| This
could be one of your toughest CE decisions. You have a digital
camera, and now you have to choose the most convenient, affordable
way to make prints from that camera. Here are your options:
• Buy a photo printer and keep it stocked
with cartridges and paper
• Upload to an online photo service
• Print using a photo kiosk
The more photos you print, the more important
the speed of the printer becomes. Unfortunately the more quickly
a printer can produce your prints, the more expensive it typically
is.
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For instance, the HP Photosmart 8750 Professional
Photo Printer can whip out 4- x 6-inch prints in as little
as 29 seconds. That’s half a minute faster than many
printers, but its speed comes at a price—$499.99. Of
course, quicker printing times are not the only benefit a
high-end printer gives you. The HP Photosmart 8750 prints
in nine-ink color (many printers print in four or six) and
can produce borderless picture up to 13 x 19 inches and panoramic
images.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of digital photography
is that you can preview and erase photos, thereby saving yourself
the expense of printing blurry, off-centered, or otherwise
poorly composed photos.
Printing digital images will cost you, but
the price of a photo printer may not be your greatest concern
when deciding whether to buy one. You also must consider the
ongoing costs of photo paper and ink cartridges or ribbons.
To figure printing costs, begin with the assumption
that you’ll use paper and ink made by the manufacturer
of your printer. There are several good reasons for doing
this. First, compatibility issues may prevent you from using
third-party supplies, especially ink cartridges. Second, printers
may be limited in the size, thickness, or type of papers they
can print on.
A printer’s owner manual or the manufacturer’s
Web site—the Paper Finder on the Epson site, for instance—will
guide you in selecting the right kind of paper to use. Third,
using third-party/unauthorized products that damage your printer
may void the manufacturer’s warranty, so read the fine
print.
With some photo printers, such as the Epson
PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition and the Olympus P-11, there’s
no need to guess how many prints a printing kit will yield.
The purchase price of the PictureMate includes one PictureMate
Print Pack ($29 if purchased separately), which comes with
a six-color ink cartridge and enough paper for 100 4- x 6-inch
prints.
Similarly, Olympus sells several printer packs
for the P-11. The P-P100 Print Pack ($38.99) yields 100 4
x 6 prints (almost 39 cents per print), and the P-L100 Print
Pack ($34.99) yields 100 3.5 x 5 prints (almost 35 cents per
print). You can buy 40-yield packs at reduced prices ($17.99
to $19.99), but the price per print goes up.
On the other hand, many models let you replace
individual inkjet cartridges, meaning you can spread out the
costs for maintaining the printer. For instance, the Epson
Stylus Photo R220 requires one black ($17.09) and five colored
cartridges ($12.34 each).
Epson sells many paper types that work with
this model on its site. The borderless Premium Glossy Photo
Paper ($16.20), for example, yields 100 4- x 6-inch prints
at about 16 cents each, not counting ink costs. As you might
expect, determining printing costs for printers like this
is more of a guessing game, at least initially.
We said that deciding on a photo printer could
be a tough choice, but it doesn’t have to be. Buying
a low-cost photo printer is probably the best option if you
snap pictures throughout the year and want primarily 4- x
6-inch or smaller prints.
However, remember that owning a photo printer
doesn’t necessarily exclude you from taking advantage
of online or in-store services, especially if you want a print
size or the special effects that your printer can’t
produce.
Photographic
paper | Pick
the Right Photo Paper | How
to Get the Best Prints |
Should
I Invest In A Photo Printer? | How
Color Images are Printed |
Eight
Tips For Buying A Photo Quality Printer | The
Modern Photo Printer |
What
You Need To Know When Buying A Printer |
