Home printing or lab printing?

REOS

REOS

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Robin
Edit My Images
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Every now and then I produce an image that I would like to see in physical form, perhaps even to hang on the wall. I have a fairly basic photo printer, but have never been satisfied with the results, particularly the b&w images that tend to be flat and with a purplish tinge. Does anyone have experience of lab printing for images of A4 and above? Alternatively can you recommend a good b&w photo printer? I should say that I was never very good in the darkroom and my current ambitions extend no further than developing my own negs and investing in a scanner.
 
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For advice on printers, you might get better answers in the Printing forum on here. If you mean wet printing with enlargers etc, then there are a few here who still do that, although most probably scan their film...
 
Most of the labs give good results, my daughter has more printed than me and she has not mentioned any problems.
She also uses specialist printers for artwork for exhibition or sale when the colours have to be exactly right.

At home we use an HP Envy printer, which needs slight colour adjustments before printing (mainly red reduction, but it is done in a batch, so no problem) and it gives excellent results, and the B&W prints are extremely good.

You do need to use a high quality paper, ordinary bond paper will result in very poor prints.

Good point is it only costs about 6p a print, worst point is it is max A4.
In cold high humidity conditions it needs the paper warming up when printing on gloss paper 150gsm up, but if the humidity is 50% or below and the temperature is above 21C there is no problem

It obviously is not lab quality, but very hard to see a big difference unless looking with a magnifying glass.
 
It's a perennial topic. I'm not at the home printing stage yet, just the odd image worth printing. I've lately used our friends at Trade Canvas Print to print several B&W images for the wall of a room in our house, and was really happy with them.
 
I see home printing the same way I see buying prosumer cameras. I don't need them, but it's my hobby, so I'm happy to spend the money. Home printing is rarely as cost effective as lab prints - especially if you don't print much, but for me, it's far mroe satisfying to make my own prints.

In terms of printer, going for an expensive printer will mean cheaper ink costs (usually) because the tanks are bigger. There is the downside of the learning curve and the loss of desk space as well as the financial hit. I own an Epson P-900 which has 4 black inks and is great for B&W printing. Cheap though, it 'aint. And as Steve mentioned, paper choice is also important.

Taking a photo from the shutter button, to the developing, to the scanning and finally to choosing the right paper and the print - all by myself, is very satisfying.
 
I do agree with Ian - I have the GAS evidence to prove it - and printing is on my definite list for after the house move and transition to part time work, and I like the ;look of the P-900 for that same reason as B&W is my thing.
 
REOS said:
Every now and then I produce an image that I would like to see in physical form, perhaps even to hang on the wall. I have a fairly basic photo printer, but have never been satisfied with the results, particularly the b&w images that tend to be flat and with a purplish tinge. Does anyone have experience of lab printing for images of A4 and above? Alternatively can you recommend a good b&w photo printer? I should say that I was never very good in the darkroom and my current ambitions extend no further than developing my own negs and investing in a scanner.
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For just occasional prints, I would certainly NOT recommend printing yourself. Lab prints are the way to go. Acquiring more consumer junk isn't the way to heaven!

However whichever avenue you choose, it's necessary to grasp the nettle and engage with preparation of each image file to adjust it for the specific process and paper chosen. For instance, quoting your 'flat & purple-tinged' prints above, have you tried to address the issue? Don't imagine that you can just spend your way out of trouble - a bit of effort may be needed.

If you're concentrating on mono, I can recommend the Harman lab for silver prints from digital files.

But everything's a can of worms - including scanning - you have to open the tin & do some cooking.
 
My experience is limited but when I owned an Epson R800 printer I used to convert me shots to duotone and maybe add an extra tritone hint to get over the fact that the printer couldn't reproduce black and white well, although the colour prints were very good.
 
Thank you everyone, really helpful. I've decided to postpone my printer upgrade and to check out the two labs recommended here, assuming I can make sense of their uploading processes. I don't think I had quite appreciated the importance of monitor brightness before looking at the Harman website and I've now ordered their free calibration print. If I stick to B&W printing I presumably won't have to worry too much about colour calibration. Thanks again.
 
As for printing I have never gone to a commercial Lab to have prints made. I have been printing my own B&W since 1963 and started colour in 1992, These were all in the darkroom. I started trying to get into digital around 2002 and nearly gave it up but still dabble now and again. It wasn't because of the quality but the process bores me. There was little skill involved apart from clearing ink blockages - you get quite skilled at that!
Then the cost of ink/pigment cartridges when compare to todays inflated bromide papers and RA4 papers and processing chemicals there isn't a lot in it. A decent inkjet printer to print A3 will cost upwards of £600 whilst my darkroom kit is costing me very little. I will stay with film and developer as long as it is available.
 
Rodinal said:
A decent inkjet printer to print A3 will cost upwards of £600 whilst my darkroom kit is costing me very little. I will stay with film and developer as long as it is available.
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Well I bought an Epson inkjet A3 1290 for 20p at the bootie boxed with all attachments (seller didn't want to take it back home near closing time) and was VG until it finally packup. If you live in East Anglia or Devon, two going on the bay for starting 99p or £35.........Just check you can still get ink for it IIRC takes about 6 (or 8) inks.......and if possible see it working.
 
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