Do you print or not?

[Deckyon]

There has been a lot of discussion about printers on this board. I am starting a new one... Especially for the digital camera world, getting prints is not necessarily needed in all cases.

Do you print images? If so, with what printer and how many, in an average month, do you print? Or, do you take a photo CD to a print house and get the images printed?

For me, I do print on occasion. I have an Epson Photo Stylus 820 printer I bought for $79 UDS new. The refills cost me $20 USD for color and $21 USD for Black. I generally print sheets of 4x6s and buy the Epson Premium Photo Gloss paper at 100 sheets for $15 USD.

I will print about 5 photos in an average month. I generally only print photos that I like and want to show off to others. Most of the people I give the photos to want them in digital JPG format anyway. My parents, who also have a digital camera, still want the family snapshots I take to be printed in the 4x6 format for their albums.

I print mine from my own printer at home. I have not yet tried to print at a printing house.

[stoneylonesome]

I just replaced my Canon 600e printer with the new Canon i960 photo printer I print on average 10 or so a month the ones I want to share or give to my mom. the ink on the canon is fairly inexpensive in the fact you only have to replace the one color ink tank that runs out. I print mostly on Kodak photo pro both 8-1/2x11 and 4x6 the Canon i960 has a 4x6 holder that fits over the 8-1/2x11 so you don't have to remove your paper
the ink tanks 6 in this printer sell for about $8 to &11 dollars each.

[gandini]

I'll answer the original question with my stats: 3 years of G1 and G3, over 8000 exposures, number of prints: zero.
I have email, a photo website, photoSig, photo.net, a Kodak digital picture frame, a desktop and a laptop. I'm never far from my photographs!

cheers,

[Carne Voodoo]

I used Longs for the first prints I have made.

At 45 cents a print (for one hour service, I think the overnight ones are cheaper) my prints came out excellent! I like white borders on my photos and they had no problem with that.

The quality was amazing.


There's another shop by my house that I would trust for bigger than 4x6 or if I needed something to be perfect. I think this way will be the future, as opposed to printing at home. It is fast, clean, and it never breaks.

[GordonInJapan]

I like to print landscapes on panaramic photo paper 210mm x 590mm (ish).
Some of the photostiched images come out quite nicely and are a hit with the relatives.
I use an Epson 860 printer and get half decent results considering it wasnt designed specifically for photos.

The cost in Australia to get an A4 print from a photo store was around $12.00. Epson A4 photo Paper was $24.95 for 20 sheets.

[pcguy113]

I print everything 8x10 and under.

Use Canon i960, Canon paper.

On average, about 50 prints per week in reprints plus weddings, portraits, etc.

I like having full control and not having to wait.

Don

[Cobra351]

I've printed out quite a bit, I have Sam's Club (a large store in the US) do it. 4x6 is about $.19, a 5x7 is about $.39 and an 8x10 which I normally do is only $1.96. Great deal in my opinion. They all have come out very nicely so far too.

[mahanee]

almost never print my photo for my self keeping ..
i`d rather store it into a CD n send it to someone or keep it 4 myself ..

or if they don`t have a PC, i make it into a VCD so they can see a slide show with their VCD/DVD player

for printing needed, i usually/always print it into 10R (25cm x 30 cm) size .. most of my best photos of my self n send to my parent :D

[Man-Fai Wong]

I print on occasion and generally only the ones I like a lot -- or will give to family and friends. There's still something about having hardcopy prints that's very different from viewing on a monitor even though I've started using a web-based gallery now.

For one thing, I don't always want to have to turn on a computer and/or go look at a monitor to see photos -- and sometimes, it's really about enhancing an environment more than about actively looking at photos. And most other people whether family or friends still love to look through photo albums together, at a table over some snack and tea/coffee, etc. There's a social/communal aspect to sharing photographic moments, etc. that just won't work so well (or at all) on a smallish monitor at a computer workstation area. And using the video projection method isn't always feasible nor quite the same either -- and yes, I do have a large-ish HD RPTV I could use for that.

RE: the kind of printer I use, I go w/ dye-sub for 4x6 home use now. Used to use inkjet, but don't really like the hassle nor the fading nor the dithering quality in fine gradients and certain color tones. The fading might be less of an issue nowadays, but the other issues are still there. Inkjet seems to work better for enlargements that you might hang on a wall and won't be looking too closely.

If I intend to print a sizeable batch or an enlargement, I will just use a printing service instead since prices have come down a lot. Haven't found one to use regularly yet, but then again, I haven't done it much yet. I hear good things about Adorama (and the prices are quite good though not rock bottom), so I will give them at least a good try real soon. Snapfish seemed ok while my local Genovese drug store sucked badly. Might also give Costco a try since their prices are so low.

_Man_

[OuttaFocus]

Print all the way! I print everything on my HP D-145 all in one. I usually get about 200 prints, a combination of 8X10, 5X7 & 4X6. Ink cartridges refills cost about $65.00 for 2 color & one B&W. I usually wait until Costco has a rebate on Kodak Premium paper and stock up. Nothing beats snapping away all day and looking at the prints that night.
Now the only thing I am searching for is a place that prints quality posters cheaply.

[Tbel]

If you go to this website

http://www.photo.net/adorama-pro-lab/[/url]

You can get a free 8X10 fro adorama (+shipping)
not a bad way to try their service.
I used it and it cost me as much for shipping as I would have spent locally, but the quality was good

[r2d2]

if you are going to print at a place like Costco or Longs. Do you need to format the image in Photoshop to be what ever size you are planning to print? ie- size the image to 4x6 if I am plan to print 4x6?

This printing thing is throwing me for a loop. I know it cant be that hard. maybe I am thinking too much..

[tommy_t]

I've never been big on printing pics at home (considering my HP 895 doesn't exactly print a good photo).

Today I picked up the Canon i850 and I plan to go nuts with it. Along with that Canon has brought out their 50-pack matte photo paper for dirt cheap (not quite as nice as their Photo Paper Pro but still a great resolution paper).

I'll be printing occasional photos at home and ordering my large prints on the net. Most of my stuff will still remain on CD's.

[civis]

r2d2 wrote:
if you are going to print at a place like Costco or Longs. Do you need to format the image in Photoshop to be what ever size you are planning to print? ie- size the image to 4x6 if I am plan to print 4x6?

This printing thing is throwing me for a loop. I know it cant be that hard. maybe I am thinking too much..

You might (or might not) find some useful info at this link:

http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/und_resolution.shtml