1520 for cad plots epson 2000p archive prints (selling it) epson 2200 for prints I sell. I am getting another 2200, it is 2x as fast as the 2000p and 2x as efficient with the ink. Anything bigger than 13x19" we outsource. Bang for the buck you can not beat the Nikon 4500 for a workhorse of a camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garethace Posted May 13, 2003 Share Posted May 13, 2003 Thanks a million for your advice on the camera and printers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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