Look at an HP PhotoSmart 8450 printer. I bought a PhotoSmart 7960 a
year ago for about $185. It's produced hundreds of excellent B&W and
color prints to date. It's best used with HP's own glossy Premium
Plus paper, that way you get the best rendering and an very good
archival ink/paper mix, according to the Wilhelm folks anyway. The HP
consumables are not cheap, but they are good quality. I've also used
it with Epson papers, both glossy and matte, but it's difficult to
know how well such prints will hold up.
I just finished printing 100 holiday cards. I used this printer and
HP 6x8" Note Card paper/envelope packs. To do the cards: the paper
cost me $8 per 30 card pack, the ink consumed one and a half
grayscale cartridges, call it $40. So my cards for 2005 cost me $0.66
apiece, with envelopes, fully printed ... ready to sign and mail.
For calendars, well, normally I want to print something larger than
8.5x11 inch. Can't say what it would cost to do a run of them.
"Online photo competition" ... I don't recall seeing anything like that.
Godfrey
On Dec 9, 2005, at 6:49 PM, Adam McKenty wrote:
Pentaxians,
In your experience, which is a less expensive way to produce cards,
prints, calendars and such: buy ink and photo paper and use an
inkjet printer; or get them made at a lab/print shop? I would have
thought the do-it-yourself method cheaper, but then I ran across
Dan Heller's most excellent web page (www.danheller.com,
www.danheller.com/biz-postcards), and he thinks otherwise. (I'd
take his word for it, but that his math is bad. In the same page he
bases a lengthy cautionary tale on the following calculation: 1.5 x
100 = 1,500.)
Which brings me to my second question: what inkjet, if any, can
make good prints, take paper up to 8.5 inches wide, and be had for
around $200? What good/bad experiences have you had with various
printers? It's a rather broad subject, I know, but any suggestions
or comments would be appreciated.
I'm making photo calendars to foist on all my relatives as
Christmas gifts, and I'm wondering how to get least broke in the
process. In the future, my brother Francis and I plan to peddle
some similar products to the mobs of summer tourists that pour
through the local craft market (in exchange for a little dough, of
course).
Cheers,
Adam
PS: Francis is wondering if any of you received his last post
(about an online photo competition), since he didn't receive any
replies (whimper).
