Does any one prints high quality Photo Book with Xerox? (DC250 or similar?)

Does any one prints high quality Photo Book with Xerox? (DC242/252/260 or similar?)

I'm photographer, also a good one.
That mean that all my photos are really professional. I would like to offer Photo book in my studio, to be able to actually advertise my photo services more.

But as i live in rather poor country, i can't afford new printer. Actually, maybe i could lease some, but it simply can't pay off itself.

So, I'm thinking about used DC 242/252/260 with some ~400.000 prints on it.
Used one fits my budget and always can be resold, if i can't make reasonable profit.

I can take some really nice photos, but I'm in doubt if DC 242/252/260 can give nice print, if photo is top one.

So, i would like to hear from fellow photographers or any one who actually produce photo books with earlier Xerox machines, does print quality satisfy you?

I would like to have, nice, vivid, life like photos with realistic colors. Skin color is especially important. No one likes to have some strange skin color & texture.

Also, i would like to know, do you use original Xerox paper or some other, branded one, or you just ordinary offset paper.

I'm more then thankful for any insights.

 

To try to reply to my own question...

http://digitalprinting.blogs.xerox....pictales-increase-revenue-by-20/#.Umr1ixCPS_g


"Ralph Levy on Sep 17, 2010
Great case study to share with customers wondering if their 242/252/260 can produce high enough quality to compete in the photo book market.
Comment 2

Bill Michael on Sep 17, 2010
Ralph – Couldn’t agree with you more! It’s always amazing for me to see the awesome quality photo books being produced on the 242/252/260 family. Sometimes you hold them up and thumb through the pages, and would swear it was done on an iGen!

It really comes down to the quality of images you initially have to work with, and then what you do with them in the end. If it weren’t for the incredibly high demand for their products, MyPicTales could very well still be using their 242 today!

MyPicTales on Sep 17, 2010
Thanks a lot for featuring us on your blog today. Its such an honor. The docucolor 242s are amazing. They can handle heavy stock and still produce at good speed. What I like more about them is that their print has a 3d quality to it, due to the way toner lays on the paper. With iGens or even Indigos, the print can be flatter. The 3d gives a perception of depth that happens with chemical printing. So it is a unique selling point when selling photobooks.

Bill Scouller on Sep 17, 2010
I think the customer success story of ColorCentric/MyPicTales really helps shine light on all the outstanding work that is produced everyday on entry level production equipment, but also shows how the larger, more production-driven equipment nicely fits into the picture. It was the outstanding quality of work being produced on the DC242 that allowed the migration of work onto the iGen to be possible!......"

 

I'm still very happy with the print quality we get from our 242. We've now put about 1.4 million 11x17 and 12x18 prints on it.

About half of what we print is photographic.

I think Bill's comment is very accurate "It really comes down to the quality of images you initially have to work with"

If you're coming from the photo/art side I think the wider dynamic range of current 8- to 12-color inkjets can make it a bit easier sometimes whereas printing photographs to the docucolor a bit of care is needed to work within the limits, but with a bit of care, great results can be obtained for the price of the machine and the speed and cost per print. Blacks very near black get clipped some, especially if doing gloss, and sometimes skin tones near white get clipped causing awkward gradients. Some minor tweaking is sometimes necessary with an adjustment layer to slightly adjust the curves to give a clear gradient that doesn't clip on skin tones on foreheads in sunshine, where stormclouds go from very light to very dark in a small area; sometimes higher ISO photos that have some shadow grain (soon probably a thing of the past) print fine and smooth on an art inkjet but sometimes the first test print on the docucolor reveals an odd peppering as skin tone transitions to shadow on an elbow or kneecap. No big deal at all, and it's quick enough to do a test print and a subtle adjustment. Probably others have profiled their docucolor more tightly. But I'm not unhappy with what we have.

I also agree with MyPicTales. Some people didn't like the look of the 242 on kromekote, but I've come to like the quality of the print quite a bit. It's not perfectly smooth when viewed from an angle where rich black especially has a different depth that comes out like a subtle stained glass texture when viewed from an extreme angle, if that make sense. Some people don't like it, but I find it interesting and quite pleasing. Looking at it straight on, the quality is very good and consistent and it pops and is the best I've found for printers in this price class. Likewise on nongloss paper, the toner has some gloss to it. I also like this, although the trend now (and xerox's current printers) are going towards more matte toner. I actually like the punch of the prints quite a bit, but some care is needed as you can get oddness, for example 100% white areas on matte stock within a photo being matte since no toner is there with the gloss of the toner adjacent.

Overall though I've been extremely pleased with this printer, especially for the size, cost, and speed balance it provides.

 

Jeff, thank you for sharing your experience.

I just saw your gallery, and your space seems very artistic, atelier - home like, nice and cozy. Especially that wooden floor. Actualy, you gave me great idea, how to setup my own space, if i decide to buy machine.

After 500k printed photos (wow!), i guess your experience is more then precious.

I like gloss paper too, and have intention to print photos for photo books on Xerox SRA3 Colotech+ Gloss Digital Paper 140 or 170gsm.

What are you think? I'm from Eastern Europe and i don't have to much choice of gloss laser papers in my country. There are nice selection of offset papers, but for laser, we don't have too much, except Xerox offerings.

I'm thinking that for the beginning, using best is the way to go, especially because, paper cost for one photo book can't be bigger than dollar or two, for paper.

Also, yesterday i have visited one facility, where they use (like new) Xerox Color 1000 for printing. And to be honest, i'm not too impressed with that dull, "offset" like prints. Actually, that was everything but offset. Very narrow dynamic range, solid surfaces wasn't solid and gradients wasn't too ideal. On the other side, paper was just plain mate offset paper, without any gloss, so... i would like to see a print from Xerox Color 1000, but on some great paper and with good photo.

To return on topic, I'm still waiting to see with my own eyes such great prints from DC 242/252/260.

To be honest, Ricoh 751 was knock me down, when i saw the prints, but it is absolutely above my price range right now. (and to forget horror stories i have read about it). Also, in my country, Ricoh rep is very educated and he owns his own small print shop, and Xerox "reps" are just a bunch of "kids", with low wages, who don't knows anything. Minolta is in between. Good print, but machine still double above what i can finance.

So, for now, my only choice is used DC 252/260.

I'm thinking to ask those guys from the text i quoted, if they could send me a print or a two, to see what is the best print what DC 2x2/260 series can print...

 

Have you considered how you will bind these photo books?

 

Yes, Chinese "version" of Fastbind machines
Tested, works great!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYk2jgKjIGM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6N54yRVdrM