advice needed for event printing

[tzuponcic]

I have an opportunity to do regular work at special events (75 - 150 5"x7" portraits per event) and need a printer that allows me to print on-site. I am concerned about quality, reliability and speed. The dye-sub printers look like they would be appropriate, but have never worked with them. Does anyone have experience with this type of work who can give some guidance? Thanks. Tim

 

[bmattock]

I have an opportunity to do regular work at special events (75 - 150 5"x7" portraits per event) and need a printer that allows me to print on-site. I am concerned about quality, reliability and speed. The dye-sub printers look like they would be appropriate, but have never worked with them. Does anyone have experience with this type of work who can give some guidance? Thanks. Tim

I have used the Olympus P-11 to make 4x6 prints at events. Combined with a pre-printed photo holder commemorating the event, they sold well and my wife and I made some nice money (we shot the events for free and sold event photos). Relatively fast. Expensive media, you have to shop around to keep costs down, and of course you need AC power and a laptop to feed the printer. I also have another 4x6 dye-sub printer that prints stand-alone from memory cards, but don't like it as well.

I have seen people using larger-scale printers at events such as conventions, where they have a booth set up with props, lights, and etc. Having talked to them, they all seem to like the units very much. I met a guy in NYC who was shooting tourist shots with one tied to his waist and powered by a battery pack on his back - looked painful! He used it as a replacement for the peel-apart Polaroid film he could no longer get for shooting 8x10's.

In general, my experiences have been good on a small scale, and others I've asked have had positive experiences using larger-format dye sub printers.

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

I use an Epson picturemate for things like.
I print directly from the camera and it works great. Just make sure you have you WB right.
Speed is fast but 100-175 is a lot for one day. size is 4x6.
Cost is high too but it is really fun to get a print right away. Like the old polaroid days.

Cheers,

Michiel Fokkema

 

[majid]

For low-volume use printing 4x6, I can recommend the Canon Selphy ES30. It has a single cartridge for both paper and inks, and it all sits in the unit protected from dust, so it's far more convenient than the older units. Dye subs will add a plastic protective layer on top of the prints, which means they are much more robust and don't smudge as easily as dye-subs. You can also get battery packs so you can print in events without grid power.

5x7 are trickier, you will have to use a professional printer from Fuji, Kodak, Sony or HiTi. They are designed specifically for high-volume event photography, use continuous rolls but cost over $1600.