Finally - true cost of printing A4 photos!

[Neo]

Mmmm.... I always thought Digital Photography simplified too many issues... perhaps I am wrong....

Neo, you open my eyes to a new world of actually doing digital dark room as a way to improve photography.... this will be an area I will venture should I ever jump into DSLR.........

Hi Halfmoon,

Personally I feel the shooting part is actually forms only 1/3rd of digital photography. Digital editing and printing forms the other 2/3rds. That's how I see digital photography personally...

The digital editing part is really something that amazes me, especially with all the great books on digital retouching, editing in LAB spaces etc. There's really no end in experimenting with Photoshop, and when you find a new technique that enhances your photo (eg. a great new way to convert colour to b/w), it really gets your blood boiling to try on your various images. And of course, getting it printed out on good photo paper wraps it up for me....

 

[sharf]

Hi Neo,

From where did you bind the photo book. I intend to do a few photo books for my daughter and for my friends wedding.

Is there any place that does this for a price or it was just DIY.

I really appreciate you posting this informaition it is really helpful. By the way I have an Epson RX530, it uses only 4 inks and I would say that the quality of the print outs from the printer is more than 90% of that of Lab quality print outs and it roughly costs me SGD 1.25 to print one borderless A4 photo.

Regards

Sharf

 

[Zplus]

Great post Neo. Thanks for sharing with us. Valuable information indeed.:thumbsup:

Yeah, i also find it kinda lame with all the "I print at lab" and "what about depreciation" post.

I mean, how much brain power does it take to calculate depreciation into this. And I believe this post was not about comparing printing cost with a lab.
;p

 

[AReality]

After i just bought my new photo printer a few days ago, I found that it is impossible to inlcude "priceless", from the joy and satisfaction, into the total cost of printing at home...


.

 

[Parka]

I knew that Canon printers can churn out pretty decent amount of printouts since I own a printer myself. Although I print a lot too, I don't really go count them.

My personal experience says that 4 cartridges can produce around 70 pieces of borderless A4. Based on the 76 cartridges you used, it amounts to 1330 pieces. So it tallys. It also has to depend on the print quality choosen.

One thing that bugs me about high volume printing is the amount of time it takes. I guess it's ok if you print a few. But to print over thousand copies, it's really better to send for photo labs. But hey, that's me, I'm a time conscious dude. But I like to print too, for the thrill of printing.

Thumbs up for putting a number to the cost

(I used to own a Canon s520, which is spoilt. Now using a Canon s9000)

 

[Neo]

Hi Neo,

From where did you bind the photo book. I intend to do a few photo books for my daughter and for my friends wedding.

Is there any place that does this for a price or it was just DIY.

Hi Sharf,

Just go to any of the bigger photo copying shops and ask for perfect bind. It's the same kind students use for binding their thesis. It's basically a "leather" hard cover bound by glue and threads, and take a week or two to do. The cost is about $8... I do mine at Queensway Shopping Centre... the famous Ultra-Supplies shop at level 3...

Neo

 

[Neo]

After i just bought my new photo printer a few days ago, I found that it is impossible to inlcude "priceless", from the joy and satisfaction, into the total cost of printing at home...


.

If I needed to justify my digital camera/lenses purchase over the amount of photos taken, my gf will chop my head off since it probably cost $8-10 per click... :bsmilie:

So I tell her... the moments recorded are "priceless"... :bsmilie:

 

[kiwi2]

Mmmm.... I always thought Digital Photography simplified too many issues... perhaps I am wrong....

Yah, that's a big misconception that exists in those unfamiliar to digital photography. But really, it depends on your standards. Some may own a nice DSLR. After the shoot, they just send them to the lab to print. It's as simple as that.

But if u want to truely understand the whole process from pre-shoot (ie b4 you press the shutter) to the superb final image production on screen or in print, whoa, it's a super huge learning curve. I cringe whenever I hear people say "Haiyah, digital, you shoot 20 shots like nobody's business sure got one good one. Who needs skills?" Nothing can be worse than this ignorance.

Actually, IMHO, digital photography opens up so many more possibilities and conveniences that films can't give. That's the beauty.

 

[Halfmoon]

Hi Halfmoon,

Personally I feel the shooting part is actually forms only 1/3rd of digital photography. Digital editing and printing forms the other 2/3rds. That's how I see digital photography personally...

