Photo Printing...

[HUM469]

Ok, there has been a little talk before on here, but I was wondering what any of you all recommend or use in the way of printing out your photos. But first a little background...

Since getting my new Sony 828 in December, I have taken A LOT of photographs. That is the beauty of digital photography, it has not yet cost me a dime to practice, edit, view on the computer here or my big screen TV, and improve my skill. All along, I have occasionally printed a picture or two on my relatively old Canon printer which puts out GREAT results, but it is SLOW!. Therefor, I have printed very, very few.

The trouble then comes from the fact that I now have 2000 images that I wish to keep forever. I have to remove them from my hard drive because at 8 megapixels, they are massive. I have them all properly archived on cds, a web site data vault, and back up tapes. I am not worried about loosing them, but I do want to be able to re-scan them in that unlikely event. But already I spend more time on my computer than I would like, so I want all 2000 on paper as well. That way, when I do not feel like spending another hour on this awful machine that is sucking me dry, I can still enjoy my work and art, plan additional big prints I wish to make later, or simply remenice with family and friends out on the patio or what have you.

To solve these problems, I must print 2000 4 X 6's. The questions are, should I use a shop, should I use a dedicated photo printer, and which shop or printer should I trust? I know that the pro shop (either here in Phoenix or an online service) would be much faster than a printer. But at least it seems like the printer is cheaper in the long run, particularly since I can just plug the camera in after future trips and dump pictures to paper and to the digital world without any additional thought or effort. I know tha the online print services are cheaper than the local ones too, but I have heard a lot of horror stories about quality and such. Therefor, I know there are some fairly serious photogs on here, what are you guys using or would you recomend if you were in my situation? I asked on several photography boards I am on, but everyone wants to lecture me on digital archiving and how much easier it is. I know that, now I want something different!

Thank you all in advance.
_________________
-Dylan Anderson
(602) 628-4327
Consultant
Real Estate Executive to AZ
Special Projects Manager, AZCDE.com

[BoyNhisDog]

Well you want what you want. I know how that goes.

Linda has been after me to start printing my work in a serious manner so she can gift out some matted, framed prints. There is a whole art and science to digital printing, far more than many suspect. All of the answers are in this book; Mastering Digital Printing, Second Edition by Harold Johnson. You can see it Here

It will answer every question you have up there. It talks about the techniques required, color management, equipment and supplies. It talks about professional labs and the advantages of using either your own or sending the work out.

I am part way through the book but have a couple more books on Photoshop CS2 coming with about 1000 pages to read between them so the printing is going to take a while longer than Linda has anticipated. I will get some good stuff to her eventually.

I do believe I am going to start out with a Canon printer that will do 8.5x11 and move up later. The bigger printers cost a lot. Epson, one of the premier companys has some very nice, very expensive printers that suck ink like cool-aid and clog if you do not use them all the time. That is the word around the campfire anyway. The Canon i960 looks like a great little printer to learn on.

Good luck with your work.
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Seize from every moment its unique novelty and do not prepare your joys
- Andre Gide

[HUM469]

Thank you very much for the reply, I will have to pick that up some time soon. As for printers, my 8000 series Canon does do a very good job, and is fairly economic, but it would take about 6 years I am betting to get through all that printing. That is why I thought about one of the little bitty ones because supposedly they are fast and fairly cheap to operate. As for bigger prints, I really like the Canon i9900 bacause I have found it to be a lot faster than my current printer, but I am undecided on whether the 30 second 4 X 6 figure is really correct. Even then, I would still need about 17 hours to print everything though, not counting adding more paper A LOT, changing ink tanks, and sitting telling the next one to print, and the next one, and then....

Has anyone used the little thermal printers (canon, sony, or whatever), the Epson PictureMate, or any of the cheaper pro shops to let me know what to expect?
_________________
-Dylan Anderson
(602) 628-4327
Consultant
Real Estate Executive to AZ
Special Projects Manager, AZCDE.com

[desertgirl]

I have had good success at printing at Ritz Camera from digital media ..ist expensive but had no issues with Image quality/color etc. Do not do the prints at the kiosk though ...burn a CD and let them run it through their machine .. I think I ended up paying 17c/print ...
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Photos: http://www.pbase.com/desertgirl/galleries
Life is but a dream ...there is no end to what you can dream!

