Do you print your photos?

[Drogo]

How many of us consider our photos are worth the expense and faff of home printing?

I'm currently looking into photo printers especially things like the Canon Pro 300 or similar A3+ size but struggling to do the man maths to justify it.

I like the idea of being able to process and print my own work, to learn more about my photography and to hang some on the wall as much for inspiration as to show off my work.

Tried sending images to a lab (Loxley Colour) but the results have been a little mixed, not their fault, I should have seen the colour cast before sending them the file therefore found the experience to be lacking something that I may get from printing at home.

If I were to print at home I would do test prints before deciding on final edit to print at full A3 or pano size. It would be more expensive but hopefully more rewarding?

Is cost the overall deciding factor for most folks or is it all part of our art?

[satans worm]

So I have a DS620 printer that allows up to 6X17inch printing , and all sizes in-between (ie 6inch is the widest 'paper' you can use

They are for pros who photo parties/weddings etc and want quick high quality prints, I got mine cheap fro an auction

This allows me to do 2 things, firstly, great for printing memories and putting them in an album the old fashioned way

And secondly, it allows some test printing before I goto a pro lab to print a large version (I realize calibration is a thing but I think its better then looking at a screen that tend to pop the image more than is natural)

Second point is hypothetical, I'm yet to do. large print but plan to do at least 2 X 48inch square prints (from a Hasselblad negative) and 1 X panoramic print from my G617 film camera at 4ft get long.

I have the negs ready, just need to find time to finish them in light room and then do the test print part!

Over all I think printing your own on a quality printer is worth it, but if you want to go large, then go pro shop

[Drogo]

Yea, along the lines I've been thinking.

Make the image, process and print up to A3/A3+ for the wall. I don't have a large enough house to have the room for anything much larger considering viewing distance and space.

May scale down cost with a cheaper Canon ip8750 having seen some positive YouTube content.

[sociopath]

When I was doing it professionally I just found it easier to use a lab, you just need to find one you like, they're not all the same.but a calibrated screen is a must whether you're printing yourself or sending away.

Must admit, now I do it for fun I don't bother- in fact I've lost my calibrating device, which is annoying as it wasn't cheap

[C n C]

sociopath said:

When I was doing it professionally I just found it easier to use a lab, you just need to find one you like, they're not all the same.but a calibrated screen is a must whether you're printing yourself or sending away.

Must admit, now I do it for fun I don't bother- in fact I've lost my calibrating device, which is annoying as it wasn't cheap

Completely agree that it is worth spending time (and money on the calibrating tool), to get your monitor properly calibrated (and re-calibrated periodically).

There are various calibration tools. I went with the X-rite i1 display pro

I've had a good qaulity Epsom photo printer in the past, but didn't use it often enough, so was forever cleaning the heads and wasting a good percentage of the print cartridges.

Now I just use a lab, and get great quality from Loxley for larger prints (A3 mainly), and am happy with Photobox for smaller (5"x7") ones.

[JonnyWhitters]

I use OptimalPrint for mot of my printing. They’ve done them up to 70x100 cm for me, as well as some metallic ones. I’ve recently discovered Klein Imaging in Manchester (thanks to James Popsys) and although I paid multiples over the OptimalPrint price, the quality is a sharp improvement and worth it for the special prints.

[MikeGTi]

I occasionally print, and when I do I use DS Colour Labs. I think off the back of a recommendation here many moons ago.

[tog]

I don't print much, but use a lab for prints for the occasional client who needs them. I have an ageing A4 Canon inkjet for running off odd prints for family and friends.

[sgrimshaw]

The 6 ink photo printers from Canon/Epson are much easier to justify from both an initial and consumables cost perspective and are still more than capable of producing great A3+ prints.

I've got a couple of framed prints on my wall printed on a (long gone) Epson 1290s, been there for over 15 years and still look good.

There's something very satisfying about printing large prints at home, cost effective it certainly isn't (unless you use a CISS).

[Bungleaio]

I get the occasional once printed by Photobox but I always make up a photobook from any big holidays with the Mrs.

