Online Digital Photo Finishing Versus Printing at Home

By Leanne Tremblay

So what does it cost to print your photos at home? I mean, photo printers are readily available and not all that expensive. Some printers don't even need to be connected to your PC--just dock your camera in the slot, press a button, and print your picture.

What you may not know, is that the cost of ink and paper when you print your images at home is significantly more than if you use online digital photo finishing.

While the printer itself may be cheap, the ink is not. In fact, the ink is the most expensive part of the home printing process.

The New York Times says,

"Printers return relatively low profit margins. But the ink, ounce for ounce, is four times the cost of Krug Clos du Mesnil Champagne, which sells for around $425 a bottle. Ink is about the same price as Joy perfume, considered to be one of the more pricey fragrances, at $158 for a 2.5-ounce bottle." more from NYT

Cost Comparison

Depending on the printer and type of color ink cartridges, you can expect to pay 25 cents to 50 cents per picture.

When you consider that online photofinishing costs 10 cents to 19 cents per print, printing at home doesn't seem like such a great deal.

Print Quality

When you have your digital photos developed through an online service such as Shutterfly or Snapfish, you get the benefit of commercial digital printers designed for professional photo finishing labs.

They also use the best photographic paper available, such as Fujicolor Crystal Archive photographic paper, which is archival quality and resistant to fading,

Add that to the substantially lower cost of ordering online, and the choice seems clear.

So when is it a good time to print photos at home? Well, once in a while makes sense, so you don't blow all your ink printing 20 photos, or, if you need something in a hurry (like right NOW for someone's homework assignment). But don't make a regular habit of it. You'll invest more money replacing ink cartridges than you would ordering prints online.