michealj Loc: West Virginia

Hi folks! What is your opinion on printing your photos. I do like enlargements of my better work. Do I invest in quality equipment to print at home, or rely on a custom lab? Pros and Cons please. Thank you all. :-D Mike J.

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

I'm surprised nobody has responded yet...

Well, for me, the hassles of setting up and maintaining the kind of gear I would need to make large format prints (16x24 up to 30x45") are far greater than using the lab to whom I outsource this task.

When I had an inkjet printer, I found the expense of ink (often due to cartridges drying out from non-use in the Southern California dry desert) and supplies make my cost-benefit analysis turn negative. So for me, having found a lab I trust for those occasions where I want to print something to hang on a wall has been a better way to go. No doubt many here get great joy out of their presumed ability to more closely control the quality of their prints and if 13x20 is as large as you would consider printing it (having a printer etc. set up at home) is certainly worth considering.

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

I've been using Mpix for the last year to do all my printing, and really like the results. I have the ability at my office to print 11x17 color, but not on photo paper. I use it to proof, but then final prints go to mpix. I have found that if I leave a few things in my cart, they'll usually send me a reminder a day or two afterwards with a 15% off coupon. Since I use photo ledges at home (instead of framing), I need to have my photos mounted to a rigid backer, which they do. I also like the look their metallic prints. My HDR's really pop. Their framing service is really nice as well.

bjprovo Loc: Northeast CT

I've always felt that the photo labs have far better equipment than I could afford to buy. I just don't think anything I use could measure up to a multi-thousand dollar machine.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Mike, you don't say how big you're printing, or why you're printing.
There are two kinds of send outs. There is big box custom printing like Bay Photo and there is true custom printing. These guys are in every big city and will do a better job on your pic than you could possibly do but a 16x20 will run at least a $100, not $25-$30.
You can print very good ones yourself for less than costco and you can use any paper you want. If you are serious you should invest in a roll printer, they cost half of a sheet printer to operate but they are expensive. But there are good used ones out there as well. I bought a used Canon ipf 5000 about 5 years ago for $900 and I can print a 16x20 for about $3 and that's amortizing in the cost of the printer, ink and paper.
I think that printing is as much an experience as shooting.
I also think that too many see the high cost of self-printing blindly as many of those same people own a Nikon 800 with the trilogy and that $10K of gear will never make them even one penny, but they are afraid to waste money on printing. If you don't print or publish, what's the point! :lol:
SS

michealj Loc: West Virginia

That is my thoughts also. Thanks for responding, F8lee,Cdoughitt,Bjprovo and Sharpshooter. Having the investment and time needed to produce quality wall hanging prints seems better left to those who do it for a living. A small printer for quality up to 8x10 - possibly! Thanks again for all your responces, I respect you all. Mike J. :thumbup:

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

My rule is: 4 x 6 printed at home...all else printed at AdoramaPix. It's tough to get everything working and errors are costly.

I don't fuss with printers or ink or any of that boloney.


Hey...I see you are in WV...which part? I'm in Bridgeport (40 minutes south of Morgantown)

michealj Loc: West Virginia

Hello rpavich, I live in Junior, just outside of Elkins. Heading tonight to my camera club meeting in Buckhannon. Nice to see another one from WV, Mike J.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Nice to meet you!

Maybe one of these days we can meet half way (Phillipi possibly) and take a few images and have lunch before the big snows set in (or after in the spring) :)

michealj Loc: West Virginia

That sounds very good to me! :thumbup: :thumbup: We know winter is very near!! Mike J.

WNC Ralf Loc: Candler NC, in the mountains!

Never found a lab that could do as well as I can myself, plus I started in photography doing my own processing in the darkroom. You need to do quite a bit of printing to make it economical, I print for other people to keep my printer going. I bought a refurbished Epson 3880 about three years ago, am using refillable carts and Cone Inks. Buy my paper from Red River Paper. Can print a beautiful, full bleed 8.5 X 11 for about 32 cents. I control heat and humidity in the room where I print, helps prevent clogging if you don't print often. I chose the Epson 3880 because of the print sizes, up to 17 X 25, and it uses pigment inks for permanence. Check out the Red River web site, they have information on the true costs of printing comparing all the popular printers. Good luck with your choice.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

I use an 8x10 print as my standard. Drying out is not a problem except for my stupidity of not printing something every few days..

The big virtue of home printing is that I print my submission for the Camera-Club, then put where I will pass it often. The perfect photo then starts developing little problems here and there which I circle with a marker. I clean those errors up and reprint... ooops that glaring white spot far upper left... I use low cost paper and CIS ink so the cost is low. Once (semi) perfected, I print on quality paper or submit for projection.

Big prints... well too much wall space... I have a Canon Pro 100 still in box... could not pass up that bargain.... $100 with $50 of paper included... wow deal... but now what?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Mike, for years I printed in my own darkroom. As of a few years ago, the need to print in order to share a photo with someone diminished as that could be done through emails and my web site. Since then, I've cut back on printing considerably.

However, I still like the idea of seeing an image at either 12x18 or 16x20 inches. So, I briefly considered purchasing a large format Epson printer. In fact, a photographer friend offered to sell me his, as he was upgrading. The printer far exceeded my needs, but then I'd probably grow into it.

Rather than jump at the chance of purchasing a $5,000USD printer for about 1/5 the amount, I thought about it. How often do I actually need to print. Well, about the same as I was printing at that point. So, I'd really be printing just to print. With the cost of ink, or in this case dyes, and the little I'd actually use it, I decided that it'd be best to get prints made instead.

Fortunately, there is a professional printing company a short distance away. Another bit of good fortune is they are a great place to work. So, the same people are there from year to year. I met with one of them and discussed what they need from me and what I could expect from them. We started with a few small test prints, which I took home and compared to what I saw on my screen, which is calibrated. I also compared a print to one I had made in the darkroom. From normal viewing distance the difference was not discernible. That settled that desire to own a printer. I put the money towards processing equipment instead.

Oh, I still develop my own negatives, but I leave the printing to Tempe Imaging Center. It will be many years before the cost of printing equals the amount of money I'd have spent on that printer, especially the money for the constant supply of dyes.

Just a view from my side of the camera.
--Bob

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

There are huge advantages to using labs, and other huge advantages to doing your own. I'm an ex-pro lab guy, and can argue and support both approaches.

If you understand color management, have time, have skill, and can afford all the right stuff to do your own printing, it enables you to get the very best results. But it is difficult to justify doing it unless you can keep the printer busy enough to use the inks before the heads clog or the ink dries out.

If you truly understand color management, have a great, properly-calibrated and profiled monitor, and work with a lab that also truly understands color management, then you will get their printer and paper profiles, install them on your system, and use them as simulation or viewing profiles when preparing images to print through that lab. If you do that with discipline, you will get great results.

I like and respect Miller's, mPix (Miller's again), Bay Photo, WHCC, Full Color, and most other established professional labs. Pick one near you to reduce shipping costs and time. Get to know their technical support folks. Ask for their profiles for each device they use to print your work.

Know also that there are huge differences in print longevity between inkjet and silver halide prints... Silver halide prints are much less expensive for the big labs to make, but inkjet prints made with pigmented inks can last four or five times longer under the same conditions.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Bill, you make some excellent points, especially the one about printing enough to keep the inks (dyes) from drying out in the cartridges or the heads. I do calibrate my monitor and check it regularly. As you mentioned, working with the folks at the print lab helped dial in everything I need. The cost for me is significantly reduced, as my prints are done "self managed". This means they print what I give them - no adjustments. As I mentioned, it works just fine for me, both in quality of print and cost.
--Bob