i have recently purchased a nikon coolpix 950. i am looking to upgrade my printer. with $500 to spend, can anyone recommend a photo printer. all advise is greatly appreciated. please respond to e-mail address below.

many thanks, robert goodman nat24@aol.com

-- robert goodman (nat24@aol.com), April 18, 2000

Answers

Check this month's Popular Photography. I don't know the model number, but the winner in the comparison was an Epson. I have been impressed with the quality I get from my HP 895 CSe, but I also understand the disadvantage has with only 4 ink colors compared to 6 with the Epson. I don't use a digital camera either, so if I have something really worth printing I have a real print made, which means absolute photo quality from an inkjet isn't quite as important to me as it would be to you. The new HPs have higher resolution on photo paper than mine does, but the Epson still has the advantage because of the number of separate ink colors. I'll also say that while I have been less than impressed with Epson demo prints in the store, I have seen output from a Nikon Coolpix 950 to an Epson (I don't know which one) and I was very impressed with the capabilities of both.

-- Brad Hutcheson (bhutcheson@iname.com), April 18, 2000.