canon mx860, ocp ink, and what paper?

[kodycoyote]

I'm new to this stuff and could read for the rest of my life on what paper to use, but I'd rather have other's opinions. I just want to have nice photos that look great on the level of 4x6, and occasionally 8x11. I figured I would have some profile done on this combination but don''t want to have to get overly involved. Also, what photo software would you recommend? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[irvweiner]

I assume you are in the US. If so, start with the Costco Kirkland Pro Glossy paper. It is quite well received and inexpensive: 4x6 300 sht ~$13 8.5x11 150 sht ~$18. If you are not a member, as a friend. No friends? Go to store and ask a customer to but it for you!

It's an excellent paper for family pix and more. Use glossy paper (or nearest equiv) for your media and profile selection for starters, will not far off.

good luck irv weiner

 

[stratman]

I believe you can purchase Costco items as a non-member for a markup of 5% or so. By law, a non-member must be able to access and use their pharmacy as well.

From the Costco website:

"Why was I charged a Non-Member Surcharge at checkout?

Costco members need to enter their membership number during the registration process in the My Account section. Non-members will be charged a 5% surcharge over the member's posted product prices (except for prescription drugs)."

 

[l_d_allan]

Didn't know that about a "5% non-member surcharge". I've had a Sam's Club membership for many years, but had the impression that non-members simply couldn't buy anything, but had to be members first. I was aware that there were certain days when non-members could make purchases ... with surcharge .... but those didn't happen often.

Edit: Just got off the phone with CostCo membership service. According to her, the 5% surcharge is applicable to online orders. However, you can't walk in the door and be able to purchase items. For me, there would be shipping and handling also, as well as Colorado state tax. Still seems like a good value, but ...

I'll check into it. Based on my limited experience, the Kirkland house brand inkjet photo paper from CostCo is quite good. The RoyalBrites house brand is mediocre.

Thanks!

 

[l_d_allan]

I just want to have nice photos that look great on the level of 4x6, and occasionally 8x11. I figured I would have some profile done on this combination but don''t want to have to get overly involved.

If I were "walking in your mocassins", I'd rethink whether you want to do your own printing at all. Or at least rethink whether you want to refill your own cartridges, or buy OEM. How much ink are you using? Are you regularly running out of ink and having to buy $15+ cartridges. That gets old in a hurry. Have you been spending $100 per year on carts? Or anticipate spending $100 per year? Each person's "break even point" would be different to tackle the learning curve of refilling, I suppose.

From a cost point of view, 4x6 prints from CostCo / Sams / etc. are very low profit margin to get people in the store. Not exactly "loss leaders" since I believe their costs are below what they charge. Surprisingly, a store manager at our local Sam's Club let me see the detailed cost breakdowns for the various sizes they offer.

Locally, we've got a camera store that offers 7 specials on 3.5x5" prints on Tues and Wed. The quality is decent. Odd size.

When you do the math, a 4x6 sheet of Kirkland from CostCo is 5, plus the ink and your time. Even if you have a good to very good printer with good color management and good print technique, you generally have to know what you are looking at to see the difference in 4x6 prints. Most people seem more than satisfied with the print quality from Sam's Club 4x6's and also 8x10's. I think the same applies to CostCo.

The math is different for 8.5x11, however. The price per sq." is lower for the bigger sheet, and the price they charge is closer to $1.50. A sheet of CostCo Kirkland letter size photo paper is about 12 to 13, and if you refill your ink cartridges, the cost of ink per letter size photo is pennies. To me, printing is justified if you anticipate doing quite a few larger prints such as 8.5x11. YMMV, obviously.

And what is your confidence level that the quality of print you can make will be at least as good as what you can buy from CostCo? They have modern, generally well maintained equipment with trained techs and huge volume. The "auto color correction" software built into their workflow seems to generally do a pretty good job. Are you pretty good to very good at printing? Calibrated your monitor? Printer profiles?

Sorry to be a "wet blanket" and have less than encouraging issues to consider.

Regarding software, you might start with Picassa ... free. It's been a few years since I looked at it, and it has no doubt gotten better. You can easily do red eye correction, moderate white balance corrections, cropping and probably straightening/leveling. Those capabilities are plenty to significantly improve what comes out of your camera.

Your software choice ... and budget ... all depends on how much you want to get into it and how serious you anticipate being. If you watch for it, Adobe had specials on Photoshop Elements for $40 to $50. For what you get, that is a great bargain compared to the full PhotoShop CS5 which is $500 to $600.

DpReview has a great forum on printers and printing . Are you familiar with it? You might consider spending some time looking at their print related threads. I think of number of people on this forum found out about nifty-stuff from that DpReview forum.