I print normally at home on an Epson Photo Stylus 1400. I can print up to 13x19, although, I rarely print over 8.5x11. For me, I obtain a huge amount of control over my printing and can print from RAW files, which is the highest quality, if I take the prints to a store, I would have to normally export them in JPEG and then I would loose quality.
Okay, that being said, things to be aware of:
- Store Kiosks often alter your photo, not that this is bad, but sometimes, the computer will modify your prints.
- I am not aware of too many stores which allow you to see images on a color corrected monitor. Then again, most users don't have a color corrected monitor at home either.
- Store Personel can ruin prints - last time I printed a 16x20 at Wal-Mart, the store employee picked up the print and put two creases in it - and didn't wear white gloves. Why? The person was not trained and supervisors don't care either. They printed 6 16x20 prints for me that day, NONE of them turned out our were creased by the employee handling them wrong.
All that is pretty anal I agree. But here it is, it's often cheaper to print at the store than in your own home. Especially if you can do prints in large quantity. And the ability to upload images from home and pick up in the store, is a great advantage.
Then again, I have a canon CP780, which is a battery powered, 4x6 printer. I print from it in the field, mostly for when I do classes. It's a great little printer and works nicely, if you get something that you print directly from the camera to printer, or memory card to printer, you might want to see about getting a printer with an LCD screen.
PictBridge - one last thing, PictBridge is a protocal most cameras have, it allows you to connect your camera to a printer and print from the camera to the printer - this is a huge advantage if the printer doesn't have a LCD screen. You'll need to make sure your printer and camera are PictBridge capable.
