general printer contrast question

[theotrain]

i had some digital photos printed professionally recently (not sure what printer they used) but the results were pretty similar to what i used to get off my epson photo printer years ago.

the darks were generally darker than i would have liked, but i chalked that up to print vs. monitor.

what really grinds my gears is that the brights dissappear and i lose detail. anything approaching white, like greater than 90-92% brightness in my photo prints as pure white. the color just drops off when you get too bright.

it seems inkjet printers cant really reproduce near-whites?

is this problem handled better by different brands? or by other (non-inkjet) printing methods?

this quality is fair for most people im sure but professionals must gag when they see this sort of thing. how do people who give a damn get their pictures printed?

all clues appreciated...

 

[cdogg]

Not all inkjets are created equal!

I went out and bought an iP6600 from Canon a while back. This model was dedicated to photo output, and does it well in my opinion.

I'm not saying you should run out and buy the latest Canon iP model, but you'd be amazed on how different one brand or model performs when compared to another. Some pictures have a color composition that might look better on one printer as opposed to another that might excel in other composition types. It would be best to take your particular picture into a store like Best Buy or CompUSA to test on a variety of printers (they'll let you).

You will generally notice this about current inkjet models:
- HP printers have the best brightness but with poorer contrast than the competition
- Canon has the best blacks & contrast overall but with slower speeds and poorer ink conservation
- Epsons tend to be the compromise in the middle, getting a little piece of both worlds

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[paparazi]

And of course if you are doing this professionally, then you would take it to a printers who has the equipment to print to photographic paper not inkjet, and if you don't know the difference then put them under a tap!
Martin L.B.I.P.P
(licenciate of the British institute of Professional Photographers) how pretencious is that lol.

P.S
I like canon for home but still take my wedding digitals to a friends lab.


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