Cost of digital printing ?

[Rom]

Dear all,

Because of short free time, sometimes I am thinking to invest in a home printer.

I wonder if you have calculate the cost ? I mean for a hobby like me where i shoot like 2 to 3 rolls per month maximum. Not a big practice.

Like if you buy 100 sheets of a good paper, (not the finest but just as good as tetenal baryt vario or equivalent) what will be the cost per shee? Including the cartridge and periodic maintenance.

Thanks in advance. It is just to have an idea of what will be the recurrent budget if i invest in one printer.

Thanks

 

[lynnb]

Ask yourself how many prints do you think you will make from those 2-3 rolls? Do you have a large archive of negs you would like to print? What size do you want to print?

Cost is quite difficult to estimate due to the variable factors:
- size of each print if costing on a per print basis
- ink coverage of your "typical" print (if you like subjects with lots of dark tones you will use significantly more ink per print)
- ink cartridge size (affects how often you will replace inks, and also running cost)
- there may be other factors I haven't thought of

Speaking generally:
- individual ink cartridges model will have lower running costs
- larger ink cartridges generally have lower cost per millilitre of ink
- if you don't do much printing it is probably cheaper to use a print service than print your own (although you will not have as much fun, if you enjoy making your own prints).

Printing is quite an investment in time if you want to make prints well. There will also be a learning curve where your costs may be higher as you work on your printing skills. My opinion is that you face a trade-off between cheaper initial purchase price and higher running costs, and higher initial purchase price and lower running costs. This is because higher end printers tend to use larger ink cartridges. They are also built to a higher standard.

Having said all that, I find it very satisfying. But my principal measure is satisfaction, not cost. If you are a low-volume printer and you don't have a strong desire to craft your own, it's probably cheaper to outsource.

Just my two cents..

 

[Rom]

Dear Lynnb,

Many thanks for your opinions really interesting. Indeed, evaluating the cost can be difficult depending a lot of factors.

In fact, you see from the 2, 3 rolls per months, i've got around 30 to 40 photos that i want to share and give to my friends (in 13x18cm format), and 5 to 10 that i can hang on my wall (in 24x30cm or in even in 40x50cm).

My first thought for the advantages of digital printing is that i can work a bit on my image, stop, continue later when i have time and finish to print.

Just one question important for me. If for example you go away from home for one month, so the printer is off for that time. When you turn it on again, do you have to make calibration of cartridges, alignment, cleaning and etc ?

For now, i am still (trying) printing in my darkroom. The most comfortable thing for me was that the investment was close to 0 bucks for the materials. Only my paper cost a lot.

About the paper, i think i usually pay around 60€ 50 sheets of FB 24x30cm (tetenal baryt varyo). What could be the equivalent in digital ?


Anyway, thanks for your more than 2 cents.