Digital photo printing

[euGeR]

How do the pro's here print their Digital photos?
If there are multiple ways, which is the better way and why?

What about photo printers just for playing around? any good recommendations?

[MrThanh]

i think you'll find that if you just want to do a run of 4x6" prints, it will be cheaper to bring it out to a lab (Harveny Norman maybe? they have fuji frontier printers). every place is different though, and some places don't calibrate their machines properly or something, so the colours come up all wrong (colour casting).

once you start making larger prints, it's cheaper (per print) if you do them at home on a photo printer, but then you will need to invest in a decent printer if you want good results. I had one of those el-cheapo HP photosmart 4x6 printers, and it was pretty shit. it only had a 3-colour cartridge and results seemed to always be flat, even with HP 'glossy' paper.

anyway, canon photo paper pro/plus glossy on the i9950 ftw!

[euGeR]

Thanx dude. Where do you get your photo's printed then?

I'd say that you'd have a higher expectation than most.

[fueltank]

Like thanh said, go to hardly normal if you're just gonna do run of the mill 4x6 prints.

[Page]

Dont pro photographers have huge high quality printers?

[MrThanh]

i usually do my prints at home (anything up to A3+), usually coz i can't be arsed bringing them out, and also because i know the colours are going to be spot on.

it is more expensive to do it this way, but it feels somewhat more rewarding going from idea, to shot to printing it out yourself lol

otherwise, there's a couple of kodak places out in cabramatta that i use as well.

[Jingers]

ive had some people advertise kangroo spit as ink cartridges, how would those turn out, or are ink just ink?

[Steve-O]

Thanh and I run the same printers for our prints upto A3+

if I am running off 4x6 shots for a client, I take a cd down to Ted's and my contact there sorts it out for me... the labs are by far the cheapest way if its just 4x6 shots.

for anything above a3+ I goto my contact at Signarama, where I can get anything upto billboard size (if I really want it that big) printed.

if you're thinking of buying a printer, canon for the win

[MrThanh]

ive had some people advertise kangroo spit as ink cartridges, how would those turn out, or are ink just ink?

if possible it's best to stick with OEM inks. the reason is aftermarket inks (and paper for that matter) have different chemical properties and react and bond differently to the paper, which results in colour casting. It is ok however to get aftermarket inks and paper if you can get the correct ICC profiles.

[fueltank]

ICC profiles....I think that just went over 95% of the forum's head

[Steve-O]

yay I'm in the 5% of the forum that knows wtf ICC is hahaha

[euGeR]

we will learn =D

Its easier for someone that is short on time to learn from the experts and get exponential growth in results.

Thanks for the tips guys!
If you ever want anyone to fix your million dollar router/switch let me know