Prints

mentos_007

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Today I was browsking my digital archives of photos and I realized that I have few prints. Often, when my friends come to visit me they want to see my photos. I usually just turned on my computer and showed them. But yesterday I was at my friends home, we were browsing through his photographs (prints) and I realized it is much....nicer.... when you can actually "touch" the photo. so today I was browsing my archives and picked up a few photos I'd like to have pronted. but now, here goes a question.. should I have big prints donr... like 30x40 cm (image size for expositions) - the pros here are that the photos often look better when are printed in big sizes.. but here goes costs as well...

or should I have small 13x18 cm prints done, just for previews and a few of the best ones in big size? Btw. do you print your digital images in a lab? or they stay only in digital archive? how do you organize ths?
 
I print pictures for people to look at at 7x5, but I'm trying to push towards 9x6 to match the aspect ratio better. I don't really print many things big for the same reason. If you've got a good shot though, it's worth printing big to show people the difference between a snapshot and a good photo.

Rob
 
If they are just shots of friend I would go with a 4x6 (inches) maybe 5x7 but if your takling about photgraphs of landscapes, subjects, etc. I would say go bigger. something like 9x14 or 10x15 (just to keep the aspect ratios correct) would look great. It may be a bit expensive to get them printed at a decent shop. You may want to think about investing in a wider printer. You can get 13" wide printers for around 500 USD that print stunning photos. I find its worth it because if you go to an actual print shop you will spend 500 on printing 20-30 photos (maybe more photos depending on there pricing) at a large size anyway. PLus its great to have a printer like that at your disposal, if a friend likes a print you can just print him/her out one right there rather than having to go to a shop and wait a day.
 
D-50 said:
You may want to think about investing in a wider printer. You can get 13" wide printers for around 500 USD that print stunning photos. I find its worth it because if you go to an actual print shop you will spend 500 on printing 20-30 photos (maybe more photos depending on there pricing) at a large size anyway.

If you're being charged close to $500 for 20-30 photos then you're being massively over charged.
A 30x20 print in the UK costs less than £19. Buying a 13" printer will only let you print up to that size which costs less than £2 here.
I'd advise against buying a printer for your own prints - it's cheaper getting them printed for you. In the UK i can get 50 prints at 7x5 for under £10 or 100 for £15.

You can't say a 13" printer will be cheaper than getting 20-30 prints done because the 13" printer cannot print the images you say cost $500 for 20-30.
 
Im not sayign one photo costs $500, Im saying 20-30 photos at sizes 10"x14" or 13" by 19" will cost roughly that much. If my conversions are correct your saying you can get a 13"19" print done for $4 USD. I would doubt the quality of that print would be of any quality. I had looked into professional print shops who print on high quality photo papers with high quality inks and a 13x19 will cost around $15-$20 USD if not more. Im not sure if you have "copy cops" or "staples" in the UK but if you are refering to getting prints done at those types of places you are not getting quality at all. Also I guess you can get a bunch or 4x6's or 5x7's done at a photoshop/developer for what you say but ask them to do a 13x19 or better yet a 13"x 30" and you'll get a much different price if they can do it at all. What Im saying is if your looking to print a lot of large photos it is worth it to get a 13" wide printer and do it yourself. Over the long term you will save a lot of money.
 
I can get 15x10 inch prints for £1.99 each. The quality is excellent and I've sold several. They're printed by Jessops - a large UK chain of photographic shops.

Colourmailer, Photodeal and photobox (all online UK printers) all print various sizes at excellent quality.
I've printed several large images and sold them with no complaints about quality and received several compliments.
A 30x10 print can be done for around £15, 18x12 for £8, 24x16 for £12.
None of the above prints can be printed by a 13" printer and the quality from the online printers/labs is excellent. The price you quote for a 13x19 (20USD) is similar to my price of £8 for a 12x18.

The smaller size prints eg 6x4 or 7x5 are done by more mainstream places and 100 can be done for £15.

I've found that depending on what size i want, will determine where i go for my prints. I used to have a printer but printing my own shots was too expensive and used a ton of ink. I found that proper printers could print better quality on proper photographic paper.

I can't figure how buying a printer that will match the quality of a professional lab and buying loads of ink is cheaper than getting a lab to do it. You may be able to get ink for buttons but in the UK, replacing a black cartridge and a colour one can be almost as expensive as buying a new printer.

I'm pretty sure if i bought a large printer, and printed 20-30 photos at 18x12, i'd have to buy replacement ink cartridges before my run of 20-30 was done. Add to that the paper, time and any mistakes i make (which i don't pay for at a lab) then I'd be fairly sure i'd have spent more than a lab would charge for the same shots.
 
thanks guys! I think I will start spending some cash regularly on prints 13x19''.
this is the size of prints that are used on exhibitions and I already had a few of my photos exhibited. but only the best pics, the worst but still very good I'd print in A4 size... thanks for your suggestions
 
Mentos sorry for highjacking your thread I feel we have gotten away from your question but this is the last I have to say about self printing vs. lab printing excluding the 16x24 my printer can print any of the sizes you mentioned. Your right about the ink running out before you print 30 large photos but to buy a complete set of inks only costs about $100USD not $500 I have never ran out of all 8 inks at once either I have printed at least 30 photos including a couple 9x36 inchers on my printer and have gone through about 12 cartirdges total. Personally I like being able to print my own photos I like the control. I find using a luster photo paper delivers result of the same quality as a print shop. If Im framing then an enhanced matte does fine and that paper is reasonably priced. When it comes down to it I belive over the long term you will save money if you buy a good printer. If your only printing 10 shots definately go with a lab but I like to constantly change the photogaphy in my apartment and I print many photos for friends and family so being able to do it at home suits me well. As for mess ups I have been able to refine my color matching skills however if Im unsure I wil do a test print at a size of 1.5x4 inches to see if the color is right. If you do test prints at full size you will definately eat up your ink. Excluding the cost of the printer itself to print a 13x19 photo costs me roughly $5 depending on the paper and the majority of that cost is ink.
 
thanks D-50... well the funny thing is that I cannot so easily compare prices with $ or Pounds. simply because prints are much cheaper here.. the best lab in the city - Kodak (prints photos on Frontier lab), and the most expensive one - can print me photos 13x19 inches for exactly $3.80.

The price of the printer is the same as in your country because such equipment is simply imported from abroad and the prices are the same.

I was thinking about starting my own big portfolio, but not a standart one... I was thinking about big prints to show to my friends or strangers willing to see my work.

on the contrary, I was considering taking offset print prints on a quite thick paper. I took 5 already an one 13x19 inches print costs me...$1.20 which is almost nothing. the quality is very good to show people, but not good enough (IMO) to put into frames and send for an exhibition. So, is it worth to take some offset prints and then wait and wait and wait which of my shots will be exhibited, or just take more expensive prints in the lab, on a great kodak photo paper (19x13'' too), but...then I will be forced to take less prints ... but in future I'd be able to frame this exact prints, not do them again!
 
1.20 for a 13x19 that is a great deal.... before I got my printer I called around to photolabs and their prices were around $20 a photo. I guess Im in the wrong country. although I am gald I have my own printer granted I cant print for that cheap but the convieniece factor is great. After a day of shooting I can come home edit a photo, print it, build a frame if need be and frame it without the hassle of dealing with a store and making the drive, but for 1.20 I may reconsider.
 

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