Printing at home or in copy centers? Pls help!

[lobar]

Guys, share your experience please!
Do you print your photos at home or in copy centers? What is more cheaper? recently... i found this video Epson CISS vs original cartridges. I don't know, but it seems to be true. And now I'm thinking about own good small printer.
Nevertheless, I am afraid to use non-original cartridges. What can you say?

[GeoffWessex]

Depends a lot on how much printing you do..... if it's the occasional print, at different sizes, I'm now convinced that I can get better value (but perhaps not quality) at the local 'big-box' store. If you want high-quality prints I'm sure it's better to find a good Lab to make them for you. Getting consistently good prints on a home printer actually takes quite a bit of knowledge and practice.... and there's a wide range of printing standards to be aware of. You could get a cheap printer that is advertised as a photo-quality and, as long as you aren't too fussy about the quality, or don't need the picture to be around for the next 50 years, you'll be fine in spending less than about 200 quid. Once you get into the quality, archivable levels you need to spend much more money on the printer and much more on the ink (which would be a dye or pigment).

Those Epson cartridges in the video are definitely for a small home printer. If you like to exhibit your pictures, perhaps with a photo/camera club, or even your own display, you need a printer that will give quality - and long-lasting - prints by using some very expensive pigments - not the standard kind of cartridges you get in the local stationers. It can be an expensive business if you stick with the manufacturers' own ink. Using the CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) is fine for people with lots of prints to make (perhaps selling them?) but more trouble than it's worth for the 'normal' home printer.

[xavier]

as Geoff put it depends on size & volume. as for the cartridges stay with the original as I herd a few hooorrrreer stories of leeks and mall-functions

[Ralph]

I am thinking about Ciss (Continuous Ink System) for the epson P50 which some of the people at my camera club have. They recommend this as it only cost 1p for an A4 print or 2p for an A3 print, unlike £30 for a set of 6 cartridges. Sure the cost of turning a printer over to Ciss costs a bit, I found a company that does in for £158 for an A4 printer the prints but the prints are fantastic. I would certainly put them into competitions. Having a Kodak, even though the cartridges are cheap and I get good photo's out. I only get maybe 6 to 12 prints off of it. Plus Kodak maybe going into receivership so I'm looking for another printer and I'm definatly looking at Ciss system and the ink is cheap as well.

[GeoffWessex]

I had a quality printer (Epson Pro 4000) for about five years and loved it.... 17" wide, using paper roll, Pigment 'inks'. But a new set of 8 cartridges from Epson would have set me back around 700 pounds! So I found alternatives (non-Epson inks) and reduced that figure to about 100 pounds. No detectable deterioration of quality for my purposes - though of course I couldn't have expected them to be as long lasting as the genuine article. Enough for me, though.

However, once I'd filled the house with about 30 quality prints of my work, entered competitions and exhibitions at my camera club and made many prints for other club members, the monster machine (which takes two people to lift) started to be used less and less. The lack of use meant a nozzle clean almost every time I started it up - very wasteful on both ink and paper. It was becoming expensive to run.

Eventually sold it.... getting a fraction of what I'd paid.

Conclusion.....
a. As much as I enjoyed the big printer, trying various papers (and paper profiles) and getting beautiful results, unless I were to be printing for other people (to help recover some of the costs) then it's just a very expensive, space stealing drain on my pocket. Once I move home (back to the UK) I'll be looking at high street printers or maybe online companies.
b. As other members of your camera club have CISS - maybe it's worth seeing if they'd do your printing for you, at just above the cost price - then you gain experience of the system (if you sit in on the printing jobs) and can make a more informed decision as to whether you want to go that route.

[Cathus]

I've always used Epson photo printers and always use ebay inks, but I don't expect my prints to last nor be the best quality.

I use my printer for photos I might want to show my friends & family, but if I want to put them on the wall or enter them in the regular competitions at the camera club I send them off & get them printed online.

[wave01]

I send my pictures away now I have found a place that gets them back with2 days and the results are really good. when i add up the cost of ink and a printer i can send all my stuff away for years

[hanberger]

I choose the copy centers print my photos.