[thesuperstitions]

This is a little off-subject but... I've been using Canon printers for quite some time and like that the ink tanks are individual, so that you don't have to buy a whole set at a time. Also, and the real reason for the post, I've found a site where you can buy new cartridges at rock-bottom prices. I've printed using the Canon cartridges and the ones I purchased at this site and can see no difference whatesoever. They carry cartridges for many brands, but since I'm only using Canon, I can't say if their prices are as good on, say, Epson replacements. For instance, a Canon photo-cyan at Best Buy online is $11.99. At this site, it's $1.39!!!!

Here's the site.

Hope this helps in your decision-making

[RedRoxx44]

I have the Canon i960 and have been using it for a while. Get those cheaper cartidges but to get really excellent prints at 8.5 X 11 I found the expensive Canon photo paper gets the best results.
It is not so critical on 4 X 6's.
I also have an HP but did not like the photo quality quite as well.

I have lots of photo Cd's. What I've learned is find your 5-10 best shots from a trip or experience, and print those out. Saves on cost and you can see how you did.

Another FYI--make sure your computer to printer USB port is up to the task of handling large file data to print. It hosed mine the first time I sent more than 5 to print at letter size--So I had to change things a bit and upgrade and use a faster port.

Have fun--I've papered my office and house with some of my stuff--I look at Utah, the Galiuros, Anza Borrego every day!!!
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You can rest when you're dead

[Daryl]

Costco baby! They have a great lab, produce sharp true color prints, and they are cheaper then anyone else I've seen. A friend has a fancy smancy $1800 Epson something and Costco's quality is still better. They are probably cheaper then doing it yourself when you factor in the paper, ink and cost of the printer.

I've heard bad things about Walmart and Target printing quality.

Note though, your print quality is going to be highly dependent on your post processing. Out of the camera rarely yields optimal results. Also, be sure the colors on your monitor are set right, otherwise you'll never print a photo right.
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[desertgirl]

[Arizonaheat]

Ambika, I don't know which Epson you are looking out, but I just got Epson's new
R1800 about a month and a half ago and it is awesome.
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Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life.

[BoyNhisDog]

That is an awesome printer Kent. I was looking at that one as well. They are reported to bring more detail to the paper.

I calibrate my monitor with Spyder Pro. I do know that the post processing for print has to be different than web based work and am getting deeper into that. It is pretty facinating. If you are willing to go far enough I believe you can get better end products by doing it yourself, after all you are the only one who really knows what you are aiming at. Either that or have a really good relationship with your lab. I used to have my own color darkroom at home when I was shooting film. Goodness gracious I am glad to be rid of all those chemicals and tedious processes. I have a couple hundred more pages to read and then I am going to choose something to replace this dreadful HP I have fought with long enough.

Daryl, I agree, post-processing will make all the difference in the world. I got alot out of Real World Photoshop CS. They went into great detail on post processing for various types of printing output. I have always targeted my output to web so various changes need to happen. I just got notice that Real World Photoshop CS2 and Real World Adobe Camera RAW CS2 have shipped. Should see them before the week is out. I need more time. Got a real good read on the travels of Captain Cook going on right now as well.
_________________
Seize from every moment its unique novelty and do not prepare your joys
- Andre Gide

[HUM469]

Thank you all... Daryl, do you know how much Costco charges per print? I do not have a membership there, but my sister does and she has never had anything done there so she does not know.

As for post, I know that it is usually necessary for the best possible results. My wife can tell you all about how much time I will spend tweaking when I am printing for our walls here, large pictures, or any other form of display that many will see. But my 828 seems to have exceptional output direct from camera, and considering the bulk I wish to print, I am not looking for the "best possible". In fact, I want the most true to the camera output since these are just going to be a non-comuter reference file for me as well as a potential back up source. Remember, all my photos will still be in digital domain as well, and anything I want to use for scrap books, frames on the wall, or sending to friends will still get the full on treatment, and be printed by me because it is true, as BoyNhisDog says, I am the only one who really knew what I was after. I would rather have the out of camera result as exact as possible because I want to be able to refer back and see how I did, as well as in the future I am sure my needs and tastes will change. Perhapse now I like the colors a little more muted than I will 10 years from now. If at that time I have to scan once of these pictures back in becaues of lost data some how, I don't have to undo what I did to get to where I want. These are to be a record, not an end result.
_________________
-Dylan Anderson
(602) 628-4327
Consultant
Real Estate Executive to AZ
Special Projects Manager, AZCDE.com

[Daryl]

4x6 I think is $.19 I know 8x10 is $1.99 and 11x14 is $2.99.
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[HUM469]

Cool, that is about as good as even the most optimistic dedicated 4 X 6 printer reviews.
_________________
-Dylan Anderson
(602) 628-4327
Consultant
Real Estate Executive to AZ
Special Projects Manager, AZCDE.com