Camera Labs

Hi Guys,

I have a small 6 M Digital Snappy (which stays in jacket pocket) and an Epsom Photo R200.

I Admit I need to take better pictures and need better Quality equipment. However, I do use the inpocket equipment every now and again. My problem is this.

When printing up to A4, the pictures look dark and loose some detail in the dark areas, this seems to be pretty much across the range of pictures taken.

I accept that on this set up I'm not going to get brilliant results, but what should I expect? am I doing anything wrong? any suggestions would help and be appreciated.

Please be honest

Mark

Hi Mark! That's tough to diagnose from here!
Have you tried to let a print-shop do the work? Do the pics come out better then? Do your pics look ok on your monitor?
That might be an indicator that your printing process is not up to scratch.
Unfortunately there are so many parameters you can tweak with printers and printing software, that you can have a tough time finding the right ones to fiddle with...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for quick response, You have said something of note, Yes they look great on the screen and nothing like when coming off the printer.

I have not touched the printer, straight out of box and It's a couple of years old now. Using Cheap ink but all o.k. on other applications

Mark

Well, "other applications" don't really show whether the printer is well adjusted, mark
Have you played with any printer-driver adjustments yet?

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hi Thomas

No, Not at all. The printer is out of the box with no adjustments / setting up what so ever.

How would I do this?

Thanks

MARK

Well Mark, I have the problem of sitting in front of a German Windoze so I don't know exactly how it is called on your computer. But: you normally can get to the properties/attributes of your printer and there you can do some printer adjustments in the Window$ system control whatchamacallit...
Helloooo, anybody here who can help Mark

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

.
I think the problem is that the "whatchamacallit" is printer specific as the dialog box tab will likely be provided by the printer driver. One would have hoped that the written manual (or an online manual) for the printer might offer some advice.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Hi Robinhood. I often have the opposite problem: my pictures look good on the screen but turn out light when printed. I found that some editors show an image more like the print than others, but I usually darken them slightly no matter which one I use. You might simply brighten the image, or lighten shadows before printing. I always save my altered printer image in a separate file so things don't get mixed up.

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BrianS
D50, 70-300mm VR, 50mm f/1.8

Hi Guys,

Sorry for length of delay in reply, Thanks for assistance and kind offerings.

I have played with the controls on the printer, what it will let me play with, that is. I have not acheived a better result yet.

I found that our local Asda were doing prints 10x 8 for £2 somthing, so invested in a trip to them and had 3 random prints, those that I had difficulty in prointing. All turned out reasonable bearing in mind only using a snappy camera.

The point is that they were much better than my attempts. I have an Epson Photo R 200. Looks like I need to get a better camera which is on the cards anyway and a far better printer. Looking at Canon 450 any comments about a good A3 printer.

Best regards & many thanks

Mark

A3 Ink printing gees wouldn't it be cheaper in the long run to invest in a colour laser?

I don't know if they are as good quality when you print on good photo paper with a ink all I know they are better at printing on paper much better. Photo Paper is way to expensive.

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Camera: Canon 40D, 17-85mm IS
Knowledge of Photography: Hours of reading and videos.
Computer: iMac 24inch 3.06Ghz 4gb ram 500gb HD Nvidia 8800 GS 512mb

Hi Marzy, lasers are great for graphics, presentations, maps, letterheads etc, but they're not particularly good for photo quality.