Printing a picture
Discussion
Mostly my printing is done by Simlab. Order by mid afternoon and the prints normally come next day. I don't need to make prints all that often so it's far cheaper and easier than printing at home. I do keep an old Canon A4 inkjet at home for times when I need a print urgently or over a weekend.
I also gave up printing at home years ago.
I got sick of the print heads getting blocked, then it complaining when one of the 6 ink cartridges were running low, so whilst it produced some nice prints, it was very expensive and not worth the hassle.
These days I'm quite selective about what I print, but will often use Loxley or similar for good quality enlargements.
I got sick of the print heads getting blocked, then it complaining when one of the 6 ink cartridges were running low, so whilst it produced some nice prints, it was very expensive and not worth the hassle.
These days I'm quite selective about what I print, but will often use Loxley or similar for good quality enlargements.
I'm sure we've all tried printing at home only to get an image the size of a postage stamp smack in the middle of a sheet of expensive glossy A4. And the one where a colour starts running out halfway down, wasting both ink and paper...
On the rare occasions I need a decent colour print it goes to Photobox.
On the rare occasions I need a decent colour print it goes to Photobox.
I use printing services and print at home.
Home printing is via an Epson XP15000 with attached continuous ink system. A3 printing with 1440dpi. https://www.epson.co.uk/en_GB/products/printers/in...
CISS system cost less than £100 with 6x100ml of ink. Refill ink costs £55 for 6x100ml. Haven't used the first batch of inks yet.
Also have two enlargers for doing analogue printing from negatives
If you consider home printing, then my advice would be to only go that route if your print fairly regularly. Otherwise it's not really cost effective.
Home printing is via an Epson XP15000 with attached continuous ink system. A3 printing with 1440dpi. https://www.epson.co.uk/en_GB/products/printers/in...
CISS system cost less than £100 with 6x100ml of ink. Refill ink costs £55 for 6x100ml. Haven't used the first batch of inks yet.
Also have two enlargers for doing analogue printing from negatives
If you consider home printing, then my advice would be to only go that route if your print fairly regularly. Otherwise it's not really cost effective.
If I need a photo printing, I have several options
- spend quite a lot of time persuading my photo printer to co-operate, realising I'm short of ink or its clogged
- nip out to the kiosk at the loca Asda or Tesco
- order online from DSCL, Photobox or similar
Depending on the urgency and quality required, its usually one of the latter two. I really ought to flog my A3 Canon inkjet.
- spend quite a lot of time persuading my photo printer to co-operate, realising I'm short of ink or its clogged
- nip out to the kiosk at the loca Asda or Tesco
- order online from DSCL, Photobox or similar
Depending on the urgency and quality required, its usually one of the latter two. I really ought to flog my A3 Canon inkjet.
MGJ2 said:
These comments confirm my thoughts: expensive, you need to print regurlarly, printing is a skill. And still: the thought that I can print anything, anytime and quick just appeals to me. Still not decided. I would love to hear more from the people that print at home.
It’s the “quick” part of your thoughts that might trip you up. Printers can be absolute b*****ds at any point of their choosing, and you’ll spend time swearing at it etc. I can pop into town and be home again with the print in under an hour.
I recently 'took the plunge' and bought a new A3+ printer, as I was paying fortunes for 'outside' printing.
I always put-off printing my own, for the reasons most responders to your question have stated. However, with 'eco-tank' printers now vastly reducing ink costs and the general impovement in the print quality, I bought a new EPSON ET-18100 photo printer.
It is designed purely for printing photos up to A3+, so does not have all the 'bells & whistles' such as a scanner, or touch screen and even the 'receiving' tray has to be manually pulled out!
However, it does produce superb quality photographic prints for next to nothing - a full set of ink bottles (6 x 70 ml), costs around £50.00 and should last me around 12 mths, with regular printing of A4 and A3+ prints.
PXL_20240905_163200126 by Glynn Hobbs, on Flickr
PXL_20240905_174537164 by Glynn Hobbs, on Flickr
An A3+ print, is now costing me less than £2.00!!
See this Keith Cooper review for more details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56noiEASA1c
I always put-off printing my own, for the reasons most responders to your question have stated. However, with 'eco-tank' printers now vastly reducing ink costs and the general impovement in the print quality, I bought a new EPSON ET-18100 photo printer.
It is designed purely for printing photos up to A3+, so does not have all the 'bells & whistles' such as a scanner, or touch screen and even the 'receiving' tray has to be manually pulled out!
However, it does produce superb quality photographic prints for next to nothing - a full set of ink bottles (6 x 70 ml), costs around £50.00 and should last me around 12 mths, with regular printing of A4 and A3+ prints.
PXL_20240905_163200126 by Glynn Hobbs, on FlickrPXL_20240905_174537164 by Glynn Hobbs, on FlickrAn A3+ print, is now costing me less than £2.00!!
See this Keith Cooper review for more details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56noiEASA1c
Simpo Two said:
I'm sure we've all tried printing at home only to get an image the size of a postage stamp smack in the middle of a sheet of expensive glossy A4. And the one where a colour starts running out halfway down, wasting both ink and paper...
On the rare occasions I need a decent colour print it goes to Photobox.
Agreed. My printer is fine for normal printing but always seems to struggle with decent photo prints.On the rare occasions I need a decent colour print it goes to Photobox.
I used to use Boots for convenience but my daughters graduation prints just didn't look right for professional photos. They were better than my home printer but still lacked something.
I used Photobox and they were much better. We rarely print photos these days, so you might as well pay for it to be done properly.
Edited by 98elise on Wednesday 18th September 13:43
It depends to what ‘level’ you want to go to.
I used to print a lot at home A3 - it gave me the control I needed for colour balance and sometimes I’d print test after test to get the colour corrected. But I also really enjoyed the process.
It was alot cheaper and much better quality than using a supplier - but I knew what I was doing. I’d steer clear of Boots, Jessops or any high street supplier as I’ve always had issues (to my eye) with them.
I then started using printing specialists and even though it was pricey for some work it was very much worth it, especially when they had access to really nice paper.
It was several years ago, but I used these guys for some A3 C-Types (Fuji pearl IIRC) and really rated their results.
https://www.theprintspace.co.uk
I used to print a lot at home A3 - it gave me the control I needed for colour balance and sometimes I’d print test after test to get the colour corrected. But I also really enjoyed the process.
It was alot cheaper and much better quality than using a supplier - but I knew what I was doing. I’d steer clear of Boots, Jessops or any high street supplier as I’ve always had issues (to my eye) with them.
I then started using printing specialists and even though it was pricey for some work it was very much worth it, especially when they had access to really nice paper.
It was several years ago, but I used these guys for some A3 C-Types (Fuji pearl IIRC) and really rated their results.
https://www.theprintspace.co.uk
Vintage Racer said:
See this Keith Cooper review for more details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56noiEASA1c
What a coincidence you mention this guy! I have a lot of his videos yesterday, thb I had never heard of him before. One thing that he says as an answer to the big question (What is the best printer?) is: "the one you can work with".In a comment under one of his videos he says that the Epson ET-8550 is a favourit printer.
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