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Thread ID: 25521	2002-10-05 18:56:00	cost of printing colour photographs	Vibeke (2126)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
86421	2002-10-05 18:56:00	Hi, In your last magazine you mention that most people now use their jetink printers mainly for printing colour photographs. I have never seen a proper report on the cost of doing this. Most manufactures will give cost on printing average pages with perhaps only 5% coverage. How about a report showing what it does cost to print an A4 photograph, and a 4" x 6". Even how many can you expect to do per cartridge for the different manufactures. To get 6" x 4" prints of a digital camera from a retailer is about $1.50 per copy. Thanks for a great magazine. Vibeke Friis Kumeu	Vibeke (2126)
86422	2002-10-05 20:10:00	Good idea,Vibeke.	Neil McC (178)
86423	2002-10-06 01:07:00	Working from the manual, I once calculated that, for a particular HP printer, an A4 print would cost about $2.50 for the ink. That leaves out the cost of the special paper. I suspect that printers with much smaller ink capacity (e.g. 17 ml vs about 42 ml) and not "much" cheaper than the HP cartridges, the price might be much higher. I suppose an A4 colour photgraphic enlargement would be quite a bit more, but the quality would be better.	Graham L (2)
86424	2002-10-06 02:08:00	Thanks, At $2.50 per sheet, that equals 62.5 cents per 6"x4" (10cm x 15cm) print, add 22.5 cents for good quality paper you are paying 85 cents per print. From film you pay about 50 cents per print (when printing the whole film) + about 25 cents per fram for the film = 75 cents. Quality is getting pretty good these days, so it could just about be worthwhile, if you have the time. I'm trying to justify getting a digital camera, and I do want prints of most of my shots. Vibeke	Vibeke (2126)
86425	2002-10-06 07:26:00	Thanks for taking the time to do those figures, folks . I have just invested in a Canon PowerShot A40 (which, by the way, is a fantastic piece of hardware for a 2 . 0 megapixel model) and have been wondering whether I should invest in an inkjet printer . I was pretty convinced that prints from an inkjet were slightly more expensive than the $1 . 25 per 6 X 4 which I currently pay at http://www . frogprints . co . nz, but I note that your figures suggest that printing your own may actually be slightly cheaper . However, I still have no intention of rushing out to buy an inkjet . When you factor in the upfront cost of buying the printer, the possibility of having to repair the printer at some stage during its life, and the fact that professional prints would be of higher quality, I honestly believe that professional prints are still the best value for money .	Alasta (1420)
86426	2002-10-06 08:13:00	DO NOT FORGET that you don't print all the pics you take with the digi cam. If you factor that in - ie: you pay for all of them on film - then it works out much cheaper to print the ones you want.	wotz (335)
86427	2002-10-06 08:15:00	>>>I'm trying to justify getting a digital camera, and I do want prints of most of my shots. We were talking about getting one as well and one of the advantages for us would be the ability to only print out the best shots rather than the whole film and getting half a film of duds. With an ordinary camera you often only get one chance at a shot and you take it, hoping for the best. With a digital you can see immediately whether it was a good one and if not you haven't wasted paying for the printing costs to find that out. In our view (and circumstances) that alone would save us a lot of money and offset any possible higher costs for printing the good shots.	Susan B (19)
86428	2002-10-06 08:38:00	To calculate the cost of a colour page would vary greatly between printers and paper types. This (www.deltrasoftware.com) site gives the pro's and con's of printing photo's with colour inkjet printers. They mention a rough formula for calculating the costs (in Indian currency!) per page with an Epsom printer that you could modify for your own printer. "The photo glossy paper from Century is available at Rs.10=20 per A4 size sheet. A colour cartridge and a black cartridge can print about 75 to 100 copies of full colour A4 size photos depending on the density of colour in the photograph. Considering the cost of Epson cartridges - @ Rs.975=00 for colour and Rs.675=00 for black cartridge, per print ink cost will come to between Rs.22=00 and Rs.16=50. Therefore the total consumables cost for full A4 size sheet would Rs.10=20 + ink = Rs.32=20 approximately. Which is quite affordable." If you are extra curious a Currency converter can be found here (discovernz.co.nz) :D Jen	Jen C (20)
86429	2002-10-06 09:41:00	i would jus pay $1.50 or so for a picture developed. Better quality/paper. Do not have to invest on equipment and such. Ray	rayonline (2134)
86430	2002-10-06 10:46:00	I also would pay the cost of professional printing. I had an A4 done a while back, about $13 if I remember correctly. With a digital you will probably print less than 10% of what you would have with film. In many cases being able to view them/email them etc is sufficient in itself, so trying to justify expenditure on the basis of print costs is quite invalid.	godfather (25)
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