Whats to know about printing?

GeX

GeX

GeX

Soldato
Joined
17 Dec 2002
Posts
6,994
Location
Manchester
Howdy all.

Despite many thousands images, i've never printed any of them. I do not have a printer.

I was thinking about Christmas presents, and there are some shots I did of my little sister that I think would look fantastic printed out and framed - and would be a nice present for me mam.

I shoot using a D50 (6.1mp), what kind of size can i realistically print to from that as a source - as there is a photo of my dads motorbike which I think would look good on the wall of his house as well.

My monitor is not calibrated. What colour space should i be using, what file format do printing places like to use, what level of sharpening is normally needed.

Finally where would you recomend getting them printed at.

Thanks in advance :)
 
You could probably print out to about A3 with reasonable results, although I would be inclined to interpolate before sending, 12x8 would be fine though I think. Colour space wise I think you need sRGB and most places prefer Jpeg.

I'm just sending some off now to a printers called Loxley, they are supposedly very good and appear to offer some free prints for calibration purposes (which i'm just sending now so will let you know if they stand by their work). They are a bit more expensive than Photobox but the prints I got from them a while ago were poor to say the least.
 
I have used photobox in the past with good results but as Amp34 says they've got worse lately.

If you are at all interested in getting a printer (it's nice to not have to wait at times) then I can recommend the Canon Pixma range. I got the IP4500 for £64 and it prints excellent quality up to A4 borderless.
 
I hadnt thought about actually buying a printer, i just assumed that i wouldn't be able to get decent results without spending a lot of money.

what are the costs like when compared to photobox and the like, ie average cost of ink and paper for each print?
 
You can pick up decent photo paper (A4) at about £8 for 100 sheets and the ink is £8 per cartridge if you buy direct from Canon (although third party are available for much less).

So far I have done about 50 borderless A5 and a few A4 as well as loads of documents and both black cartridges and the magenta are showing as 100% full. Cyan and yellow have gone down to 90%.

It isn't any cheaper than ordering online but it's a lot quicker, A4 borderless print in 60 seconds rather than 3 days :p
 
that isn't half bad. i might buy myself one of them instead. that might inspire me to print more! :)

is the third party ink worth bothering with? i used to have an epson and had some questionable quality ink from a third party! £8, is that per colour, or are they all in the one cart?
 
GeX, what size do you think you will print at most often?
If its A4 or less, then a printer is most certainly a good investment. Even cheapy inkjets will give you good quality results. What tends to separate really good from mediocre is the ink quality and longevity. I've used all kinds, HP, Canon, Epson, Lexmark. Lexmark are way too expensive for my liking.
I have loads of packs of HP Photo paper 175gsm gloss (C7894A), perfect for framed mantlepiece pics. If you want a pack, seeing as we're starting to get into the festive season, i'd happily send you one for the price of postage. Unopened with 60 sheets in.
Just let me know via email in trust if so, i'll be glad to help. :)
 
GeX said:
that isn't half bad. i might buy myself one of them instead. that might inspire me to print more! :)

is the third party ink worth bothering with? i used to have an epson and had some questionable quality ink from a third party! £8, is that per colour, or are they all in the one cart?
Click to expand...

Per cartridge, 5 in total. 1 Text black, 1 photo black, Cyan, Yellow and Magenta. It comes with a full set (and not half filled like a lot of them are).
 
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