get printed or print yourself?

I've never considered getting my shots printed at a store (ie. OfficeMax). I thought it was a bit pricey just for a 6x4.

As I have started printing more now that I'm getting many "print-worthy" shots, I've found that the cost is much higher than it used to be. Color cartridges alone are ~ $35 each while 40 sheets of Kodak's best photo paper are $28.

The real killer here is the ink. Today, I just printed around 8 shots to find my ink cartridge slightly below 50% full. Keep in mind that I'm printing at full blast quality for the printer. I'd rather have no picture than a lousy quality one.

What do you guys suggest I do? I love printing my photos, and I do it all the time. I'd like a cheap and clean method. Should I just get the junk printed at the store? Will it be quicker/easier/cheaper​?

By the way, if I want my shots printed at the store, can I just edit my RAW shots in CS2 and put the .jpegs at full resolution (3456x2304) onto a CD for them to print? How does it work?

Thanks!

Do you have a WalMart, Walgreens, Payless drug, Costco, Sams Club or other discount store nearby? I now there are similar chains in the East, I just forget the names. Most do prints (4x6 basic snapshot size) for about $0.19 each, sometimes less for larger orders. Most allow you to either send them in via the Internet or bring them in on flash memory or CD, and pop them into a viewer where you select the ones you want on a touch screen.

Costco and some Sam's and WalMarts do enlargements as well. My local Costco gets $1.99 for an 8x10 or 11x14, and $2.99 for a 12x18 printed on fuji crystal archive paper.
These are real photos, not ink-jet prints that are more likely to fade.

You can't come close to printing as cheaply at home. I only print proofs at home, then send all final output to my local Costco.

I would never consider printing at home... I could never understand why som people would prefer to keep to replacing their printer cartridges when they could get a better quality print for a reasonable price at either a local or on-line lab.

Costco is plenty good enough for me.

If I'm selling the photo, I go to a local professional lab. If it's just snapshots, Wally World or Sam's Club is okay.

I upload my pictures to Shutterfly.com or Snapfish.com and they send it to me. I have to give them a little money though.

Printing 6x4's are usually less than $.20? Jeez, I would've done that awhile ago! I thought they were $.70+!

I don't happen to have a Walmart nearby, but I do have a Costco. I don't mind printing 6x4's just for the price, but I do enjoy the large 8x10 size. $2 seems pretty expensive, especially when I want many photos printed large. I guess that's just a symptom of the "much bigger" size (gee...I guess). Perhaps I'll just have to compromise between which shots I wanted printed big and which printed small.

How do you guys usually get your shots printed? Print 'em big? Print 'em small? Print more small and a few large?

By the way, how much do 6x4's cost at Costco? I'm struggling to find the price on their website.

I always print online unless I need a print 'right now' for a family friend.. I get 6x4s at 6p (4c?) each and quality is far better than I can get and less hassle. I would never do my own large prints, its not cost effective.

Calzinger,

Have you ever tried printing the same image at various resolutions to see what they look like side-by-side?

I may be chided for this but more often than not the highest/best setting is doing nothing but wasting ink.

Heresy UncleDoug! But thank you for saying it.

Are you saying that printing an 8x10 at 600 DPI uses more ink than an 8x10 printed at 180 DPI?

I can't see how this would make a noticable difference in ink usage...

Check out Winkflash. A 4x6 is .12 and only .99 to ship any size order.

http://winkflash.com/

Yup... but it is all on the printer-end of things, not the file side.

Using the above numbers as an example.
600 dpi = 360,000 dpsi(dots or ink droplets per square inch)
180 dpi = 32,400 dpsi(dots or ink droplets per square inch)
The 180 dpi print run uses about 9% of the 600 dpi print run.

When we first got our Roland about 5 years ago we were printing everything in "vPhoto" mode(highest resolution) thinking higher DPI was better. We were going through 220cc carts of ink like there was no tomorrow.
Since I'm now printing at lower resolutions most of the time our ink usage is cut in half and not one of our clients has asked to go back to vPhoto, except in special circumstances. This realy factors in when you are printing on thirsty media such as rag papers. At the higher resolutions too much ink gets laid down and you get warping of the media and the potential for a head strike, ouch!

If I have a Costco nearby, I'll definitely use their service for anything over 8x10. Up to 8x10 I use my own Canon printer.

Just to clarify my previouys post, what affects ink usage is what resolution the printer is set to run at. I.e. regular, super, photo, etc... which usually tanslates into an asscending scale of printing resolution.

File resolution will not affect ink usage.