Printing and framing shots..

mloc123

Only recently have I final got around to printing and framing some of my shots from up to 5 years ago...

Do other people bother or are you happy to have them sit on a hard drive/cloud somewhere?

Portlawslim

I love to get my images printed, not all of them mind. just the keepers

stcstc

they are images till the are printed then they are photographs

mind i am kinda biased :-)

shamrock55

I like to get pics printed and framed if I think they are worth doing but as we know framing in particular can be expensive.
On a side note could anyone recommend a photo printer for home use

DaireQuinlan

shamrock55 wrote: »

I like to get pics printed and framed if I think they are worth doing but as we know framing in particular can be expensive.
On a side note could anyone recommend a photo printer for home use

My opinion (and it's only that ) is that home printing is a mugs game. We have a printer at home but only for occasional documents and stuff for the kids. I use photobox for all my bulk printing needs, and stcstc above comes highly recommended.

shamrock55

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

My opinion (and it's only that ) is that home printing is a mugs game. We have a printer at home but only for occasional documents and stuff for the kids. I use photobox for all my bulk printing needs, and stcstc above comes highly recommended.

I know yea,I haven't had a home printer in yrs but just looking at some YouTube videos on some of the modern printers they would have you believe they come out perfect or at least as good as a print lab

pullandbang

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

My opinion (and it's only that ) is that home printing is a mugs game. We have a printer at home but only for occasional documents and stuff for the kids.

Oooh no Daire, home printing is awesome as you get to see your stuff come out millimetre by millimetre - nearly as good as looking at a blank sheet of paper magically turn into a photo in the developer tray. Only issue is you need a good printer and you need to know what you're doing. I print all my own stuff (up to 12 x 18") and I have to say I love it. I can't get the same quality from a kiosk and that's from experience. I have my own event printer (same as a kiosk) and the quality is sh1te compared to my Epson.

Ben D Bus

Late last year I finally got to see a few of my images printed and mounted at A2 size (about 60x40cm or 24x16in)

It's amazing! A completely different experience to seeing them on a monitor (or a phone!)

shamrock55

pullandbang wrote: »

Oooh no Daire, home printing is awesome as you get to see your stuff come out millimetre by millimetre - nearly as good as looking at a blank sheet of paper magically turn into a photo in the developer tray. Only issue is you need a good printer and you need to know what you're doing. I print all my own stuff (up to 12 x 18") and I have to say I love it. I can't get the same quality from a kiosk and that's from experience. I have my own event printer (same as a kiosk) and the quality is sh1te compared to my Epson.

What's your Epson??

Effects

pullandbang wrote: »

home printing is awesome

What kind of price per print does it end up costing?
And how much was your printer? I imagine you have it written off as a business expense, which isn't an option for everyone!

pullandbang

shamrock55 wrote: »

What's your Epson??

It's Stylus Photo R3000 which has since been replaced with the SC-P600

pullandbang

Effects wrote: »

What kind of price per print does it end up costing?
And how much was your printer? I imagine you have it written off as a business expense, which isn't an option for everyone!

Think it cost me about €500 + VAT and an 8 x 10" print is around €1 (paper & ink). Even not having the cost as a business expense it's still worth printing your own.

Adrian.Sadlier

I agree with Pullandbang. I have an Epson Sc-P800 - same as P&b's printer, just supports roll feed as well as A2+ size paper.

The quality is professional, and I get to choose my paper type (which, IMHO, is a important as the printer and ink).

An A3 print costs less than €2 in ink (the cartridges are bigger hence more economical) - the paper up to €3.50 for an A3 sheet for gallery quality paper so prints should last decades.

As long as you print enough (I do about 150-250 A3 prints a year) it works out cheaper than getting printed professionally with no compromise on quality, as long as you know what you are doing.

Plus you have full creative control of the process. As for framing, I use a standard 20"x16" mount (€1) which I custom cut, which is a standard size for frames and just let people (or me) buy the frame that suits their needs (and room)

magicbastarder

what's the longevity of the ink like?
i mean on the printed page, rather than how long a cartridge lasts.

Adrian.Sadlier

magicbastarder wrote: »

what's the longevity of the ink like?
i mean on the printed page, rather than how long a cartridge lasts.

The official Epson position is

Accelerated testing of prints on specialty photo & fine art media displayed indoors under glass indicates light stability of up to 200 years for colour and 400 years for B&W. IMPORTANT: Actual stability will vary according to the media, image, surface treatment, display conditions, light intensity, humidity and atmospheric conditions.

