Printing at home vs sending out for printing?

Having printed photos in the right size is my biggest obstacle too. I end up having to edit (tweak) and/or resize almost every photo I want to scrap. Not only does it adds a lot of time to the process, but it's something I don't particularly enjoy either which only compounds the problem. I prefer the luster finish photos I get from Costco, but that means going to Costco and sometimes that isn't ideal.

After much deliberation I decided to buy a Selphy when I saw it on Amazon for about $75. Yes, the photos are only (almost) 4x6 maximum which doesn't always work for my pages and they are only glossy finish, but having the ability to print any decent pics at home or on the go made it worth it to me. I like that the resulting dye sub prints are virtually waterproof, and the clear coat on top protects them from scratches if I want to use the pics for mini books with no page protectors occasionally. It's nice to have something portable that I can take to crops away from home. The printed image color is good. I can print four pictures and then put it away for six months and print four more without having to worry about the cartridges going bad in the meantime. The dye sub prints have very good lightfastness and longevity. (Epson Durabrite and Claria inkjet inks also have been tested to be very good in terms of lightfastness, longevity, etc. so that isn't one of my issues, but I have an inkjet printer and didn't want another that would only be used for photos.)

I don't like that the prints are roughly .30 each and that I can't make 5x7's, but to do that would have meant another inkjet and that wouldn't work for me since I don't print photos frequently enough for that to be an option. I learned that one the hard way years ago when I dropped a lot of money on an Epson Picturemate and several expensive ink cartridges that dried up and clogged the heads before they were even halfway used up.

The other change I'm making now that my studio is pretty much done will be to start using sketches/sketch books more frequently for my page planning, and have more regular crops at my house with friends. By knowing which photos I want printed and in which size for a particular layout IN ADVANCE will allow me to edit, upload and print the photos at Costco in the right size the first time without making a ton of extra prints in several sizes because I'm just guessing what I might want to do.

Because my studio wasn't set up before and none of my stuff was even unpacked, it made it very hard to plan things very well. The only time I was able to scrap was at a retreat or crop away from home. Getting the photos done beforehand was usually the last thing I would get to so that process was always rushed. I spent a lot of time and money guessing what pics I wanted in what size, only to get to the crop and wish I had something cropped differently or printed in a different size which would just totally stall out my progress.

I haven't done a lot of research into the longevity issue because I'm mainly scrapping for myself (don't have kids so it would only be my niece if she's interested in anything) but I have seen reports which suggest at least some printers can rival the quality/longevity of professional prints.

Here's an article which looks at the issue:

www.your-digital-life.com/how-to-print-long-lasting-photos-at-home/

And I did read a recent review of the Canon Pro-10/100 which mentioned a 100 yr lifespan for photos if stored in archival quality albums.

dewryce you mentioned also looking at laser printers. I had a color laser printer in the past and wanted to let you know that they're not all that great for printing on heavier stock due to the laser printing process. The heat has to go through the paper to bond the toner(s) to it, and the heavier the paper the harder it is for the machine to do. Repeated printing on heavy stock is hard on the printer's drum too and it's an expensive part to replace. Also, with the one I had (Brother, maybe? It was a while ago) the colors on the resulting prints were very saturated. It was okay for what I needed (photos on instruction sheets) but for actual photos I wouldn't have been happy with the results for scrapbooking. It died after only about a year.

The best move I ever made was to start printing my pictures at home. I love that I can just choose a recent or old photo, print it to the size I want and start scrapbooking.

I always print right before I scrap, because I never know what I am going to be inspired to scrap. I print all of my pics at home, because, up until I decide what pics I want to scrap, I have no idea what size I want. Even when using Instagram pics, I may scrap 2 2x2, or 3x3 pics, or 1 4x4, or 5x5. I just never know. It would drive me nuts to have all of my pics the same size, or decide at the last minute that I want a different size.

My issue with the Charm is that like the original Picturemate that I bought years ago, it's an inkjet. If you only print photos now and then with long gaps of time in between, you will likely have issues with the nozzles clogging, constantly having to clean the print heads, etc. all of which will affect how many prints you get per cartridge. With the Picturemate I had, this was a constant issue. I don't think I ever got more than 25-30 prints per cartridge when they were supposed to do 100+ prints. It was so frustrating that I literally threw the thing in the trash even though I spent a hundred bucks on it and easily four times that on ink that ended up being wasted with repeated print head cleanings and very few usable prints. It was a total piece of junk.

I have had many Epson inkjet printers over the years and they do make nice printers that give great results provided that they are used very frequently. If you are only going to use it sporadically to print pics for scrapping be prepared to have trouble. Keep in mind that standard size photo quality printers typically have 4-6 cartridges, those cartridges are expensive, and if even one of them runs out of ink you have to replace it before you can continue printing (even plain black text won't print if one of the colored inks runs out). The Picturemate ink cartridges have all of the ink colors in one cartridge which is even worse, so if only one of the colors runs out, you're replacing the whole thing.

I guess if I know I'm going to have to print 100 or more photos over a short amount of time in order to use up a whole ink cartridge before it dries up, it's probably going to be worth my while to just have them printed at Costco or somewhere. It's so much cheaper and the quality is as good or better with a whole lot less frustration. Just some more things to consider.

My PL pictures I print at home, mostly with my Selphy, but I use my Canon Pixma for bigger/other size photos (like 6x8 full page). When I scrap a trip, I send them to Photobox since they're usually too many and the balance expense/convenience shifts!