The digital editing part is really something that amazes me, especially with all the great books on digital retouching, editing in LAB spaces etc. There's really no end in experimenting with Photoshop, and when you find a new technique that enhances your photo (eg. a great new way to convert colour to b/w), it really gets your blood boiling to try on your various images. And of course, getting it printed out on good photo paper wraps it up for me....

Mmmm......... how much does PS2 cost???

If I jump into digital, I have to upgrade my hard wares and soft wares.... heavy investment.... Esp PC... and a good printer.....

 

[Halfmoon]

Yah, that's a big misconception that exists in those unfamiliar to digital photography. But really, it depends on your standards. Some may own a nice DSLR. After the shoot, they just send them to the lab to print. It's as simple as that.

But if u want to truely understand the whole process from pre-shoot (ie b4 you press the shutter) to the superb final image production on screen or in print, whoa, it's a super huge learning curve. I cringe whenever I hear people say "Haiyah, digital, you shoot 20 shots like nobody's business sure got one good one. Who needs skills?" Nothing can be worse than this ignorance.

Actually, IMHO, digital photography opens up so many more possibilities and conveniences that films can't give. That's the beauty.

I still think that a lot of digital users are shoot 10 have 3-4 good pictures... I am guilty since I snap a lot with digital (PnS) too........:bsmilie:

I would like to experience that experience of processing pictures and improving image too.......

 

[Neo]

Mmmm......... how much does PS2 cost???

If I jump into digital, I have to upgrade my hard wares and soft wares.... heavy investment.... Esp PC... and a good printer.....

Hi Halfmoon,

I think PS2 costs $1300 if I'm not wrong. If you're a student, you can buy the Academic Version which is actually the same thing but at a much much lower price. But take note that you cannot use Academic version for commercial work. Alternatively, you can buy the Creative Suite 2 which is a really good deal, since you get Illustrator, InDesign and Flash thrown in. If you intend to do more with your photos after editing, CS2 suite is really nice. I think the full suite costs about $2300.

I recommend building your own PC, or getting a vendor in Sim Lim Square to do it. It may not be cheaper, but you get to choose the best components for your money, and you can really customize it the way you want it. For example, you don't need a fancy 3D card so you can spend on a Matrox card instead, and pump more money into RAM (2-4GB is nice) and probably 2-4 HDD on RAID to speed up the processing. These will make a lot of difference in your work, and you can probably save some money by not getting the fastest processor.

The most important thing is probably the monitor. Get a good monitor that allows you to calibrate the color controls in RGB channels (the cheap ones only allows basic colour temp setting). This will allow you to accurately tune your display later on. Wide screen LCDs are nice to have, since you have more real estate to see your photos with the toolbars pushed to the side. Else you can pump for 2 smaller regular LCD display with a dual head display. DVI makes everything sharper, so make sure that your key display is using DVI if possible.

 

[Halfmoon]

Hi Halfmoon,

I think PS2 costs $1300 if I'm not wrong. If you're a student, you can buy the Academic Version which is actually the same thing but at a much much lower price. But take note that you cannot use Academic version for commercial work. Alternatively, you can buy the Creative Suite 2 which is a really good deal, since you get Illustrator, InDesign and Flash thrown in. If you intend to do more with your photos after editing, CS2 suite is really nice. I think the full suite costs about $2300.

I recommend building your own PC, or getting a vendor in Sim Lim Square to do it. It may not be cheaper, but you get to choose the best components for your money, and you can really customize it the way you want it. For example, you don't need a fancy 3D card so you can spend on a Matrox card instead, and pump more money into RAM (2-4GB is nice) and probably 2-4 HDD on RAID to speed up the processing. These will make a lot of difference in your work, and you can probably save some money by not getting the fastest processor.

The most important thing is probably the monitor. Get a good monitor that allows you to calibrate the color controls in RGB channels (the cheap ones only allows basic colour temp setting). This will allow you to accurately tune your display later on. Wide screen LCDs are nice to have, since you have more real estate to see your photos with the toolbars pushed to the side. Else you can pump for 2 smaller regular LCD display with a dual head display. DVI makes everything sharper, so make sure that your key display is using DVI if possible.

Hi Neo,

I am not longer a student, but can get the kids I know to buy on my behalf.... So the academic version cannot be used for commercial work? That is not good, but can they actually check this out???

