[Lowell Goudge]

I have a printer (Epson A3+ / 13x19") but not to save money. The cheapest option is to use a lab. I have a printer to make prints - because I very rarely got around to send anything off to the lab. And when I need prints I need them now, not in two days. Yeah, that could mostly be solved by planning

you are not alone here

Oh, and it's fun. I just received some nice-looking Hahnemühle paper. Should provide some nice (and expensive) prints.

just like doing B&W. in a dark room

As for CISS printers, I don't print enough for that to be a sensible way for me. Even less than the P600 is.

For me, it costs about $50 per color cartridge of which there are 8 for a total single refill cost of $400

That gets me 28 grams of ink per color. I wanted to do some prints, and needed to get some ( but not all) in s replaced, and the cost of 100g for each color, plus the cost of the CISS system was cheaper than the cost of just getting the specific ink cartridges I needed.

[K2 to K50]

I use my office HP Color LaserJet for convenience/event prints up to 5x7. It works well, but it's not for art. I use Nations Photo Labs for bigger, better stuff.

Interesting. Not even 10 x 12s on the Laserjet?

[rogerstg]

Interesting. Not even 10 x 12s on the Laserjet?

IMO, the colors lack a bit of vibrancy. Also, the max size is 8.5" x 14". The way I see it is that if I'm going to bother matting and framing to hang it in my house, I'll pay a few dollars for a high quality print. On the other hand, if the grandkids are staying over night, I'll often print a few recent pictures of them for their rooms. (Yes, we're empty nesters so we have separate bedrooms for our grandkids and my mom if she visits at the same time.)

[K2 to K50]

IMO, the colors lack a bit of vibrancy. Also, the max size is 8.5" x 14". The way I see it is that if I'm going to bother matting and framing to hang it in my house, I'll pay a few dollars for a high quality print. On the other hand, if the grandkids are staying over night, I'll often print a few recent pictures of them for their rooms. (Yes, we're empty nesters so we have separate bedrooms for our grandkids and my mom if she visits at the same time.)

Ah, yes - I see the problem with size. Different paper choices no help with the "vibrancy" problem on the laserjet?

[savoche]

just like doing B&W. in a dark room

It is a bit of the same - sans the smell

For me, it costs about $50 per color cartridge of which there are 8 for a total single refill cost of $400

That gets me 28 grams of ink per color. I wanted to do some prints, and needed to get some ( but not all) in s replaced, and the cost of 100g for each color, plus the cost of the CISS system was cheaper than the cost of just getting the specific ink cartridges I needed.

I suspect that the economics will look different here. I probably have to get all of it (including ink) from abroad, and shipping+handling and taxes on top of that tend to kill it.

And don't underestimate the laziness factor

[Lowell Goudge]

I suspect that the economics will look different here. I probably have to get all of it (including ink) from abroad, and shipping+handling and taxes on top of that tend to kill it.

And don't underestimate the laziness factor

Mine was all amazon and eBay and prices included shipping. I think it depends on the printer and cost of inks, but for me, and the cost of HP 38 ink cartridges it was a no-brainer.

The cost of the tank system was only about $50us. Other systems may vary. Installation was relatively simple, even considering the kit came with no instructions, there was plenty of stuff on line. The only DIY that was required, was to cut a small notch in the access door, to allow the ink tubes through (many printers have interlocks that won’t allow a print if an access door is open) This was easy enough with an xacto saw and sharp knife, the job in total took about 30 minutes from start to finish including purging and filling the system

[PDish]

I was somewhat surprised reciently.

Let me go back to the beginning. In cleaning out my home office, (as there is not a lot to do with the corona virus out there) I decided to get my HP B8850 printer going again, but I decided that I would convert it to a CISS ink system, because for $70 I could purchase 3x the ink, that I could in place of the $50 per colour ( the hp uses 8 colours, I let you do the math).

What surprises me is that when I went onto the forums to see if anyone had converted a printer to a CISS system, There were only about 5 threads, all 9-10 years old.

It begs the question, does anyone print any more?

By the way, except for needing to replace one colour print head which had plugged, it all works great. (E-bay has been a blessing)

I recently got my Epson Stylus R2400 back up and working since being isolated and it still prints good photos, but at the price of ink it may be used for only smaller prints. Going to a local lab and printing larger stock can get expensive, but if you only do it once in awhile its a better deal.

[normhead]

I recently got my Epson Stylus R2400 back up and working since being isolated and it still prints good photos, but at the price of ink it may be used for only smaller prints. Going to a local lab and printing larger stock can get expensive, but if you only do it once in awhile its a better deal.

Wait for the 50% off sales. We always have a file of photos ready to print when the pice goes down.

[savoche]

Mine was all amazon and eBay and prices included shipping. I think it depends on the printer and cost of inks, but for me, and the cost of HP 38 ink cartridges it was a no-brainer.

