[KennyM]

For a casual user an online photo lab costs about $0.39cdn for a 4X6. This seems much cheeper than buying an inexpensive photo printer, and expensive ink cartridges and photo paper. The only bargain appears to be the printer, if you need it for other uses.

[photolady]

I figured it out once that printing my own photos on my Epson 1270 counting paper and ink, cost me about a dollarUSA. In my opinion way too much to pay for prints that I printed by the dozens.

[KennyM]

They aren't making money on the hardware. Even using compatible cartridges it's too much. I think I'll keep my old printer and use the services.

[photolady]

I think I'll keep my old printer and use the services.

Good idea. The only time I print photos is for my own use, ie, to hang on my walls.

[joe2cool]

Use online printing services all the time now ............so cheap & excellent every time !

[jjb]

Excellent opinions and information. I have often wondered what the cost comparison would be and my gut feeling was always that the photolab route would make the most sense.

My question is this- does this price comparison also hold true for larger prints? After visiting a national discount stores website their prices for prints from digital are listed in US$ as:
4x6- $0.24
5x7- $0.96
8x10- $2.86

As you can see the price quadruples from 4x6 to 5x7 and triples from 5x7 to 8x10. So I am curious as to what the cost to print at home of a 8x10 would be compared to the nearly $3 cost of the discount photolab ????

One point I would also like to add is that when it comes to quality you will also get what you pay for. I don't know a great deal about photo processing but I am sure the cheaper discount labs use lower quality paper, inks, etc.
My brother-in-law has a photolab as a side business to his printing business. He can not compete pricewise with the "bigboys" but still maintains a very good custumer base. His repeat customers are those who are looking for a higher quality and better results then they can obtain from the discount stores. New customers are generally those unhappy with results they received from a discount lab.
As an example to this he says he often has people bring in pictures from an important event in their life like a wedding that they had developed at a discount lab. The wedding parties dresses in reality were a light aqua in color but in the prints they appear to have transformed to a light green tone. He says that often times a person does not recognize poor print quality unless they see 2 photos side by side printed by different locations. A print may be crisp and clear and "look good",but your memory doesn't retain every detail of the image. That beautiful red rose you took a picture of may look good, but you may not be seeing the same red that you actually photographed.

jjb

[joe2cool]

Only used online, but always checked before hand what paper is used etc......The one I use ...uses Fuji & the colours are perfect

Noticed in UK the price of all digital processing on the high street as dropped so much

[slipe]

I fill my own ink cartridges and print on Red River paper. There are some downsides to using aftermarket paper and ink. You have to profile for the combination and quality is just a slight step below, but it is hard to see. I have also read that even the best aftermarket ink doesn’t have as good fade characteristics. I keep a set of canon cartridges and some Canon paper for anything I might want to frame and put on the wall. Unfortunately Canon doesn’t make panorama paper.

For just printing small shapshots to pass around Red River had some pretty nice paper on sale for 20c a sheet that works fine. I print snapshots at the 4:3 ratio of the camera, so 4 inch prints come out 4 X 5.33. I think they look better than 4 X 6 and I don’t have to account for cropping when I shoot. I can fit 4 on a sheet of 8.5 X 11 paper. So 5c a picture for paper and maybe another 2c for ink gives pretty cheap prints. If you have a borderless printer you can put the images in the corner so you have to trim only two sides of each picture.

You can put only two 5 X 7s on a sheet so the price is about 14c each for them. I actually print more in 5 X 7 as the pictures are nicer.

I put a small high intensity lamp under the edge of my trimmer so the shadow of the edge makes the trimming easy and accurate. It is still a lot more of a hassle than just printing on pre-sized paper.

To answer jjb’s question, it probably costs $2 for an 8 X 10 using Canon paper and ink. For an Epson the paper is a little less expensive but ink costs are a little higher. I don’t think you can match the online 4 X 6 price using pre-cut factory paper and ink, and you probably can’t match the 5 X 7 price unless you put two on a sheet of 8.5 X 11 paper. Even then you wouldn’t do better than break even. For 8 X 10 you can probably print a little cheaper than the prices you posted.

But that doesn’t depreciate the printer. You can get a lot of photos printed for the price of a photo printer. Even if you refill and profile for aftermarket paper you would have to just prefer printing yourself to make a photo printer viable IMO.

[buck52]

Howdy

slipe sumed it up...

Let a lab do your printing unless you have the time, patience and cash to do it all yourself

buck

[KennyM]

Lots of great info and much appreciated.

[photolady]

Some nice info there slipe, thanks. My Epson paper is a bit more expensive, averages out to be about .79 per sheet. I've have considered REd River paper but have never ordered any as yet. There was another company I used to get sample papers from but can't remember the name of it right now. Some digital paper company in CA.

[uly7]

Hola
In my town, (Modesto, California)there are some print shops that may be cheaper than the photo-lab stores, however, the glossy paper that they use, it's not even close in quality than the normal photo-lab. The paper use in photo-labs it is (they say) gurante 200 years at least, that the paper will retain their original quality. Even though it's hard to believe, the quality is way much superior than the print shops. I'm in the university, and they just got a new printer, which they said , it cost the school more that $50,000.00 dlls. and the quality, although, much better than the prinshops, it's not as "vivid" as the photo labs. So, what are the chances to my $100.00 dlls printer? Not much.
If I got a picture (photo) that I need to be in the the best possible, I'll go to the photo lab.
In my opinion, learning to calibrate and synchronize my monitor, my program (photoshop for example) and my printer, in order to develop a decent pictures, it's way to complicated, not to mention, to expensive for me.
Uly7