A Complete Guide To Photo Printing


By Julie Edwar

You may be interested in photo printing for a variety of reasons. You may want to share pictures with people, need decent quality images for your business, or even want incredibly high resolution images as a serious photographer. Regardless of your needs, this article gives you some basic advice to help you achieve the most cost-effective photo printing.

Finding The Right Camera

Get equipped with the right sort of camera for your needs, and you've already won half the battle. There are several factors to consider while buying a camera and it's possible to write many detailed pages on the subject. Indeed numerous websites have done exactly that.

Here, we'll restrict ourselves to digital cameras. The two most important aspects are resolution and lens type. A camera with a higher megapixel rating is normally capable of taking higher resolution pictures. This is sometimes but not always preferable. If you're interested in sharing images on the web, creating a family photo book or taking good quality pictures for work, a simple 7 to 10 megapixel camera will do.

If you will print enlarged macro images or highly blown-up shots for a photo calendar, a camera in the 12 to 15 megapixel (or higher) range is a better option. Beware of getting a camera with too high a resolution. This can hugely increase camera start-up and processing times as well as the image file-size. The latter can cause file storage problems as well.

As far as lenses are concerned, the simpler the better. So long as you're happy with the image quality, built-in and folded-optic lenses are fine. If you want very powerful zoom and advanced focusing and filter controls, opt for retractable or fixed zoom lenses.

The Right Printer For Photo Printing

Once you have the right camera and are clicking away, the next step is to get the right printer. Normally, any decent colour printer is good enough for the task. If you're interested in poster printing, find a printer that is capable of "borderless" printing.

For most users, the life cycle of a printer is just a couple of years before it gets outdated or defunct and is replaced. Considering this, the odds are heavily stacked in favour of ink-jet printers for domestic users. If you're looking at commercial photo printing or want to print in excess of 2,000 copies a year, it does make sense to invest in a laser printer.

Laser printers deliver a far lower cost per print than ink jets. However, a good colour laser printer is about four times as expensive as its ink-jet counterpart. So lower cost per print is only a real advantage if you're going to print a massive number of copies within the life cycle of your printer.

Otherwise it makes sense to get an ink jet with a high print speed. A six-tank cartridge, rather than a four or three tank cartridge, can also improve economy. Features, such as wireless printing, may also come in handy.

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