11 replies to this topic

[nova85]

I bought my first DSLR camera this summer and have been enjoying my new hobby. I want to start printing some of the pictures. I don't have any photography store near by but plenty of drug and office supply stores that offer 1 hr printing. There is also various web options such as shutterfly or I could print at home using a ink jet printer with photographic paper. I live outside of Chicago.

What do most amateur photographers use for printing?

[deano]

I use a Canon Pixma iP100.  It is a portable printer, not so great on quality but I bought it for work in the field in a previous job.  It does 4x6 and 5x7 adequately but I would not try anything larger.  Plus the ink cartridges are quite expensive, or so I think.

I read that most Forum users suggest a certain model of Epson, but I haven't researched that brand yet.

[Nikonite]

I have an EPSON WF-4630 that prints photos very well. The WF-4630 is marketed as a "work printer". It's a little on the large side. When I was shopping I took to the store a memory stick that had a known good photo that I took. I printed the photo on photo paper and did a real time comparison between printers. I could not tell the difference between the printers marketed as photo printers and regular everyday work printers. That applies to HP as well as EPSON. If you were in a lab and put the prints under a microscope I guess you might be able to tell the difference, but not in the real world. By the time I was done with all the coupons and discounts the printer was only $149. It was originally $299. Now here's where it gets dicey! The XL ink cartridges cost $189 for all 4. That's MORE than I paid for the printer! Of course I don't have to buy the XL cartridges, but it's kind of the printer world's dirty little secret. Ink frequently costs more than the printer is worth.  

[Merco_61]

I run an Epson 4800 that I bought about 8 years ago. It is quite a lot cheaper to run than consumer inkjets, but it was quite an investment... A full set of inks cost about $800 for all 8, but it lasts about 7-8 times longer than the Canon 9500MkII a friend uses, so it is about half the running cost. Those Canons are cheap to run for tabletop consumer units.

The problem with "work printers" is running cost and calibration. Sometimes you have to waste a considerable part of those expensive inks before you have full wysiwyg again. My 4800 has downloadable profiles where I can just input the batch number and get a profile that is 98% ready, so it just needs one or two small test prints to be up and running after changing inks.

I don't know what services you have available in the US, but web order pro labs are often the cheapest way to get good prints unless you need high volume or large prints often.

[TBonz]

I've tried a few of the less expensive photo printers and finally decided it wasn't worth it for the number of images I print.  Not that they were bad, but I just don't print that much.  I actually had a couple of cartridges dry up on me before I had used much ink.  

 

I find it quite a bit easier to throw the images on a thumb drive for some quick prints at a local drug store or WalMart, etc.  If time isn't an issue, I'll typically print from one of the online sources and they'll show up at the house in a few days. 

 

Of course, we still have a printer (HP) and I have printed some images on it for whatever reason, but we have an all-in-one printer / scanner / copier / fax so it wouldn't be my first choice for any critical photo printing.  These days it seems to get used more often for scanning in papers than for printing...

 

I do need to scan in a couple of my older images that I ran across a few weeks ago...I tried one quick scan and it definitely did not come out nearly as nice as the original...need to play with some settings and see what I can get...really want to get some of these shots in an electronic format...

 

 

 

 

 

[Nikonite]

I have several 8x10s printed from my inkjet hanging on the walls around the house. It never fails that when someone comes over they ask where I got the print from. It also never fails that they are surprised when I say "my printer". In my own experience the lines between specialized photo printers and work printers have become blurred when the work printer uses photo paper and set to max quality. I haven't had the time to examine cost, but I would bet it's at or near the top of the scale. For me the convenience of having the printer an arm's length away trumps going to Wal-Mart/Walgreen's every time! Not to mention I control the quality and not some part time high school kid.

[nova85]

Thanks for all the input. I'll buy some photo paper and try printing on my ink jet.

[Nikonite]

When you're analyzing cost home print vs. store print don't forget to add in transportation cost as well as the risk you take in getting there. Accidents, idiots, vehicle theft and crime in general you expose yourself to just going to get your prints. I tell my wife the same thing Red Box vs. streaming. She used to think she's saving money by going to a Red Box, but when you add in Murphy's law it's way more expensive. She finally admitted I was right when some moron recently backed into her car while she was waiting at a Red Box. We can stream a ton of movies for what she spent on that repair. Of course the moron was uninsured!

[nova85]

Nikonike, 

i've had similar conversations.  I do value convenience.

[deano]

Sportz Guy helped me to remember, I also have had ink cartridges dry up on me with my Canon.  Years ago when I had one of those all in one HP printers, it produced decent quality color prints, also an ink jet printer.

[nova85]

Just printed some photos on a Ink jet HP office pro 8600.  I believe I paid about $200 about 9 months ago for this printer.  Amazing quality for the price.  More than meet my needs.

[BobB]

I have a HP6600 Ink Jet all in one printer.  I get pretty decent prints if I remember to change all the settings, i.e. paper quality, picture quality to best and pixels to max.  It does however empty the cartridges pretty fast.  All 4 cartridges cost around $60.00 at Staples unless you get one of their 20% off coupons in the mail.  Just bought 2 pkgs of photo paper on sale for $19.99 on a buy-one-get-one sale.  50 sheets of photo paper 19 bucks ain't bad.