Printing out photos

[katzenjammer]

I'm thinking I'd rather have some photos in albums rather than just digital. What's the best way to do this in terms of cost effectiveness and quality?  I only have a black and white laser printer so that's out, but should I buy a colour one and do it myself or might it be better to use some kind of service?

[Endicott]

You can get good quality results up to A4 with an average ink jet printer if you print onto glossy paper, but I will say that the ink cartridges are a pain to replace and expensive. I haven't used a service so can't compare cost wise, sorry.

[Jerzy Bondov]

If you don't mind doing them in monthly batches (if you've got loads) my wife uses FreePrints. You get 45 free prints a month but have to pay delivery. Fuck knows how they make money. Quality is good, and we put them in albums. Cheap as chips.

[Huxleys Babkins]

After a billion attempts to get half decent results, I ended up fucking off the home printing and just using the Max Spielmann kiosks in Tesco. I think it was like 9p or something daft for a 6x4 print. I don't think there's any printer on the market that would give you that kind of £/print, especially once you factor in ink and paper consumable prices.

Just make sure you give them the once over in store and complain to the bloke behind the counter, if any of them are sub-par, to get them reprinted for free.

[JaDanketies]

I also agree that you should use online services or the photo printers at Tesco, unless you're planning to make a business out of it and need to do it every day

[touchingcloth]

Yeah, those supermarket photo kisoks print as well as a home photo printer without you needing to own a photo printer.

You can use a specialist online service if you want particularly high quality or unusual sizes, and as others have said owning your own printer doesn't make sense unless you are going to be printing a hell of a lot.

[Jerzy Bondov]

If you do get a printer you should also get some blood pressure medication for when it fucks you off beyond reason and you go mad

[katzenjammer]

Thanks all, I think I'll check out local places first, then try FreePrints or others.

If you do get a printer you should also get some blood pressure medication for when it fucks you off beyond reason and you go mad

Yeah, had an inkjet for a bit until I put my foot through its stupid face

[Sebastian Cobb]

The printing services can also print to books/albums, might cost a bit more but tends to look a bit nicer than a wallet album.

[Vodkafone]

If you don't mind doing them in monthly batches (if you've got loads) my wife uses FreePrints. You get 45 free prints a month but have to pay delivery. Fuck knows how they make money. Quality is good, and we put them in albums. Cheap as chips.

Sell the images of your comely family members on to dark sites probably. That's what I did would do.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Sell the images of your comely family members on to dark sites probably. That's what I did would do.

No no, it says they don't do that. They wouldn't lie.

[El Unicornio, mang]

If you do get a printer you should also get some blood pressure medication for when it fucks you off beyond reason and you go mad

Yeah. Some of the issues I have with my printer defy explanation. Yesterday was trying to print out a return label that I urgently needed and it was refusing to print more than half of it, despite printing other things fine. Like it was taunting me or something.

[katzenjammer]

Get a Brother, brother. Mine cost about €120 and has been going strong for about 10 years. The print quality isn't amazing but for documents and labels it's fine. The only problem I've had was it refusing to connect to my wifi network a couple of times

[Jim_MacLaine]

I bought an Epson ecotank because I print out my photos on a regular basis and HP with my last printer were just taking the piss.



I think it was approx £230 but you got a huge amount of ink (3 years worth they say) and after a year I still have 3 quarter full tanks.

Otherwise if you are only printing photos once in a while get them done online.

[The F Bomb]

Photobox is perfectly good for photo books.

If you're OK to spend a few more quid, Saal Digital do beautiful quality prints and photo books. You can usually find a £10/£20 off discount code floating around, too.