Portable photo printer

Inkjet printers are the most expensive solution on a cost per print. Photo paper in 8x10 size costs as much as a finished photo printed at Costco and the Costco print will be a lot more durable and a lot faster if you want more than one print. I can send a file to Costco and pick up 100 8x10 prints an hour later.

For intermittent, i.e. non daily use, a laserjet or dyesub printer will be far more reliable as their are no print heads with ink to clog up. The advantage of a dye-sub printer is that it uses a ribbon with a wax like material that is heat fused into the paper. Very durable and the ribbon can sit for years and not problems. Laserjet printers work amazingly well and I use a small HP Laserjet Pro 200 color printer when I need color output.

For photo prints that are going to be framed I used a pro lab. I can upload the files on a Sunday night and have the prints delivered by UPS to my house on Tuesday. Better yet they can be printed on my choice of pro printing papers or on canvas or metal and be mounted on my choice of backing materials.

The ONLY time it is cheaper to use an inkjet printer is when making 20 or more prints 14 x 17 or larger in size on special papers as one might do for a custom book or portfolio. For any other use it is by far the most expensive and time consuming way to turn a digital file into a print.

printer reviews

Espon & Canon Pixma series are probably the two best, but you're probably looking at $500+ for a good quality printer.

You said one thing that is IMPORTANT.. "CAMERA" which make of camera do you have.

Some cameras play nice with a _____ some with a _ _ _ _ and some with most anything, (Different blanks as you can see).

The rest of the devices generally play nice with everything.

In my motor home, for reasons other than photo printing I use a full size Canon MG class scanner/printer/copier.. It does photos (From my PC's or my 'Droids with either of two printing apps. I normally use Pixma print, from Canon) The other app is much more versitle (Hammermill's printer app, they make paper)

But your camera is the one that may be hard to print direct from.

I have the Cannon iP100 for when we travel - prints great. It does very good quality color photo prints. I have never tried printing from my smartphone but it does have IrDA and Bluetooth connectivity. Best of all is that it is not hard to find ink cartridges for it at chain retail office stores.

I print a lot of photos at home with a Canon Pro 9000. If you print a lot of photos, particularly in larger sizes, be certain that you get a printer that take individual ink cartridges so you only have to replace the color cartridge that is empty.

Walmart or Walgreens likely many other national pharmacy stores. Either upload via their website or bring card into store. Uploading works best for me as we can just walk in and pick up.

$59.95 for a HP 130 printer. costs more in gas to drive to walmart, etc., plus the convenience.
bumpy

trnfla wrote:
Unless you need to print ASAP, I upload mine to Walmart, Walgreens, or CVS whichever is closest.

Just thinking out of the box.

I agree, unless you live in the middle of nowhere, there is no justification for printing your own photos. But, I don't see much justification for printing many if any photos now. Just put them in one of the many cloud storage options out there and access them from any personal device, computer, etc. and also share them from there. There are people that still don't have access but that number diminishes hourly. :)

Moved to Technology Corner from Class B

Photo printers are convenient but when one considers the cost of the special paper and inks needed to get a decent result, they generally cost more per print, let alone the cost of the printer itself, than 1-hour printing at Walmart or other chain stores offering the service.