Home printing

Is home printing becoming a dying art form? As evidence- in my region the local retailers that used to stock varieties of inks and papers have drastically downsized their selections.
My local Best Buy doesn't stock the ink for my Pixma Pro 9000 any longer. And the Office Max and Office Depots haves seriously scaled back their photo paper selections.
Use of the internet to purchase from online retailers like Adorama or B&H is an option, but sometimes one may need supplies quicker than UPS can deliver.

I buy all my printing supplies on the web, no local suppliers. Do not think that it says anything about home printing dying, just not enough volume for the box stores. Side note, time to get the humidifier going in your print room!

I believe its photography in general that is less popular than it once was. Home printing was never a cheap option so only us control freaks tend to prefer it!

When it comes to home printing what I would really kill for is a reasonably priced digital head for an enlarger. Printing direct to Ilford B&W papers, and Ciba-Chrome for the colour work, would be absolutely brilliant. Just think all the advantages of Photoshop and the authentic darkroom experience to boot.

Alan

Lowner wrote in post #17274740
I believe its photography in general that is less popular than it once was. Home printing was never a cheap option so only us control freaks tend to prefer it!

Really?! Have you seen how much floor space in an electronics store (Best Buy) is devoted to photography? DSLRs, Mirrorless, P+S, waterproof, you name it... it's selling! They even stock a pretty good selection of accessories for the person just starting out too. You didn't see that 10 years ago- or even like 5.

A few years ago, I could be the only photographer at different locations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, now you have to wait in line or get there really early to get first dibs on the best spot to set up your tripod!

On home printing.... yea it's a little work, but you can get a good printer pretty cheap and print on nice papers (I like Red River) for close to the cost a pro-lab is charging. Not Walgreens or Costco prints, but pro-grade prints.

Lowner wrote in post #17274740
Home printing... only us control freaks tend to prefer it!

I probably would have used the term "quality fanatic." Home printing, when done using professional equipment and by somebody who knows what they are doing, surpasses even the best "custom printing" at upscale labs. I've tested and compared many times.

It all boils down to how much you love and value your art, and how important it is to you that people who purchase it hang the best.

You either care about your work equal to a walgreens, sam's club or costco print, or you value it enough to lovingly craft a fine art print on a good fine art paper.

Edit:

Lowner wrote in post #17274740
I believe its photography in general that is less popular

I don't think it is necessarily less popular as much as truly good work has been diluted by people who know so little about good pictures that they will hold a smartphone or tablet in the air, click a shot, and accept what they get. Plus, heading more toward the aficionados, there's the DSLR gear heads who know a lot about bayer layers, but really don't know how to compose a good shot. All this makes it "appear" as tho photography is less popular, but the good work is still out there.

You used to have to get your photos on to paper if you wanted to show them to people (or the hassle of projecting slides). Now there's a lot more mediums, many more convenient than prints; social media and other internet sites, laptops, tablets, digital picture frames and phones. Does a large print trump looking at a photo on someone's phone? Sure, but just as "the best camera in the world is the one you have with you right now", "the best photo sharing method in the world is the one you have with you right now." I can carry my life's portfolio around with me 24/7 on my phone or share a jpg with somebody I've never met in person. It's a lot less practical to do either of those with paper.

More photos than ever are being taken but fewer than ever must be getting printed. I believe the mass-market have all but given being interested in printing their work. So it's only a subset of more dedicated photographers that are still printing in serious quantities to justify home equipment. Everyone else isn't printing or small enough amounts that only photo labs make economic sense.

myphotographic wrote in post #17277989
...... So it's only a subset of more dedicated photographers that are still printing in serious quantities to justify home equipment. Everyone else isn't printing or small enough amounts that only photo labs make economic sense.

Funny you should say that. Just this last weekend I decided it was about time I got some prints done so I walked in my local shop with 37 pics on a memory card hoping to get some prints and came out with no prints stunned at the cost.

The old fashioned 6x4s were a reasonable enough price but if I wanted anything 10x8 or larger or to get a panorama done it was, for me, prohibitively priced.

In the past I've printed at work on an epson r1900 and been very happy with the results. I am now seriously considering getting a printer for home.

StayFrosty wrote in post #17278997
Funny you should say that. Just this last weekend I decided it was about time I got some prints done so I walked in my local shop with 37 pics on a memory card hoping to get some prints and came out with no prints stunned at the cost.

The old fashioned 6x4s were a reasonable enough price but if I wanted anything 10x8 or larger or to get a panorama done it was, for me, prohibitively priced.

In the past I've printed at work on an epson r1900 and been very happy with the results. I am now seriously considering getting a printer for home.

Try DS Colour Labs, they have 16×12 prints on Fuji paper for only £1.15 each. The work is really good, I know of other members here who use these prints for competition entries, and they have regularly won prizes. So the quality is good. They will ship same day if ordered before 1pm. I usually use the standard RM delivery option now as it is half the price of courier, and usually seems to get here next day anyway.

Alan

Thanks for that link I'll try them out.

The prices don't seem to get ridiculous when you go larger and the panoramic seem very cheap.

Reporting back, I tried DS Colour Labs, I got
1xPano 36x12
1xPano 32x12
1x 36x12
1x 32x12

All on the Lustre Fujifilm paper.
It was £22.69 including next day courier delivery (due to the size of the panoramas) and I'm very happy with the results.

They were slightly darker than I expected but frankly it's put the idea of getting a home printer straight to bed and I will definitely be using these guys again.

Thank you very much BigAl007 for the recommendation!

StayFrosty wrote in post #17291970
They were slightly darker than I expected

May be due to your own monitor being too bright? Do you calibrate it?

As standard from the manufacturer they are always waaay too bright!

If you are not using a calibrated monitor, that also includes setting brightness, then it is not surprising that your prints come out a bit dark. If you are using a monitor that is set to anything like factory brightness levels while doing any editing you are going to get very dark results. Most people who are editing and doing prints are using monitors with the brightness down around 20%, while factory is often up above 80%!

Even if you are allowing them to do auto-correction a really bright monitor might make things so dark that the auto-adjustment won't compensate. I use the pro service with DSCL with no adjustments, and my prints are almost an exact match to my screen, but as I say it is turned way down brightness wise.

I have been looking at new computers lately and I think the only reason that I do not find the displays objectionably bright is the high levels of ambient light in the stores. Not really good at home though.

Alan

No my monitor is not calibrated, it's very likely too bright and saturated for print work. I will compensate for it next time I get some prints done.

Thanks again for the recomendation I'm very happy with the prints and will now start having a look around for frames and get some more done, maybe trying out different papers etc.