Hey All:

A friend of mine has asked me to help him pick a digital camera and printer combo. His wife is an artist who wishes to make photo quality prints of her work in a typical letter (81/2 X 11) size, among others. I'm really out of my element in what to suggest. I do not know anything about this level of digital photography or printing and would welcome any suggestions. As far as price ranges, it's not a factor for him. He is just looking for the best equipment for the task.

I appreciate any advice you can give and if there are issues I should take into consideration in regards to features and possible functional trade-offs that go along with this type of printing, I'd love to hear what you think.

Thanks,

Jeff

-- Jeff Barach (JTB17@aol.com), November 25, 1999

Answers

Jeff, with money not being a problem, the camera of choice will be the Nikon D1. It is just now being released. It is a pro level camera body that uses just about any of Nikon's lenses. Street price is $5000. You will also need lenses, at least one battery ($100), battery charger ($225), and a minimum of one CF or CFII memory cards. Serious money, no doubt. But it will be one of the finest systems available anytime soon. This is not a simple point-n-shoot camera. It will require that the operator know something about photography. I have one on order, and can hardly wait. Check out the review of this camera at http://photo.askey.net

For a printer, I would recommend an Epson 750 or 1200. They are the same printer with the exception of size paper accepted. If 8 1/2" paper is adequate, the 750 will do the job. For about double the money, the $500 Epson 1200 will handle 13" wide paper. If she ever wants to make larger prints, she will be glad to have the 1200. Ihave been using the 1200 for about a year. I'm very pleased with it.

How long do these prints need to last? Ink jet prints do fade with time and exposure to light. Colors can shift and fade in a years time. If re-printing is not acceptable, you might want to look into a dye-sub printer. Alps makes several models. I have no personal experience with them. Printing by a service bureau might be another possibility.

-- Steve (milwaukeechrome@aol.com), November 26, 1999.

Jeff,

I am sorry but really do not agree with steve. The D1 was released two weeks back and they have since recalled all of them. Check out the DCS series pro cameras from Kodak. the 620/ 520 or 330 is your best bet for portrait quality 8 x10s. Printers, you should look at a dye sub or the fuji pictography 3000. call me for more info 1 877 255 4634.

Sean

-- Sean Quinn (Sean.quinn@allin.com), November 26, 1999.

Although money may be no object, it probably is. The "best" is very expensive. There is extremely high end professional/business level camera and printing equipment that even if they could/would buy, you need to be seriously into the profession to properly utilize. There is a low end that is simple and affordable. The middle ground that seems to be what you are looking for is not well populated yet. A limiting target for time (learning curve, etc.) and money will help people answer a little better. Also more detail about the desired type of output, media to be used, permanence will be helpful. True commercial work or hobby uses, etc. some printers handle certain types of papers better, some inks are very good at producing near phtographic prints but they will fade if exposed to too much light. The "file" size to regularly produce really good prints over 8x10/8.5x11 is going to be huge, cameras or scanning of originals that are that size get really pricey, etc.

-- Craig Gillette (cgillette@thegrid.net), November 27, 1999.

Jeff

I have to agree with Steve, The Nikon D1 and Epson printer looks like the way to go. As far as the recall goes, the recall was for a missing piece of firmware that controls the frame numbering sequence in the shoot and preview mode, and the shoot and store modes. There was a slim chance that if you switched between modes that you might overwrite a file. Nikon is reloading the firmware and is expected to resume shipping. If the Nikon is to much money, then check out the Olympus C-2500L, the cost is around $1300.

Go to http://www.steves-digicams.com/nikond1.html for D1 review.

Go to http://www.steves-digicams.com/c2500.html for C-2500L review

Go to http://www.tssphoto.com/sp/dg/news/dot_comp.html Epson printers

Tom

-- Thomas Colsher (tjc74@prodigy.net), November 27, 1999.