Printing Photos At Home Versus a Store

Anyone who owns a digital camera and wants to print the pictures from it has probably made a trip to your local pharmacy or other location (such as Walmart or Target) at least once in their life. You may be asking yourself, is that trip worth it? Can I print my photos at home cheaper? So here are some things to consider when faced with that scenario.

First, the quality of the photos is probably at least reasonably proportional to the quality of the printer you buy. There are plenty of inexpensive, photo only printers that are produced by a variety of manufacturers. There are also a variety of all in one printers that will also print photos, but these are slightly more expensive than the photo only printers. However, it is not just the printer you are buying, it’s the paper for that printer as well as the ink.

That brings up the next consideration before you decide to go DIY for photos, the paper. If you want optimum results, you have to invest in photo paper. Printing on regular 20lb. printer paper will cause you to waste a lot of ink, as well as lessen the life of your photos. Many printer manufacturers will sell their own proprietary paper combined with photo ink in sets. They also always guarantee using their photo paper with their printer and ink will ensure the longest lasting photos.

The most telling statistic of all may be the overall cost per photo. So really the bottom line is to consider all factors before making a decision.