NoSocks Loc: quonochontaug, rhode island

You should have been around for the really good deals. I bought my Pixma 100 and it included a $300 rebate card. Also came with about $50 worth of paper. Not bad.

JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

>>Personally, I think there are some distinct advantages of printing at home which, for me, make the process worth it.<<

Yep. I have a SmugMug storefront, and I use Bay Photo for printing customer orders. Bay does a fine job. However, they do utilize pre-set templates and in some cases, those just don't quite fit the way I'd like. Case in point is panoramas. I've had some printed by Bay, but I wound up having to slightly crop them.

As a result, I am soon to purchase one of the new printers that Epson has released to replace their old 3880. These printers will use roll paper, which means I will be able to create a panorama print as wide as I want. Got a local frame shop, which will make frames and matts to suit.

lea001a Loc: Catskills Region in New York

I usually buy CANON factory ink from Blue Dog Ink: http://www.bluedogink.com/canon-pixma-pro9000-ink.html

Their prices ore just about as low as I can find anywhere
expecially STAPLES and WALMART locally.

Good Luck

Lee Ames

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

Well first all of today's ink cartridges are electronic devices and have lots of technology in them - thus the price. Second the major makers, Canon which I use is no different, sell their printers pretty cheaply and make their money on the ink. My 6821 takes 5 cartridges and produces excellent photo prints. A new pack of ink is around $80.

Ed Chu Loc: Las Vegas NV

the old Polaroid / Polaroid film principle

JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

And the same with razors and blades....

Collie lover Loc: St. Louis, MO

From what I understand, you will be able to print a pano as long as you want, but not was wide as you want. The width would be determined by the width of the paper; i.e. 13" wide between the paper guides.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

On a pano, unless a vertical the width of the paper is the
"height" of the image. The width of the image is lengthwise on the paper.

So 13" paper produces an image 13" high by whatever length the pano is, say 13" by 36" or whatever.

JaiGieEse Loc: Foxworth, MS

Which was my point. Thank you.

Amazes me sometimes the "lengths" to which people will go just to argue (referring to the post prior to yours.)

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

Welcome to the wonderful world of doing your own printing. I have an Epson artisan 1430. If I have to buy all the six colors at same time even on sale it still cost me $108.00.

Caysnowman Loc: MN & SC

Not unusual that these "original" cartridges have less capacity as the refill. It used to vary by brand and to some extent by model within brand. I have not visited this area recently.

Bill

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

One of thr problems with 3rd party inks is that some printers require cartridges have a chip imbedded and their company cartridges are made to preclude refilling. Epson is famous for this.

Yooper 2 Loc: Ironwood, MI

If you're not intending to sell your photos try LD Ink for your inks. You'll save money. I've used them for years with absolutely no problems. The colors are true and brilliant. They last as long as brand name inks. They're guaranteed by the company. I've never had to test the guarantee.

lea001a Loc: Catskills Region in New York

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

It's the reason you get the printer for $34. It's a "loss leader" so you're trapped into spending hundreds and thousands of dollars on their ink. It's this way for all printers, low end or high end. Most users won't search out non-manufacturer inks and they know that so a huge "backend" market is created with MAJOR profit per cartridge.

Unless you have a desperately desire to do your own printing, it would be cheaper in the long run to walk over a couple more aisle and use the WalMart kiosk printing service. Want better quality? Available if you have a Costco store. 4X6 prints are stupid cheap like 16 cents. 8X10's less than $1. Etc.

I have a fabulous wide carriage Epson printer with 6 cartridges all boxed up nicely in my garage. $77 to get a set of cartridges was cheap for 6 colors but too expensive to use. And the jets plug up if you don't use them often. Since printing had become quite rare for me to do, it was time for my Epson to go bye-bye. If I had a craft show business selling 8X10 and 11X14 prints of my own work, I might like to have total control and maybe even build the frames for them. But for everyday use, I don't recognize a home printer as being a good value unless I lived 20 miles from any city out in the middle of South Dakota or something.