Considered gettng a printer but I can't justify the cost plus I don't really have anywhere to store it.

[Drogo]

A holiday photo book, I may pinch that idea.

Thanks all for the feedback and pretty much as I thought.

As an update I've bought a secondhand Canon ip8750 and I'm blown away by the quality although I've been struggling with matching the printed image to what the screen shows.

I tried calibrating the screen with my Spyder 3 but it's no longer supported by my MacBook and as I'm reluctant to spend out on another one will work around image settings.

Also just downloaded of trial of QImage One which seem very good at making sure your print settings are correct and the first results are very positive.
Previously tried printing with Capture One 20, Affinity Photo and Apple preview, each of those results were different from that on the screen and from each other.

[malks222]

I use ‘free prints’ app on my phone, the prints are ‘free’ but you pay £3/4 for postage. you get 50 prints ‘free’ each month.

i find it good as a reminder to print some stuff off, update frames round the house, send my family pictures of my daughter. it’s cheap and handy, but only 6x4 prints

[mcflurry]

malks222 said:

I use ‘free prints’ app on my phone, the prints are ‘free’ but you pay £3/4 for postage. you get 50 prints ‘free’ each month.

i find it good as a reminder to print some stuff off, update frames round the house, send my family pictures of my daughter. it’s cheap and handy, but only 6x4 prints

Snapfish (HP) also offer a similar service, if you need more than the 50 above

[Craikeybaby]

I occasionally print the odd 6x4 at home, but usually, send files off to a lab. I have access to an A2+ Epson, but it isn't used much, so drinks (expensive) ink whenever you switch it on.

[Beggarall]

sociopath said:

calibrated screen is a must whether you're printing yourself or sending away.

I have just acquired a proper printer (Epson SC P700) and am at the bottom end of what seems to be a very steep learning curve. It is clearly one of the dark arts and whereas up to now I have been happy just pressing the print button and letting the software take care of the rest, it now seems there are endless variables to consider before committing to the printer. amongst these is the question of screen calibration. I have spent hours on Youtube tutorials and really don't understand what the calibration device does other than to verify that the calibration you have set is accurate. It doesn't tell you what setting to use unless you print some sort of test page. On a Mac there are only limited opportunities to change the calibration anyway, and tbh I have to move the slider a long.way left or right before I see much difference. And how does this affect the output to the printer? I am finding it quite difficult to get a decent print and particularly if you can't find the right icc profile for the paper and then find that this does not match with the profiles embedded in the printer. Any help or words of encouragement would be very much appreciated

[Craikeybaby]

Which calibration software are you using? Ones I have used in the past automatically apply their generated profile to macOS.

[McAndy]

malks222 said:

I use ‘free prints’ app on my phone, the prints are ‘free’ but you pay £3/4 for postage. you get 50 prints ‘free’ each month.

i find it good as a reminder to print some stuff off, update frames round the house, send my family pictures of my daughter. it’s cheap and handy, but only 6x4 prints

This. great service and (although I haven't checked recently for amends), were non-invasive regarding app tracking and privacy when I was using it. They also do photobooks in another app.

[Drogo]

I have been finding that I don't need to calibrate my screen in the traditional way when using Qimage One.

I process in Adobe RGB, send to Qimage, select which paper and sizes to use, check preview just to make sure I like the look of image, borders and title (so far I have rarely had to re edit) and print.

I have no affiliation to Qimage/Binartem other than being amazed at how well it works and I would sugest those that struggle with printing at home given all possible ways to waste ink and paper give it a try.

https://www.binartem.com/q1machelp/
https://www.youtube.com/c/BinartemMedia

[8bit]

I love seeing my best stuff in print, just far more rewarding IMHO than on screen. I bought an Epson XP-970 A3 printer which does a great job but make sure and install the drivers from the Epson website as whatever Windows finds and installs automatically doesn't include colour profiles.

When clients buy prints from me I use Loxley Colour - stunning results every time.

[757]

Yep, use Costco's poster printing service (online, order them to pick up from the store), very cheap and the quality is pretty good for framed images.