Do you have a "home" printer for your pictures?

[maslex]

I was looking through an old Creating Keepsakes magazines yesterday (I believe it was from 2007. Anyhow, I noticed an ad for a printer that you can print out your pictures at home.

Do any of you own one of these? And can you only print out the pics from your camera or does it have a scanner as well? I have some pictures that I've brought to CVS so I can scan them into the Kodak thingie just to make bigger or make them vertical instead of horizontal. That sort of thing. Just wondering if you can do that with these type of printers.

And if you do have a home photo printer how does it work exactly? Does it have a special ink cartridge or something? How expensive are those? And what type of photo paper do you use? How costly is that?

And does it work like a regular printer as well? Meaning, can I type something up on my computer for journaling and print it out?

Thanks!!!!

 

[LindaBabe]

No. I've looked at them, but they're relatively slow, and. in my view, the prints are more expensive due to the cost of supplies.

For resizing, I use photoshop elements (for example to put 4-2x3 inch photos on one 4x6) or just upload my photos to walgreens and request them printed the size I want.

If you wait for a sale, you can get prints for 10cents a piece - way cheaper than they can be printed at home.

 

[123SA]

I have an HP D7300 -- I use it for photos and everyday stuff. I print photos both at home and through snapfish, walgreens etc. I've been doing this for years. I agree with Linda that it is more expensive to print at home. However, I often cannot get the size photos I want elsewhere. When I print at home, I can customize the size - -3x4, 3x3 etc. I much prefer to crop the photo on the computer and print what size I want than having someone else print me a 4x6 that I later have to hope will crop to the size I want.

Also, I think my printer does a better job than the commercial printers, but maybe I just need to find a different place to print them commercially!

 

[wdwmickey]

I have a printer/scanner/copier combo. I use it mostly for copies and printing from my laptop. I do print some photos, but, not many. I can print them cheaper other places. It's nice if I need a few quick photos for a special layout.

 

[Earstou]

I have an Epson PictureMate photo printer. We bought it for DD's wedding. She had friends take pictures of the wedding guests. They then printed the pictures, put them in the guest book and the guests signed the page with their picture on it. Wonderful memory aid for who was at the wedding!!
The PictureMate prints 4 X 6 photos and smaller.
If I remember correctly, it usually costs about 34 cents per print. Compared to walgreens on sale at 10 cents a print, it's not a good value. I recently found the ink cartridges/paper packs on clearance at Target, making it 10 cents a print. It's possible to also buy the photo packs online cheaper.
I do enjoy the ease of printing one or two photos at home when I want something in a hurry. I also can make wallet size when I want to. Plus it was great to have for dd's guest book. But I don't think they are economical, otherwise!

 

[DisneyMSF]

I also have an Epson PictureMate and I love it (I have an older model... I think the newer ones have some new features). You can insert camera memory cards or a USB drive into it with the pictures you want to print. You can zoom/crop the photos (and do some other editing like lighten/darken etc) right on the machine. Print in color, B&W, Sepia. My favorite feature is the "half sheet" size photos. So, you can print two 2x3 photos on a single 4x6 piece of photo paper. I find this size really useful when scrapping (especially for layouts where I want to include a lot of photos).

I like being able to print exactly the pictures I want, and print them zoomed/cropped exactly the way I want, right while I am scrapbooking - sometimes I decide which size I want (4x6 or 2x3 is what I use most) as I'm working on my layout. And it's portable so it's easy to bring when I go to someone else's house to scrap.

While getting the photos printed somewhere online is a bit cheaper per photo, for me I find that since I only print exactly what I want (and often print 2 pictures on one sheet), I think I break even in the long run. Plus I really like the flexibility the PhotoMate gives me.

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

I have the HP D7560....and LOVE it!!!! It does end up costing more than buying the prints...but I think the quality is MUCH better!!!

 

[Disney Ontario]

I do have one only because our DD works at a Camera store.It takes memory cards and I believe the memory sticks.But its still cheaper and I love just going to the machine at Walmart because thiers have all these different options,mine has red eye.

 

[MazdaUK]

I have an HP Photosmart but I've never used it for photos - it was just the best value when we needed to replace our printer. I always get my pics from snapfish (I tried photobox but the quality was not so good). I use Picasa to make different size prints - do a collage of 2,3 or 4 and print out 6x4 or 5x7 to get small pics for pages (wallet ones are expensive and you have to have 4 the same). I saw some research which worked out printer ink is relatively the most expensive substance - dearer than oil or diamonds per unit (gram?).

 

[pezheadmeg]

I have a HP photosmart, and I tend to use it for most prints. If I'm scrapping the clarity is usually what I want.

Plus I can have fun with sizes, locally the smallest I can do is 4*6. And I love 3*5 for my layouts!

 

[rlcook]

I had the HP photosmart until my computer crashed. It isn't compatible with my new laptop. I can still use it with my camera cards or the scanner. I just got a Canon printer that is compatible with my laptop, plus it will take camera cards, copy and scan. I use it if I just have a few to print or don't want to run out, or if I am in the middle of scrapping and need more photos.

I work at CVS and they run photo specials all the time. Right now, when you print 60 4x6's, you get 20 free. Also when you spend $20 in photos, you can get a free 8X10. I just got coupons for 6 free 8x10's and 100 free 4x6's.

Love COUPONS.

 

[katied]

I like the quality I can get having my pictures printed. I print from scrapbookpictures.com - which allows me to us all kinds of sizes (from 2x2 up to even larger than 12 x 12). They have multiple paper quality options, and also multiple options for color corrections. If I put the pictures from them next to pictures from walgreens, cvs, or a home printer, my picutres from scrapbookpictures.com are the winner, hands down (plus I can get matte printing, which helps limit fingerprints on the pictures).

I'll use a home printer to print out my jorneling.

I do plan my layouts before having my pictures printed though, so I know exactly what size I want to order.

 

[MazdaUK]

Over here Snapfish does "true digital" prints which are 3.5 x 5.5 (or something) - you can have the option to have 6x4 croppped ones (you lose a bit off each long edge) or the true digital. I'f you've already played about with the photo - cropped, added a border etc. - it prints a 6x4 (or larger if that's what you ordered).

I must try my printer for photos - it does take memory cards without using the PC, but I'm