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Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Ink ....

The cost of buying ink for my much used Epson R300 is nearly reaching 'need to re mortgage'!! I am a print ink snob and only use the 'real' ink and not the compatible ones. Did it once and the photos were yuk!
So this morning I decided to take a look at Photobox. I know alot of people use it and all seem to be impressed but my question is, and it may be dumb but is it cheaper than printing at home?
What are the benefits?
Should I get a different printer where the inks are slightly cheaper but still give great results?
And why do the photos not print how they look on the screen!?!!
If you have the answers then please let me know.
I have to say though I do like the photo books!

5 comments:

Sabrina said...

I'd say you're right to stick with the proper inks. No doubt that they are better and last better, especially with the right paper. Any reports I've read say that for single photos, print your own, for any sort of quanitity, get them done, far more cost-effective. As to why they don't match the screen - all sorts of techie stuff. There's a calibrator you can buy (not cheap, about £100) which matches your sreen to what it should be, and then there are different printer profiles, and different monitors have different colour profiles too.
But sure, it's the same thing with old film cameras. You take a great negative in for a reprint, and it comes out totally different to the original - they may have brightened it up, toned it down...
Happy Easter.

Jazzy1972 said...

I would always stick to proper inks but I only even print at home if I urgently need a picture, I find photobox brilliant and have had no trouble with them and I do find them cheaper. Hugs Jay xx

Heidi E. said...

I use artscow.com and love it.. So I would suggest doing Photobox instead of printing your own. I have done it for years and like I said.. love it .. plus way cheaper..

Amanda said...

What a relief! I thought you'd got a tattoo!

As Cook22 says, getting the screen calibrated is a good place to start, not just for printing, but for Photoshopping too. Our wedding photographer friend did ours (using an eye-one display 2) and he recommended this site for more info:

http://shop.colourconfidence.com/

Happy Easter!

Ax

Tigger's rambling said...

Well cook said it all :-)
you can always rely on her for great advice :-)