Digital Photos

[flashpig]

How good is the paper for photo printers? Would I be able to buy a photo printer, some good paper, and have pictures the same as if I'd had real photos developed, or would they be flimsy and matte, like with printing on normal paper with a normal printer?

Also, how much would it cost to print an a4 photo or normal sized digital photo? Asda does photo developing dead cheap, and though I am interested by digital photography I wouldn't want to stop taking real pictures if it wasn't as good and more expensive.

[d0gsb0dy]

I use a digital camera and upload to Roxio photosuite on my PC. I then email them to Bonusprint using their Pix programme, and get them printed off at 12p a copy for 5 x 4.3 inch. Something like a 10 x 8 inch (mono or colour) costs about �1.20. This is much easier and cheaper than printing your own. Plus the results are professional. The pictures are developed at Boreham Wood in Hertfordshire, and sometimes I have had them back the following day. Rarely more than 2 working days.

[gen2]

I agree with d0gsb0dy.  I do much the same, except that I take them to the local branch of a major Chemists chain that has an overnight digital service.  I upload the digital pictures from the camera onto my computer where I crop, enhance or otherwise manipulate them.  I then copy them back onto a memory card and take that to the chemists.  It works out most economical to do this in batches of 50 or more.

The advantage of the printer service that d0gsb0dy uses is that the paper size matches the digital camera ratio whereas the local service I use is still geared up for print sizes related to 35mm film, consequently they print at 6" x 4" so you need to take that into account when preparing the images on the computer.