A dye sub printer is not necessary to get photo quality and while HP
makes a good ink jet printer, they are extremely limited and VERY
expensive to operate.  And the color laser printers are out of reach for
most of us.  Canon makes a photo printer in several models.  Photo
printers usually print in 6 colors rather than the usual 4.  Epson makes
one that you can buy for about $199.  It has 6 separate ink containers
and prints at 5700x720 dpi in archival inks.  Using either Epson or
Kodak photo paper, they are indistinguishable from photographs in look &
feel.  The inks are suppose to last at least 50 years in a picture and
are waterproof so they don't smudge.  They also make one that sells at
about $99 that prints at 2800x720 dpi with the same ink.  There are
several other models but the are the two least expensive.
    Wanda Irby

Dennis Noble wrote:

>I think that we need to define what a photo printer is. I have an HP
>officejet d135 that prints "photo quality" pictures on special paper. It
>is not however a photo printer. I have a friend that uses an Olympus
>P-400 Dye-Sublimation Photo Printer. Its output looks and pretty much
>feels like a photograph, it's a "photo printer". I don't know exactly
>how it works, or if it can even use regular paper, but I doubt that it
>would be practical to use it for everyday printing.
>
>If I were looking to buy a single printer to do it all, I would buy a
>color laser printer. While it is not exactly a photo printer, they
>generally have awesome looking graphics, good speed and are fairly
>inexpensive to operate. I have seen color laser printers for under $1200
>on the street.
>

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