Hi guys,

Which is cheaper? Printing your photos in photolabs or printing it yourself?
I am thinking of buying a printer, but I am not sure of how much ink I will consume in printing photos, I wonder if it will be cheaper if I will just have it printed by photo labs?

Thanks

i find the photolabs cheaper . The paper is very expensive + the ink if you do it on your own.

And I guess the quality is also better in photolabs

For me, the photolab is cheaper. If you go the printer route, you'll spend countless hours doing color management, calibration, etc. Also, if you use generic inks, you'll find out that the colors fade away after some time. Inkject inks also dry up if it's not used often and can clog the printer nozzles.

HTH.

i think there are prints that you want it your own, it only depends what type of prints and how is it to be printed.

Photolabs are cheaper... Just think in the long run that if you don't print yourself; basically you have no printer maintenance... :)

Yup, photolabs are cheaper...and its getting even cheaper with competitions popping up. and a the quality is always constant, unlike printers, when the ink starts to run out, so does the quality.

Photolabs! IMHO, DIY printing is best reserved for high quality archival work with a fancy printer and equally fancy inks and even fancier paper plus loads and loads of time and a very forgiving wife.

Thanks so much for the insights guys! I really appreciate it!

if you print only a few photos. it's much cheaper to print it yourself. when in bulk it is cheaper in the lab. hmmmm i wonder who taught me this? hehehe :P!

When I print, I usually print in A4 (8R) photo sizes, does anyone knows how many A4 (8R) prints I can make with the standard ink capacity of printers? Is it still cheaper to have it printed on photolabs?

Yes it is still much cheaper to print with photolabs even with a CIS installed on your inkjet printer. Print quality is also much better (continous toning vs halftoned images)

Photolab is 50% cheaper.

Its cheaper to print it on your own if you only print a few pieces at a time. Some people only factor in the cost of how much the photo lab would charge for a print. I would factor in time, effort, parking and other malling fees :D

I regularly inkjet images that I sell or display around the house. I am currently using an entry level Canon inkjet printer (an iP3000).

Setting up your home system to be color managed is not that hard or time consuming. It also isn't that expensive to buy a colorimeter to calibrate your monitor. Most photo inkjet printers cost just as much or more than a Colorvision Spyder2 Express. :D

Hmmm... interesting thread... was wondering about this myself. The major upside of printing on your own is you can do it whenever you want to. Was worried though about the cost of ink and paper, besides the initial cost for a good printer. :)

Hmm, I think labs are cheaper these days, especially those kiosks that don't require a minimum number of copies and doesn't charge developing fees...

I worry about ink and paper costs when I print in volume (i.e. events coverages, etc.). Those jobs always get sent to the photo lab. But a personal shot of my kids or something new for my folio, I'll just print those on my desktop inkjet. It's also great that desktop inkjets have inksets that are even more lightfast than previous generations.

If you're just printing one or three copies then it may be better to print your own - no more gas charge, parking fee, etc.
If you're printing 100 copies then give your printer a break and go to a lab.

its cheaper to photolabs tlaga lalo na maramihan un mga school events and classpictures and on other occasions basta bulk sinesend ko sa manila un cd copy ko and print ...masyado malayo pero sulit tlaga! but for i.d. pictures mas sulit sa desktop inkjets asap pa!

I almost do the same since I have my own photolab and deskjet printer. I can play color management on my photolab. I can do what ever I want for my photo prints.

Very informative. I've been contemplating on buying a printer. Looking at A3 capable printer seems expensive, well i think I have to send them to photolabs and smaller size on my printer.