is anyine using a digital photo printer?

Question

if anyone is using a photo printer, can u tell me, which type (standard inkjet, or special digital photo printer?) and do u find thus printing cheaper than the traditional developing of films?

Answer 1

well
dont get a tri color i used to have one it cost about 100 dolla fill up and if 1 ink goes out the printer dont print right and i have a canon ip2000 great quality80 dolla color ink and black ink print alot of pictures and its only 30 or 40 to fill up

Answer 2

I use an older model inkjet printer (HP Deskjet 930) that gives excellent quality prints; but I've also uused a standard colour inkjet to produce quite good photos.
The advantage is that you an print up to A4 size easily, a lot cheaper than having a 10X8 print made at a photo shop. But, by the time you include the ink cartridge and the paper, it is surprising how expensive it can become. If you are thinking of buying a printer, ask how many pages an ink cartridge will print. One problem is that most printers have a black cartridge and a colour cartridge, and if only one colour runs out, then you have to buy a complete cartridge. Some better printers have separate cartridges for each colour.
The other factor is the paper. Ordinary print paper is OK for drafts, or to send to someone, but would not be very good for framing. Glossy papers give fantastic results, but are expensive. Sometimes, the glossy prints can look a little artificial, but there are also satin finish papers available (or use the glossy paper back to front).
But if you are not too serious, you can get good results at home with an inkjet, and you can often find OK glossy paper on special at discount shops.
Also, the higher quality the print, the more ink you use, and the slower the printing.

Unless you are seriously into professional looking work, an inkjet is fine. There are very expensive printers, such as wax or dye sublimation, but I think these are even more expensive on consumables. Colour laser printers operate completely differently, and the prints look like screen-printed output (you can see the tiny dots through a magnifying glass). Inkjet printers, on the other hand, 'bleed' the colours one into the other, for a more pleasing effect.. I use a laser for large quantity print jobs (eg, printing a large number of photos, before deciding which I'll print on the inkjet)

Printers are improving all the time, and my advice is probably already out of date.

Answer 3

Iv'e got an epson photo printer. It has 6 inkn cartridges Their about $13. dollars each and the black(the same size as the cloor) $24 So its about $90 for these small ink cartridges that dont last long and if one color goes empty it won't print anything! I've also have HP photo printer That uses tri clor cartridge and one black. Both hold much more ink and will print just black or white if the other is empty. Most epson photo printers won't The HP cartridges cost about $60 and last twice as longand there software allows you to print with differant DPI settings so you can use less ink.The epson is very expensive to print Photos $180 compared to the HP at $60. I would certainly use Wallgreens Photo if I wanted to print a whole roll of film with the epson!

Answer 4

Photo shops use 2 different things. For normal photos (up to 8x6 inch, or even 10x8 depending on machine) they use professional digital printing solutions, usually utilising "dye sublimation" technology. These print only at about 270dpi, but as each dot is a pure colour, that looks better than a 2000dpi inkjet. For poster prints, many use high end, Epson or HP "designjet" type wide carriage inkjets, costing LOTS of money. Some stores were also known to use "colour lasers" for proofs for photo enhancement, or to produce other colour products, but again quality lower than the pro equipment.

Answer 5

Home photo printing is very expensive. You are paying for the convenience. A quick photo here or there is ideal. Or for printing out the kind of pictures you wouldn't want the girl at the FotoMat to see.

Until the cost of consumables comes down, it will always be cheaper to have them done at the photolab or kiosk.