To buy a new printer or not

[cobwebscavern]

I wonder if anyone has worked this out:

At what point does it become more economical to buy your own quality printer and how many prints do you have to be making for this to be worthwhile?

For instance if you only wanted to print 20 photos a year then there would be no point in getting a dedicated photo printer and it would most likely be a cheaper option to get a photolab to print them for you. It would save the hassle and cost.

Has anyone worked out a break even point for printing costs? Am I a nerd for thinking that somone could write a spreadsheet for working this out given the variables for intial printer cost, estimated usage and cost of replacement inks and paper?

And on a similar vein at what point does a CISS become worthwhile?

BTW I have a HP Laser printer - great for docs urine for anything else really so was thinking of going for the Canon Pixma iP4850 or if I can swing it the MG6150 as it has better B&W prints...anyone any thoughts on these?

Cheers

 

[Slimhim]

I think a lot of that depends on what you do and how much you do. Do you do this for business or for fun? I've come to a realization that for me I'm a photographer not a printer so I don't print my own anymore. I could print about 50 4x6 with one ink cartridge set and hope that the colors are right or I can do the same for $12 with a lab and if there's a problem it's on them.

 

[cobwebscavern]

I think a lot of that depends on what you do and how much you do. Do you do this for business or for fun? I've come to a realization that for me I'm a photographer not a printer so I don't print my own anymore. I could print about 50 4x6 with one ink cartridge set and hope that the colors are right or I can do the same for $12 with a lab and if there's a problem it's on them.

That's part of my thinking as well but there is a certain satisfaction to printing your own photos as well that can't be measured in price isn't there?

Oh dear I am undermining my own original question here.....any more thoughts?

 

[Daryl]

As said above what do you want to print.

For us I was told at £300,000 pound mark it was time to get a dry minilab.

We did 22,000 orders since last April. So as we are only ******* there and with extra people doing post work it is now time to get a printer.

We need to maximise profit margins. ie: 10x8 at a pro lab would be around £1.80 with my own lab printer it will be 18p. But we are talking high volume so you do the Math. Is it worth for you to do it?

 

[Craikeybaby]

I'm lucky in that my Dad has a decent large format printer to use, but seeing how much the paper and especially ink costs as well as the amount wasted calibrating it etc I would certainly advise using DSCL for prints (ordering in bulk to keep postage down).

Printing yourself is hassle and an expensive one at that.