Printing personal photos

[luiztakei]

I have recently bought the Canon Pixma Pro-100 and have had fun playing with it. Actually this community has been the main factor why it has been fun instead of overwhelmingly complicated. So let me start by saying THANK YOU ALL!

Now I am wondering whether you guys print personal photos (such as family snapshots) at home or send them to places like Walmart or drugstores. Is it more expensive to print them at home?

If you do print them at home, what paper would you recommend? I was thinking it should maybe minimize cost while providing a quality that at least matches what we would find at a place like Walmart.

[Farmer]

Do you enjoy printing?  How much time/effort does it take to go to Walmart (or wherever)?  Do you want snapshot prints that will be replaced in a few months/years or something to be framed and kept?

Per print will be cheaper going to Walmart.  The quality is going to be fine.  You won't get exactly what you want, because you're letting someone else do it, but if it's close enough then it's good enough.  If you like printing and aren't doing a huge amount and want to get it just the way you like it when you want it, then do it at home even if it costs a little more per print.

[DaveRichardson]

I print all my prints at home , just because I like to keep control. BUT, I don't print everything, only those for the wall or a few to be shared around e.g. after a family event. For the latter I tend to use Epson paper (Premium Gloss/SemiGloss) which comes in 6"x4" size.

Dave

[luiztakei]

Thank you, Farmer and Dave.

My intention is to print snapshots in general, not necessarily to be framed. Do you know if the Canon Plus Semi-Gloss is any good? I use a Canon printer and wouldn't have access to a profile for the Epson paper.

[Farmer]

The Canon papers on Canon printers range from decent to good in my limited experience of them.  The printers will have drivers and profiles specifically for the papers, so for printing snapshots I would say it would be very easy and good results.

[BobShaw]

Personally I would not print 6 x 4 happy snaps on a home photo printer instead of a department store.
Twice the cost or more and about ten times the time (unless you have to travel). I print say 200 6x4 brochures at a time at a store for 8c each sometimes.
To print borderless glossy prints would take forever and with borderless you waste lots of ink.

Use the photo printer for the bigger ones and keepers.