The cost of the tank system was only about $50us. Other systems may vary. Installation was relatively simple, even considering the kit came with no instructions, there was plenty of stuff on line. The only DIY that was required, was to cut a small notch in the access door, to allow the ink tubes through (many printers have interlocks that won’t allow a print if an access door is open) This was easy enough with an xacto saw and sharp knife, the job in total took about 30 minutes from start to finish including purging and filling the system

I suppose it would still be cheaper even after a 25% tax added, and the $15-25 charged by whatever parcel "service" does the job of handling the tax payment. But, nah, I don't want to cut holes in my almost-new Epson

[Lowell Goudge]

I suppose it would still be cheaper even after a 25% tax added, and the $15-25 charged by whatever parcel "service" does the job of handling the tax payment. But, nah, I don't want to cut holes in my almost-new Epson

The other option, although messier is to purchase bulk ink and inject it into the cartridges to refill them. But the issue is a persistent out of ink warning

[landofcourtness]

I very much do! As a teacher it's essential to have a printer at home in general, and then I like to have a printer that can also double for Printing Photos. Some people have mentioned cost, and I think its very much relative to the size that you are trying to print. For those interested in a really cost-effective option, I really like the HP Envy 7855, which can be had for roughly $99. This printer does a great job of printing, scanning, etc... and while I do think the quality isn't as good as a Canon Pixma Pro ($400), it does punch above in terms of quality. I also want to 1) emphasize the use of Photo Paper! as when I was first printing to just normal paper, I was very much underwhelmed by the quality of the photos. Switch to printer paper... Bam, Big difference! (just don't be stupid like me and forget to switch out your paper when doing teacher-stuff, AND 2) signing up for an HP-ink plan. This is the specific reason I chose this printer, because of this feature. The HP ink plans make it so that you don't have to pay for ink. When you are about to run out, they just send you a batch of ink in the mail... and this happens automatically without the need to contact someone specifically. The plans per month are $2.99-50 page limit (what I use, for this specific one, $36/yr), 4.99-100 page limit, 9.99-300pg, 14.99-500pg, 19.99-700pg (what I have for my printer at school, since a lot fo students use it, and another teacher+her students). Any extra pages roll-over too. That seems like a pretty good deal imo!

The only real drawback, to me, is if you're trying to print something that is bigger than 8.5 x 14" (legal-wide) or A4. You do have to have them professionally done for any canvas-type things (your pictures look pretty cool, and I haven't seen a place that turns photos into a paint by numbers???) or photo-books. It fits most of my needs though (normally just decorating walls with photos in frames), at a fraction of a cost.

[PDL]

Yes, I do print stuff but it is not all that often.

Last year I took a two day workshop at PCNW (Photographic Center Northwest) that included a "portfolio" look see. The only kicker was that instead of digital presentations, as they had done in with previous workshops, the portfolio look see was with prints. So I had to warm up the printer and make some hard copies. Now, I did not have to figure out what would go into the portfolio look see as it was part of the program. I had bought the printer because my better half wanted to print some non-profit information (being the President of the board has its responsibilities) and our old printer was pretty questionable and ssslllloooowwww. (par for the course as it was nearly 20 years old).

I have some of the images I have printed over the years hanging on my wall behind me and some of them are around the house. Most of the ones around the house were printed via Costco but now I can print 8.5x11 inch prints on my own.

My printer is the Epson XP-15000 Expression Photo HD.

[bkpix]

I print regularly -- about three or four 18x24-inch or larger prints a week -- on a wide-format Epson 7880 I got used last year for $800 (it replaced a well-used Epson 7600 I ran for seven years after buying it for $500). Using aftermarket ink from Ink Owl makes the cost of running it negligible, and I use a variety of papers, none of which carries the word "photography" anywhere on the label. I rarely make conventional photographs; instead I'm producing black and white prints on non-photo papers for hand coloring with acrylic paints, destined for fine art galleries. For this work I like the character of everything from watercolor paper to good printmaking paper such as Stonehenge to used grocery bags and even newsprint. OK, I have odd tastes.

That first Epson was a big leap of faith, and I have to say it changed my photographic life. Size matters. It's great to be able to print large -- I often do vertical panoramas of up to 24 by 84 inches -- and it's great to be able to try something out you just thought of, at home, any time day or night, without involving a commercial printer. The cost of operation has been much cheaper than hiring things done, not to mention all the transportation and shipping (we live well out of town) that would be involved.

Also, whenever I suffer an attack of GAS -- and who hasn't? -- I find the best cure is to go out and shoot something and print it large with the cameras I already have and then try to imagine what buying a new piece of gear could possibly improve

Yes, you have to maintain the equipment -- it helps to be a tinkerer -- but the pro printers are well built, and you can find most of what you need to know to fix them on YouTube. Basically I wore the old one out. My current model has worked without clogs or jams or any other issues for more than a year.

[pschlute]

I print pictures every few months. I dont do them myself, I use a commercial printing firm. A have a couple of frames in the house that I change regularly for the latest efforts !

I print at 24" x 16" on fine art Hahnemuhle paper. Costs about £30 per print including postage. Well worth it in my book.