I currently have the Epson PhotoPC 700 camera and the Epson 700 Photo Printer. I've been happy with the camera but not so happy with the printer. I can't seem to get any brilliance in the colors printed. The colors always seems to be a bit muted.

I am now ready to step up to a 2.1 megapixel camera. Is the Coolpix 950 the best ? Which other ones should I look into ? I am considering buying the Lexmark z51 printer to replace the Epson. Good choice or not ? What about the Alps MD-5000, how well does that print photos with and without the dye sublimation option ?

My apologies for being so verbose but thanks in advance for your responses.

-- Michael Sit (msit@us.oracle.com), August 03, 1999

Answers

1) We own and love the Olympus 2000. I don't know about Nikon other than what I read. I don't believe you'll go wrong with either. Mainly depends on form preference. Do you want a traditional camera body or a rotating LCD?

2) We got the Alps 5000 w/dye-sub upgrade about a month ago, after trying several printers, (Epson, HP Photosmart, Lexmark 5700, Olympus P300 dye sub), over the years. My wife commented just last night after doing some printing, 'What took us so long to buy the Alps?' It is incredible! I hesitated for a year buying it due to all the comments about banding, cost, speed, etc. Finally, I got fed up with inferior photos and smearing of reports. We took the plunge and will never go back. It excels in photos, day-to-day print quality, reports, graphics such as topo maps from our mapping CDrom... You'll just love the consistency. No diminishing print quality as ink levels drop. No print heads to clog or dry up. No smearing from humid weather or handling the print before dry. True laser-quality text. Photos that not only match but in many cases beat developed 35mm prints for color accuracy and texture. For photos that we place in albums, we use the Vphoto print mode, which is the normal MD ribbons on special paper with the glossy overcoat. For photos we give to others, the dye sub is the way to go. Use the EconoBlack ribbon for everyday text printing and this thing is cheap and fast enough, (though it is slower than an inkjet). However, I'm not in that big of a hurry and the quality makes it worthwhile. Photos, however, are no slower than our HP PhotoSmart was. Banding has not been an issue. It only seems to occur on certain ribbon/paper combinations, none of which you'd want to use regularly anyway.

-- Brad Grant (bradandsteph@home.com), August 03, 1999.

Have the Nikon 950 and Epson Photo 750 printer. Have the same problem- cannot get true color with printer. Have taken pictures of flowers in vase, Then set vase nest to mointor and compared-great color match and horrible color match with printer. Have tried all settings on printer did not find any with good color match.

-- William B. Dye (WMDye@aol.com), August 10, 1999.

Which paper are you using? I have found the truest color to be with the Epson Photo Paper.

-- Bob G. (rgreg88721@hotmail.com), August 10, 1999.

The photo quality of the Epson compared to other injets is miles better. If your still not happy the you'll have to get a dye-sub printer. The Alps has had many bad reviews.

-- Nick Bart (r.bartlett@xtra.co.nz), August 13, 1999.

consider the new kodak digicams....i just ordered the DC280 2MP, there's also the dc290 that resembles the 260/5..i personally like the 'normal' body type of the 280 (same body as 240)

later

-- Paul (web69x@aol.com), August 15, 1999.