Long enough for me not to worry about it. As long as you use genuine inks.

Bacchus

I used to print a lot of my stuff but it was too much. I've dramatically scaled back on quantity and spend my money on few, better quality (as in the supplier) prints. I now do an annual order of about 50 prints (mix of 5x5 and 4x6) and a photo album (around 50-70 spreads). I have gotten a couple of large prints and plan to do a few more.

Adrian.Sadlier

Just finished printing 16 images for camera club annual exhibition competition. Prints will be mounted on 20"x16" boards. They are printed on high quality Canson paper and most will be custom cut (the mounts). I would expect to pay €20 per image if I was getting them professionally printed and mounted (If I am wrong let me know, please).

IMHO my work will be every bit as good as a professional printer's. Yet it will cost me less than €6 per image.

I print and mount at least 50 images a year for the club competitions alone. That's a saving of 50 x €14 (€700 per annum minimum). Assuming I get 3 years out of the printer (based on my last printer - an Epson 3880) this is a saving of €2,100 over 3 years. And that's without counting all the other reasons I produce prints - People's Photography, presents and even the odd sale). That's about €1,000 over the cost of the printer.

As I have included the cost of ink in each prints cost it's easy to see why I prefer to print "at home". Plus I'm a control freak ��

Metric Tensor

I'm very much a hobbyist rather than a pro but I have a Pixma Pro-100S for printing shots at home. I know I end up paying more per print but it's great to be able to throw out a few prints at the weekend or on demand for the kids when needed. I'm not at the skill level of others here and not after competition quality prints so I wouldn't be the best judge of quality.

If I was doing a big run of 50+ I'd get them printed elsewhere but I enjoy the handiness of having it here and being able to give people prints when they visit, etc.

Adrian.Sadlier - I've been on the lookout for good paper. What Canson paper do you usually use? They seem to have a lot of products.

Adrian.Sadlier

Metric Tensor wrote: »

Adrian.Sadlier - I've been on the lookout for good paper. What Canson paper do you usually use? They seem to have a lot of products.

Metric Tensor, I have only just used Canson Paper for the 1st time. I bought a box of A3 CANSON® INFINITY PLATINE FIBRE RAG 310 GSM (about €65 for 25 sheets) on the recommendation of some other togs who print their own stuff. Its good gallery quality paper.

Normally I use Permajet papers
Oyster 271 for standard prints
Fibre Base Royal 310 for competition (and sales)
Portrait 300 for Ultra Matt Print.

The type of paper can have a huge difference on the final print. Some use Photo Black Ink and other Matt Blank ink. Try and get a run of either type when printing as it wastes ink swapping from one to the other on a lot of printers.

Metric Tensor

Thanks Adrian - I will look into the Permajet paper first!

Adrian.Sadlier

Metric Tensor wrote: »

Thanks Adrian - I will look into the Permajet paper first!

Gunnes in Lower Camden Street stock it. Lovely people and very knowledgable.

uck51js9zml2yt

Adrian.Sadlier wrote: »

Just finished printing 16 images for camera club annual exhibition competition. Prints will be mounted on 20"x16" boards. They are printed on high quality Canson paper and most will be custom cut (the mounts). I would expect to pay €20 per image if I was getting them professionally printed and mounted (If I am wrong let me know, please).

IMHO my work will be every bit as good as a professional printer's. Yet it will cost me less than €6 per image.

I print and mount at least 50 images a year for the club competitions alone. That's a saving of 50 x €14 (€700 per annum minimum). Assuming I get 3 years out of the printer (based on my last printer - an Epson 3880) this is a saving of €2,100 over 3 years. And that's without counting all the other reasons I produce prints - People's Photography, presents and even the odd sale). That's about €1,000 over the cost of the printer.

As I have included the cost of ink in each prints cost it's easy to see why I prefer to print "at home". Plus I'm a control freak ��

Adrian..do you use genuine Epson inks for these ?

Adrian.Sadlier

Louis Old-fashioned Saboteur wrote: »

Adrian..do you use genuine Epson inks for these ?

Yes. My printer uses 80cl cartridges so they are quite economical (€50). And all the paper suppliers (worth buying) will give an ICC profile for your model of printer and the manufacturers ink.

Otherwise I wouldn't buy the paper.