I'm toying with the idea of printing in-house vs. using a lab but I'd like to see a show of hand of how many studios are already printing in-house.

Has it been worth it to you?

Does it REALLY save you money?

How long did it take you to get it right?

Is the cost saving worth the additional equipment cost?

Please share with me any tips, traps, or pit-falls you have had with your in-house printing.

Thanks.

i always print my own stuff. i bought an hp 9180 and i love it.

i was at a seminar a few months ago with some other up and coming wedding photogs and they were discussing who they use to print and how the lab just sends them off to the client... (they never see the finished work).

now, this may be ok for some, but i really dont like the idea of never seeing the finished product. regardless.

i incorporate the cost into my packages at a reasonable rate and in the long run, even if i spend a little extra on ink and paper, its worth it. its worth it to me to make sure the client gets the right thing.

i hope that helps!

What kind of work do you do?

If you're shooting only portraits and your clients make print orders through you in smaller amounts then it may be something to consider. We have some friends that run a portrait studio and do their printing with a couple of Epson 1800s.

If your work is more varied or you print hundreds of photographs, like from weddings, I'm pretty sure the cost of being your own printer just doesn't work out.

In fact at our last guild meeting the speaker said to us: "Don't be a printer, be a photographer. Let the labs deal with that stuff."

That particular photographer has a large studio and does his own in-house printing and owns a lab.

YMMV of course. Good luck!

I use to print everything on my hp, but man, I'm telling you, once I switched to whcc, my clients are SO impressed. It's the difference between the client thinking "I could have done that myself" vs. "Wow, look how professional she is!"

The perception is that pro lab prints are better quality than pro-sumer level printing. It doesn't matter if it's true or not. What matters is the PERCEPTION. Plus, my whcc prints come with my copyright and my biz name and "do not copy" all over the back. Yay.

I handle all the printing through whcc myself. I see every print before it goes out the door. If I'm not happy, I have it reprinted. I'm not ready to give up that control yet. I LOVE the mounting services. Clients actually go "Wow!" when they see a mounted print with linen texture. I can guarantee that those wow clients are coming back to me the next time they need pictures for anything remotely special.

I totally agree!

Since the business is about perception it's kind of important that photographers be seen as professionals -- not pro-sumers with slightly better equipment than their customers à la "That camera takes good pictures!"

While I know that Epson and HP printers are really awesome and produce stunning results (at the high end), I still check the back of a photo to see if it's on Kodak or Fuji paper, thus meaning it was printed at a "real" lab (or Wal-Mart ).

I think there is inherent danger in the client knowing that you do your own printing with an inkjet printer -- unless it's super high-end and they can see it -- because they probably have a similar bias.

As photographers you already have to be technologically inclined, computer savvy, and proficient in Photoshop. The question to ask is if the discipline of printing -- equipment maintenance, color profiling, etc. -- something you want to add to your scope of responsibilities?

I used to print most of my reprints myself. I have a Fuji Pictography ...which isn't inkjet..but I found that it really doesn't make good business sense. I was always making just one more print.... trying to obtain some level of perfection....which wasted lots of materials and time. I love my lab....and the Pictro now gathers alot of dust.

Thanks everyone for your replies and in-sight.

Still not sure what I may do but just wanted to see what others have or are doing.

WHCC and Pixel2Canvas all the way. I'll never print in house. Not only too much time involved, but it's also expensive and there's just nothing like a true photographic print or high-quality canvas.

I was also told homeprints fade really fast in light. For me this would be a very strong argument for abs. Just imagine wedding/e-seesion portraits fading away after 1-2 years. Has anybody had this experience?

i have with consumer inkjet prints, but no experience with printing my own stuff on a higher-end epson type printer and UV coating etc.

i know the canvas prints i get from pixel2canvas are printed on epsons or something, but they UV coat all of their canvases with multiple layers, and the prints are made to last for 100+ years.

well i am still on a learning curve so this thread has proved really useful to me and have opened up my eyes to the fact, i will not be able to handle it on my own. i just opened an account with WHCC.

Yayyy!

If you have any questions, call their customer service line - they are SUPER HELPFUL and extremely knowledgeable... not to mention friendly!

The best suggestion I can give you is to make sure that you calibrate your monitor using a calibration system like the Spyder2 Pro. If you do that, your prints will be dead-on with what you see on your monitor!

WHCC rocks the house!

Super-Agree!

I still do my own fine art prints (Hahnemule paper stuff) but just switched to WHCC. Awesome prints everytime (for me). Has saved me a LOT of time.

Now, I will still print if someone wants something in a hurry, or the order won't meet WHCC's minimum ($12.00). Whether I print it or WHCC prints it they get it quick. I cannot have a client waiting for weeks for an order to be completed (ummm...know any labs like that???), when I can do it right away or WHCC can get it to me in 2 days (free shipping).

I am a convert to outsourcing at least some of the printing. Once you get everything calibrated (monitors, printer and paper profiles, etc) you can be fine, but just getting there can be a royal pain, if you don't understand what needs to be done.

The other thing to consider is if you buy a 4800 or larger printer you need to USE IT...often. It is way too expensive to let it just sit there. I have a 4000 that makes beautiful prints (much better than the 1800 and 800 printers I have also), but if you do not use it on a regular basis, it is an expensive printing process. Lots of wasted ink and filters because of cleaning (clogging, etc)

darrell, check out WHCC's Print Fulfillment ROES system... no minimum order and only $5.00 shipping. VERY useful for those instances when you need prints quick but can't meet the minimum order!