I agree.... though I am not a hardware expert, but I am always buying DIY PC... last DIY, current system, is at least 5 yrs old, and over due for upgrading.... just delaying the time, and try to stretch the yrs so that the dollars can be stretched and getting more for less..... ;p

I think for digital photography work, RAM is crucial for it working fast!! Not so sure if I want that many HDD... but I guess backing up data in digital files take up lots of space too.... :think: if you shoot RAW, worse......

I went Cathy yesterday and they were showing me the spyder... are you using it too?? To calibrate the monitor color and the print out.... what is a dual head display??? :think:

Really appreciate your sharing... Thank you very much!!!

 

[Neo]

Hi Neo,

I am not longer a student, but can get the kids I know to buy on my behalf.... So the academic version cannot be used for commercial work? That is not good, but can they actually check this out???

I agree.... though I am not a hardware expert, but I am always buying DIY PC... last DIY, current system, is at least 5 yrs old, and over due for upgrading.... just delaying the time, and try to stretch the yrs so that the dollars can be stretched and getting more for less..... ;p

I think for digital photography work, RAM is crucial for it working fast!! Not so sure if I want that many HDD... but I guess backing up data in digital files take up lots of space too.... :think: if you shoot RAW, worse......

I went Cathy yesterday and they were showing me the spyder... are you using it too?? To calibrate the monitor color and the print out.... what is a dual head display??? :think:

Really appreciate your sharing... Thank you very much!!!

The last time I went to South Asia Computers to ask what will happen if we use the academic version for commercial work and got found out, the lady said we might as well buy the $8 version, since the penalty will be the same! So no choice lor... buy original if using for work.

RAM is crucial for work, but sometimes if you're working on a lot of stuff, having HDD in RAID actually helps too.

Yeah... using the PrintFix Pro suite now... still experimenting with it... will update everyone once I verified the results...

 

[Halfmoon]

The last time I went to South Asia Computers to ask what will happen if we use the academic version for commercial work and got found out, the lady said we might as well buy the $8 version, since the penalty will be the same! So no choice lor... buy original if using for work.

RAM is crucial for work, but sometimes if you're working on a lot of stuff, having HDD in RAID actually helps too.

Yeah... using the PrintFix Pro suite now... still experimenting with it... will update everyone once I verified the results...

Wah.... that is really expensive lor.... PS2....... any cheaper alternative????

ANyway, thank you so much for your advice.

 

[Neo]

Wah.... that is really expensive lor.... PS2....... any cheaper alternative????

ANyway, thank you so much for your advice.

Hi Halfmoon,

There are other editing programs, but frankly nothing quite touches Photoshop when it comes to features and functionality. There's a free image editing modelled after Photoshop called GIMP if you wanna try... but with so many books and plug-ins for Photoshop, it is the de facto program for many photographers.

You can also download a trial version of photoshop or the design suite from the www.adobe.com. Just click on the download > trial link from the top of the website!

 

[Halfmoon]

Hi Halfmoon,

There are other editing programs, but frankly nothing quite touches Photoshop when it comes to features and functionality. There's a free image editing modelled after Photoshop called GIMP if you wanna try... but with so many books and plug-ins for Photoshop, it is the de facto program for many photographers.

You can also download a trial version of photoshop or the design suite from the www.adobe.com. Just click on the download > trial link from the top of the website!

Thanks Neo, will try it when I intent to do editing. Does Canon DSLR come with any editing software? They should right? But limited in their function?

 

[Splutter]

That's quite a scary project to try out, thanks for sharing
Though I do think that if you actually print 1350 S8R prints, you can get them for around $1.50 or even lower per piece. Quality wise, I'm not sure which one is better or last longer though.

 

[Neo]

Thanks Neo, will try it when I intent to do editing. Does Canon DSLR come with any editing software? They should right? But limited in their function?

Hi Halfmoon,

Not too sure about that, but even if they do, it'll be something that's restricted to brightness, contrast, sharpness and colour-temp etc... Definitely not enough for editing...

 

[Halfmoon]

Hi Halfmoon,

Not too sure about that, but even if they do, it'll be something that's restricted to brightness, contrast, sharpness and colour-temp etc... Definitely not enough for editing...

Hi Neo, thanks for your feedback....

 

[sharf]

Thanks Neo

Hi Sharf,

Just go to any of the bigger photo copying shops and ask for perfect bind. It's the same kind students use for binding their thesis. It's basically a "leather" hard cover bound by glue and threads, and take a week or two to do. The cost is about $8... I do mine at Queensway Shopping Centre... the famous Ultra-Supplies shop at level 3...

Neo