Community poll forum: When printing inkjet photos at home, I use:

I usually use the Kodak Picture Maker, or the corresponding store-brand setups, for the convenience, speed, and relatively low cost, but when I do print at home it's using my HP PhotoSmart 7450 (with photo cartridge) and HP or Kodak premium photo paper.

However, my preferences here don't matter much for I rarely print photos anymore...they get loaded to photo CDs/DVDs that I can watch on my computer or DVD player in large form and easily scroll through. The originals and a few backups (discs do fail) take up much less space, typically last longer, and cost a lot less than the paper alternatives.

John

I use photopaper best price available from reputable suppliers.
Discounted brands like HP, Epson, Kodak but mainly the suppliers own brand this can be as little as 25% of the price of Major branded products.
I mainly buy from MX2.

I use a mid-level Hp inkjet printer made by HP It's a HP 1215 PhotoSmart inkjet and it does a good job at it's best setting.
I also use the HP paper though more expensive it seems to do a better job than the cheaper photo paper.
I also think I use less ink on HP photo paper.

Entirely agree, but you should be prepared for some hefty cost implications. If you use this kind of paper making mistakes can be very expensive.

Great results, even with an old 1.3 Mega Pixel camera.

Haven't yet seen an at home printing system that will beat the 17 cents (sometimes less) that I pay for any number of prints (certainly anything from 1 - 50).

Is there an at home printing system that does not cost more than 17 cents per print for professional quality?

I do not agree with a lot of the old school photographers when they talk about how lab prints are cheaper. As of recent this is not true! Just do the math. Example: 24 exp. Fuji film (average in store price not retail) 3.00 + development of each photo at .17 each, equals out to 7.08. Then divide that by the number of photos 24 / 7.08 = .295 per photo. You must also keep in mind that you are spending time, gas, ect. just getting to the photo lab to drop off your film not to mention pick-up. With the price of gas these days it could be quite a bit per trip, and my time is money.

Now on the inkjet side, using the Epson PictureMate... Example: pack of 4x6 photo paper(100 sheets) with ink. 23.00 (average in store price not retail) equals out to about .23 per photo. I have used this printer and have found that I can get about 120 prints per ink cartridge. This just means that you would have to buy extra paper, but it does make it a couple of cents cheaper. Remember that the higher the paper to ink ratio you have the cheaper your prints will be. I do not deny that you would have to invest more initially in the at home method but it all equals out in the end. Plus, you can edit your photos before you print. This will also bring down your cost. Finally, you can develop your prints in your underwear while in the comfort of your own home. Try doing that at Sam's Club.

I am not against film, I still use it and love it. I originally learned photography using film with my Canon and Nikon SLR cameras. I am just giving a little bit of experience from both sides of the table. As for my background. I have been doing film photography for about 15 years and have been working in the electronics field for the same. So, I am not a newbie to this.

Note: I used the Epson as an example because it has a great quality, with reasonable cost. These prices are based on in-store averages.

rae2_2 Wrote "Please forward the name of the store where I can purchase 100 sheets of 4x6 Epson photo paper, with all four Epson ink cartridges that are required to print an "average" photo, for $23.

The PAPER might be $23, but the Black, Magenta, Cyan and Yellow Epson carts for my C-86 printer run OVER $100 for the set, and if you can get more than 100 photos printed on one set you're doing better than I am. Most of your photos must include 50% cloudy sky!"

First of all, you did you are using a non photo printer with a four ink setup. Most photo printers us at least six inks and some with a red and blue setup. The paper and ink that I quoted was for the Epson PictureMate. This setup is sold with the ink and paper together in many stores such as Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, ect... Just because your printer cost more to do prints does not mean that you cannot get great at home prints for a good price. I have used many printers during my years of working in retail. For example, I have worked with about 20 different printers since November of 2005 not to mention the months/years before. I am simply giving the readers my info because unlike most people, I have had the liberty of using many different products in the field. So, for rae2_2 to say that it is not possible just shows that another person with limited experience and research miscalculates again.

I am not trying to put down any one, but give experience from both ends of photo printing. Most people cannot tell the difference between a good inkjet photo and film. I discovered this by working in retail and asking people which photo they liked from different inkjets and film. About 8 out of 10 would choose one of the inkjet photos. I do think that rae2_2 has some good experience, but he has a very onesided view. I too did professional photography, computers (networking and programming) and played with comp tech since the 80's. It is my job to put these products through the ringer. I work in retail and have a side job as a consumer electronics tester. Testing everything from cameras to TVs to printers, ect... My question to rae2_2 is, how many printers and paper have you used at home for printing photos? Rae2_2 try not to be so negative.

You guys both have valid points. Yes, camera store prints are good. Yes, there's nothing like the 35mm negative and yes, you can get the CD with digital files either for messing with later if you want or the ease of saving to a website or sharing with family. Yes, home printing can be expensive and not necessarily better - but it can also be very comparable and just as good. It all depends on your system and supplies. I use HP everything. HP photo printer, inks and paper. I had taken a bunch of digital Christmas photos, printed them at home, then misplaced them during a recent remodeling, and decided I'd rather not take the time to reprint at home. I bought a prepaid digiprint card at Wolf (19 cents a print), uploaded my digital files and in an hour picked up store prints. Later I found the ones I printed at home. They're identical in appearance, and virtually the same cost. There's still the question of longevity, how well the inkjet holds up over time. Since having them store-printed is so easy, I have decided to print everyday stuff at home and print the important stuff (like Christmas) at the store. By the way, I don't know about Epson products, but when you buy HP products directly from HP, you get a good price and don't pay sales tax. If you order more than $50 shipping is free, also. In my experience the retail stores (Office Max, Best Buy) can be more expensive than HP's website. Also, with Staples recently expanding in Chicago area, there are a ton of coupons floating around - $10 off a $20 purchase, etc. If you have the time and ability to shop carefully, you don't have to spend a ton of money for home printing supplies.

I would like to stress two points.
Only use Printer Manufacturer Papers and Inks.
Otherwise you are asking for trouble.

I use the lowest cost paper (Kirkland at Costco). It is thicker than the Kodak paper. I use generic ink from the internet bought on sale at as little as $2 per cartridge. When I bought a new printer, I went to the ink sites to see if there was generic ink for that printer at low pricew. I got a Canon i960. I can print 4 5.33x3 inch prints (the size that the 4:3 format gives ) on a 8.5x 11 sheet of paper tha costs $19 for 125 sheets ayt Costco. I get about 120 prints from the cartridges (7 at $2 each color). Paper costs about $0.12 for ink and $0.04 for the paper.

This is still more than the $0.13 that Sam's charges.

However it is a lot easier to print at home with Photoshops Elements to do the cropping, retouching, and size I want.

So far I have seen nop print degradation in the 2.5 years I've been using digital photography. I also have oodles of pink and white color photos from 20-30 years ago. I also have color slides which appear to be OK.

I use Epson ColorLife paper,for photos I denfinately want to last, it is suspose to last the longest with my 960 Epson printer, I haven't had any pictures for 25 years so I'm not sure it the estimate is correct.

Specialty papers from Moab are best for high level printing. I print using both Epson and Canon printers. My operating system is XP Pro. For routine work and proofs, I use Epson and Kodak papers.