Is it worth getting a photo printer?

[nerwin]

I normally send my photos out to be printed but I typically always get larger size prints but when it comes to smaller ones I would rather print them here at home. To be able to print 8 x 12 or even a little larger would be nice but these printers are pretty pricy for decent ones.

Would it be worth to spend the money on a nice larger format printer? Or is it just cheaper to send them out to be printed and just wait a week or two to get them?

 

[KenC]

This choice depends on a lot of factors and it's difficult to suggest what someone else should do. All I can say is that I had photo printers for about ten years and then gave up printing about five years ago. The cost of maintaining the printer just didn't make sense to me. When I printed a lot, then obviously I spent a lot on ink and paper, and also shortened the life of the printer. When I didn't, the heads tended to clog and I used a lot of ink anyway trying to clear them. As I shared photos more and more in digital form it made much less sense to have a printer.

 

[nerwin]

This choice depends on a lot of factors and it's difficult to suggest what someone else should do. All I can say is that I had photo printers for about ten years and then gave up printing about five years ago. The cost of maintaining the printer just didn't make sense to me. When I printed a lot, then obviously I spent a lot on ink and paper, and also shortened the life of the printer. When I didn't, the heads tended to clog and I used a lot of ink anyway trying to clear them. As I shared photos more and more in digital form it made much less sense to have a printer.

Its a tough decision because I love seeing my photos in printed form, its a lot different than digital. But I just don't like having to wait a week or two for a small print. But its still probably cheaper than buying a nice photo printer and spending the money on ink and paper and then maintaining which I'll be terrible at.

I brought the question up because my printer is dying and I need to get a new one soon..just haven't decided which way to go yet.

 

[KenC]

I also love prints. What made this transition easier for me was finding a local photo printing guy who is very good, with fairly reasonable pricing. I bring stuff in from time to time and sit there as he pulls up the images on his screen and I can tell him exactly what I'm looking for and get it.

This guy has an actual shop with industrial printers, but I have known a few people who do it out of their houses with good home photo printers. If there isn't a shop where you are there still may be a home business.

 

[jaomul]

You can buy very good printers relatively cheap. I have a Canon pixma is4800 and a Canon pixma ip6500. One ix a4 the other is a3+, one is practically identical to the other apart from size.

Both these printers are capable of great colour printing. Both are fairly low maintenance, I just print a 5x7 if there idle a while to keep things ticking over.

If you want to print black and white though, you have to spend the dough

 

[nerwin]

You can buy very good printers relatively cheap. I have a Canon pixma is4800 and a Canon pixma ip6500. One ix a4 the other is a3+, one is practically identical to the other apart from size.

Both these printers are capable of great colour printing. Both are fairly low maintenance, I just print a 5x7 if there idle a while to keep things ticking over.

If you want to print black and white though, you have to spend the dough

Why would monochrome be harder to print?

 

[gsgary]

You can buy very good printers relatively cheap. I have a Canon pixma is4800 and a Canon pixma ip6500. One ix a4 the other is a3+, one is practically identical to the other apart from size.

Both these printers are capable of great colour printing. Both are fairly low maintenance, I just print a 5x7 if there idle a while to keep things ticking over.

If you want to print black and white though, you have to spend the dough

Why would monochrome be harder to print?

Try printing a b+w on a cheap printer and you will see

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[nerwin]

You can buy very good printers relatively cheap. I have a Canon pixma is4800 and a Canon pixma ip6500. One ix a4 the other is a3+, one is practically identical to the other apart from size.

Both these printers are capable of great colour printing. Both are fairly low maintenance, I just print a 5x7 if there idle a while to keep things ticking over.

If you want to print black and white though, you have to spend the dough

Why would monochrome be harder to print?

Try printing a b+w on a cheap printer and you will see

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

I have a cheap printer, recycled black ink and cheap photo paper. What could go wrong?

Seriously, I'm going to do it.

 

[gsgary]

You can buy very good printers relatively cheap. I have a Canon pixma is4800 and a Canon pixma ip6500. One ix a4 the other is a3+, one is practically identical to the other apart from size.

Both these printers are capable of great colour printing. Both are fairly low maintenance, I just print a 5x7 if there idle a while to keep things ticking over.

If you want to print black and white though, you have to spend the dough

Why would monochrome be harder to print?

Try printing a b+w on a cheap printer and you will see

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

I have a cheap printer, recycled black ink and cheap photo paper. What could go wrong?

Have you tried?

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[nerwin]

You can buy very good printers relatively cheap. I have a Canon pixma is4800 and a Canon pixma ip6500. One ix a4 the other is a3+, one is practically identical to the other apart from size.

Both these printers are capable of great colour printing. Both are fairly low maintenance, I just print a 5x7 if there idle a while to keep things ticking over.

If you want to print black and white though, you have to spend the dough

Why would monochrome be harder to print?

Try printing a b+w on a cheap printer and you will see

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

I have a cheap printer, recycled black ink and cheap photo paper. What could go wrong?

Have you tried?

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

Nope, but I'm going to right now.

 

[jcdeboever]

You can buy very good printers relatively cheap. I have a Canon pixma is4800 and a Canon pixma ip6500. One ix a4 the other is a3+, one is practically identical to the other apart from size.

Both these printers are capable of great colour printing. Both are fairly low maintenance, I just print a 5x7 if there idle a while to keep things ticking over.

If you want to print black and white though, you have to spend the dough

Why would monochrome be harder to print?

Because regular consumer type printers can't get the blacks right. Everything normally turns out too green, yellow, or in simple terms, the black is not black or rich enough. I have tried everything I know of and they just are never quite right. Finally, I surmised it's mainly the ink as I cracked one black cartridge open and using a palette knife, evenly smeared some on a piece of glass and it had a strong yellow tint as opposed to a blue (Canon). A trick I learned in custom painting when a customer wanted a jet black paint job. I always added blue to get it jet black.

 

[gsgary]

You can buy very good printers relatively cheap. I have a Canon pixma is4800 and a Canon pixma ip6500. One ix a4 the other is a3+, one is practically identical to the other apart from size.

Both these printers are capable of great colour printing. Both are fairly low maintenance, I just print a 5x7 if there idle a while to keep things ticking over.

If you want to print black and white though, you have to spend the dough

Why would monochrome be harder to print?

Try printing a b+w on a cheap printer and you will see

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

I have a cheap printer, recycled black ink and cheap photo paper. What could go wrong?

Have you tried?

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

Nope, but I'm going to right now.

For B+W is wouldn't buy a printer with less than 12 inks but I do all my B+W in the darkroom

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk

 

[Gary A.]

The large Canon printers do a very nice job. For me, printing, especially large prints (13x19), completes the photographer cycle.

 

[nerwin]

I only have a black ink cartridge in my printer. The color one is there and its new, but wont work for some reason. So I have it set to print using the black cartridge only.

I forced my printer is use 1200dpi. My printer is a HP Deskjet 6980 for those who were wondering.

Hahaha. Yup...I'm bored.

But yeah it isn't that great. I have several black and white photos I had printed at a shop and they look identical to the digital files.

 

[Gary A.]

Frame It!