Color Photo Printers
Buying Color Photo Printers
Digital cameras became popular very quickly, leaving people with the problem of how to print out their pictures. It took some time for photo developers to be able to offer printing services for digital photos. One answer to the question of how to get prints of your digital pictures are color photo printers. There are several companies that offer photo printers. There are several factors to consider when planning on buying a printer for your digital pictures.
Print Speed
The rate at which a printer prints photos is measured in pages per minute. Most color photo printers print fairly slowly. A slower print speed produces better results. If the printer you are looking at also prints in just black ink, there will be a separate page per minute speed rating for blank ink printing which will usually be faster than for color printing.
Variable Print Quality Settings
Most printers can print at three or four different quality settings. Different companies will have different names for these settings but usually are along the lines of draft, low, medium, and high. Higher quality settings use more ink and take longer than lower quality settings.
Ink Cartridge Costs
The ongoing expense associated with color photo printers is the ink cartridges. Color ink cartridges vary in price depending on manufacturer and model. This is an important factor to consider along with the initial cost of the printer. Your photo printer is not going to do you much good if the cartridges are too expensive.
Photos per Cartridge
One of the specifications that should be listed for each printer is how many photos you will get per ink cartridge. This is important to consider along with the cost of the cartridge. If you can get significantly more prints from a cartridge that costs a little more, it may be worth it in the long run.
Ink Cartridge Availability
Each printer manufacturer also makes the ink cartridges for their printers, There are many different brands and models of printer, which means there are many different brands and models of ink cartridges. Very few stores carry every model ink cartridge made by every manufacturer. When you are comparing color photo printers it is important to check to see which has cartridges that are the easy to find.
Photo Paper
Some printers are designed to print on 4x6 sheets of photo paper, which means you will not have to crop your prints down to size as often. Other printers will only print on full size 8.5x11 paper, meaning that you will have to cut the prints out. This can be time consuming as well as waste a lot of paper. Another consideration when it comes to the paper is how much it costs.
Cost per Print
An easy number to use to compare the ongoing costs of the color photo printers that you are considering buying is the cost per print. Many times this number will be provided in the specifications of the printer. If it is not it can be calculated from other sources. Divide the price of the ink cartridge by the number of photos it will yield. Then divide the cost of a pack of photo paper by the number of photos it will yield. Add the two numbers together to get the price per print.