Yes- you get what you pay for. I also got a Canon Selphy as a back-up for the rx, it's cheap to buy, but print cost is 4 or 5 times higher than rx, and it's about 4-5 times slower. Don't know about Epson, but I think price, cost and speed will be at a Selphy level.
I was actually just about to buy a dye sub printer for a wedding photobooth but I did some tests and my Canon 9000 Mark II is able to print almost as fast as the $800 dye-subs. I can have another 4x6 every 30 seconds, which should be plenty of time and should be fast enough that I can swap out ink cartridges.
I bought a 16 and a 32pack of replacement ink off amazon and a 400 pack of 4x6's and I think I'm set to go
I have a hiti 1510? It is speedy and delivers nice results. The media loads easily and the cost to run it is attractive.
The biggest issues with these setups are: price, time, support, profit and software.
Touching on software, I finally broke down and bought dslr remote or whatever the heck it is called! It feels like it is from the 1991! It is clunky but it works for the photo booth application.
I think selphy is more home use orientated, RX-1 is aiming to take place of minilab in places where minilab is getting to expensive to run (due to minimal processing per day), we were using it in our studio while minilab failure and it did a great job at a reasonable price. In Poland 4x6 cost is about 0,2 $, and it's FAST.
Quality, not quantity....
I just did a photo booth and the print time of the 9000 Mark II was not a problem to any degree, there was only one point where I had three prints on the queue. Each couple took about a minute in the booth so there was more than enough time for most everyone.
We use the hiti p510s. It's reliable, very easy to use, you can load media in under minute, and it prints 4x6's in 6-8 secs. Its not cheap but it will pay for itself after 2-3 photo booths. Amazing printer!!
I second contacting these people: http://www.imagingspectrum.com I got my Sony Snap lab from them. It will print 5x7 dye sub prints in 17sec and it is not the latest and greatest thing out there any more.
I use the DNP RX1 as well and would recommend it. I also bought it from imagingspectrum.com and would recommend them. However, I would get the print media and the carrying case from fotoclubinc.com. Print media is $10 cheaper and the carrying case is rock solid.
I also have the Selphy 900. Nice for backup or a small print job, e.g. giving a print to the parents. But I wouldn't use it as a main photo booth printer. It is more expensive per media and slow.
I also use the DNP RX-1 and have had good luck with it. It's very easy to load and I get my refills from imaging spectrum. Like others have mentioned it is on the expensive side, and a few people complain about it taking too long to print (generally 30-45 seconds after).
I've used the Pro 9000 mk II, a couple of epson inkjets and a couple of different dye subs. If you're going to do these regularly, dye subs are the way to go. Cost per print is lower than inkjets, you know how many prints you can do before changing the media, and it's very easy to change when the time comes.
I had a DNP DS40 and a DNP Snaplab and ended up keeping the snaplab because it has card readers and can be a built-in back up if the computer or software craps out.
