Should i even bother with a printer?

[timmyquest]

It just bugs me to think i'm going to buy a printer that limits me to prints of 8x10. I'm not quiet sure if i want to spend more on a pritner that will print larger prints as it's not every day i snap a shot that is worthy of a large print.

I'm just wondering if it would be more worth my money just to buy prints from a company when i need them.

The printer i had in mind was the canon 9600 @ $200, but that new one (dont recall the name) that they just released looks SO nice.

[SoCal69]

It really depends on your own needs, and only you can be the judge of that. For me, I have the Canon i860, which does a great job on 4x6 prints, which is the majority of my printing for photo albums, friends, family, etc. I print 8x10s occasionally for similar purposes. If I find I need the occasional (for me - very occasional) larger print, I would simply order out. In the end, I like having a decent quality photo printer around that can easily handle the small stuff (whhich satisfies most of my needs anyway).

[Scottes]

Many places can produce prints for you. Their are several online companies that are reputable - though I can't think of a single one. It may even be worthwhile to try your local camera shop.

Find out what printer they use. Then you'll need to know the true DPI so the printer won't resize on you. You want total control. Even more important you'll want to find a printer profile for this printer so you can do your color proofing at home. Don't deal with any online company that can't give you a profile for their printer. You probably won't find that a camera shop has a profile for their printer, but you may be able to find a generic one somewhere on the net. If you want to pay some cash, there are several places that will produce a profile for you. Probably cost you anywhere from $50-$75 or possibly higher. So that may not be an option.

But if you get some knowledge of the printer used then you can probably get it to produce a pretty good print. 4x6 for about $.50, 8x10 for $3-5. Cheaper than buying a printer for the occasional print.

Oh, and if you buy a printer, be prepared to waste a good amount of paper and ink before you know what you're doing. Out of the box will produce a pretty good image, but you'll want better, and that will take a few "wasted" prints. Ink and paper aren't cheap - expect about $1 cost to you for an 8x10.