Digital camera- cheaper to print yourself or get prints done?

Quasar

Phil, you also need to look at the convenience of having them done in the shop as opposed to doing them at home. I don't think the difference in cost is financially crippling, and from your post above it seems you would be happier if your parents just went to the shop to have them printed.

Perhaps this is what you should do anyway and not worry about printing them yourself?

studentphil

Quasar wrote:

Phil, you also need to look at the convenience of having them done in the shop as opposed to doing them at home. I don't think the difference in cost is financially crippling, and from your post above it seems you would be happier if your parents just went to the shop to have them printed.

Perhaps this is what you should do anyway and not worry about printing them yourself?

I am not opposed to printing them at home for them, but they wont be into plugging USB leads in, loading software, messing with printers!!

lemontart

truprint are offering 20 6x4 prints for cost of postage 99p and they come very quick.........also if you get a referral to them from some one they get 20 free as well......and you can referr people and get more sets of 20 free ones too..............via https://www.snapfish.com or send me a private msg with your email addy so I can send you a referral so we can both benefit.

Beth
xxx

sco0ter

Costco do some great deals with digital photo printing. I just usually wait until I have a good few then get them printed... we always get 7X5 prints and they come in about 8p each

WestieFan

On the subject of Costco, you can get a box of their "Kirkland" glossy photo paper - 125 A4 sheets at around £13 (vat included) per box. It's as good as the brand names. I use an Epson printer with compatible ink and usually print 4 to a page, except for the odd A4 one.

I decided to do a bit of comparison, and took a photo to a couple of shops with different machines and printed out an A4 picture. Quality wasn't as good as I could print myself, plus they cost an average £2.99 each. So it's home printing for me.

Only trouble is you need a membership but I have found it more than pays for itself with all the savings made.

Also, forget about software & leads - why not get a card reader to transfer pics to pc and download Picasa (free - search Google, sorry can't do links!). It's really easy to use and it's amazing the effects you can create with a few mouse clicks!

Happy snapping!

sco0ter

I have had numerous enlargements done at costco (13X10) and all have been fantastic. I also do all my editing before I take my photos up to be printed and apart from once where the machine went mad and I recieved a double print of my card everythings been great. it was my wedding day taken on 3 different cameras and I transfered them all to one card and thier machine printed them all of twice (844 photos) but I got the duplicates free because the reciept stated it was 1 print of all.

EvilMonkey

I'm afraid I'm on the "send them away for printing" side too.

Once you take into account the cost of the printer (for a reasonable photo quality one), the cost of the paper (normal "photocopier" paper just doesn't really cut it), the cost of the ink, then it really is hard to justify against the award winning quality of some of the online bureau's...

This is not even taking into account the extra time and money spent on tinkering that semi serious photo geeks like me would do on colour profiles etc...

E.M.

spacker_2

Send them off youll have photos on proffessional paper the ink will last much longer (a lifetime) also the fact that the more you have developed the cost plummets thus outweighing the cost of DIY.

alanclose

studentphil wrote:

I dont know if this is the right place.

But with digital photos am I better to print them on my own printer(considering cost of printer ink) or take the memory card and get prints done at the shop?

What do you think on cost and quality?

I would exhaust all the online freebies first, it should also give you an idea of quality, speed and price of all the different online printers. The freebie board has a long thread of all the intro offers around

Marty999

I put all my chosen pics on a CD and get them printed a Boots or Jessops. If you have 100 or more done they work out at 7p each for 4x6", and I can't buy the paper for that! Plus they are ready for collection the next day.

Plus you can copy certain pics and save the duplicates on the CD for copies to give to friends/family, then simply request one of each. So much quicker than selecting multiple prints on the screens in Jessops.