I love WHCC, but it really isn't free shipping. The shipping costs are built into everything they sell. That's why they have a minimum order of $12 (on the non print fulfillment deal) because the built-in shipping for, say, a $6.08 8x10 (8x10 with linen texture, lustre coating, mounted on mat board) is, I'm guessing, 10 percent. or 60¢. But since you can't ship anything for 60¢, they have to charge a minimum in order to not lose money on shipping.

I'm betting they don't include the blow pops in the shipping calculation.

Pam, I know Chris Cook (CLC) does some of this own printing. You might want to pick his brain?

I do some low volume printing in-house with an Epson R1800 and I can tell you it's tremendously rewarding to see your work come out on a sheet of fine cotton rag. On the flip side, the operating costs are much higher and it is very time consuming.
Because of these reasons, I only make fine art prints on the R1800 and outsource everything else.

Printing in-house is enjoyable for me because of the following reasons:

- Complete control of the product from the camera to the printer
- Dizzying selection of fine art papers that labs don't carry
- Convenience

Darrell is completely right about clogging and wasted inks on the Epson. I have lots of stories to tell on that front too.

I print everything in house upto 24x36 on an epson 7800. I still send out wedding proofing ( 4x6's ) due to the volume. For me I wouldn't have it any other way, the light fastness is exceptional http://www.wilhelm-research.com/ I started out using a epson 2200 with ultrachrome inks but this proved to be false economy as I used $ 6000.00 in the first year. I believe the wide format printer costs about one third to operate when using 220ml cartridges compared to 13ml in the 2200. http://www.nasheditions.com/ these guys are basically the inventors of Fine Art Digital printing and the 7800 is good enough for them. People say that it isn't wise economically to print in house but if you do your own artwork anyway then printing in house is a matter of hitting print at the end of your editing.

The only way that you can actually save is if you use the Epson 4800, 7800 or 9800 with the 220ml cartridges and roll paper. Then it would be up to your volume as to when the break even point would be. Then, in my opinion, you would need a way to coat the prints.

define your core competency. out source the rest to people who have that as a core competency.. If one of yours is printing then print the files

I have an Epson 3800 (love it!) and print fine art prints myself on Museo Silver Rag or Museo Portfolio Rag. I'll also do really small or really rush orders myself. Using the ridiculously expensive OEM inks, the print life is supposed to be around 100 years, which is good enough for me. Everything else goes to WHCC (love them, too!).

There are lots of reasons for printing your own prints, but cost-savings isn't one of them. Sometimes it might be a little cheaper, other times more expensive. Then there's the time involved with loading the paper, trimming the prints, waiting for the prints to cure.

Print for yourself if you want the control, send it out if you don't want to deal with it. But don't do it to save money -- you won't.

We rarely print regular portraits ourselves. They're almost always sent out to Miller's or WHCC. I'll sometimes print something on the R1800 if I need it quickly or if I want it on watercolor paper or something. We do, however, print at events on-the-spot.

Just this evening I took pictures at my kids' drama class. I took group pictures of each class about 20 minutes before the plays started. I rushed home, printed out 38 prints and got back in time. 5 minutes each way, 10 minutes to print. And the prints had our logo and the logo for the drama class on them. No matter how you slice it, 38 prints with logos in 10 minutes is FAST!

The ultracrome inks from epson have a 100+ year life and their dye inks, I believe, are somewhere in the mid to upper 60's. (i'd have to look this up, so don't quote me, I'm trying to remember things from school!) ha! And the vivera inks that HP has out are suppossed to be in the range of 80+ I believe, so I don't see that as a problem.

My deal is with the time. The time and money I would spent (and did for a bit) on paper, ink, cutting trimming, rounding corners on wallets, loading roll paper, etc. was unbelievable in comparison to popping an order into ROES for WHCC. Not only that, but that is just one more machine to keep calibrated! My customers also need to know that my stuff goes out to the lab. I am not a one hour photo lab! You can't call me on Friday and ask to get a proof set of your wedding before the weekend because mom and dad are coming to visit.
Now, I have an Epson 2200 that I use periodically to get things out the door that are urgent. I do it few and far between because my customers like to abuse that service. But WHCC is fast enough! And if the 2 day shipping doesn't do it, I just ask, and WH will upgrade to overnight for just 10% of the order total. So when I order a whopping $15 worth of prints,$1.50 will get it to me the next day. I still get to look through it all and I always tell my customers that it won't be here for a week so that when it comes early, it is a nice bonus and all are very excited! that way, if things aren't perfect, we have time to fix and still meet the deadline.
My prints from WHCC are actually more consistant than my Epson!

And at IUSA I spoke with an HP rep who knows my family (my aunt does HR for HP) and really wanted to get me on board for printing in studio. When he asked what I pay for an 8x10 at WHCC, he told me flat out they couldn't beat that price. That's the last I've thought about doing any of it myself.

Wow, that was long.... sorry!

Good post. Not to long.
I have an Epson R1800, bought it thinking I would do stuff in house. All I use it for now is personal stuff and to print out test prints (to see how an effect looks in print). I send everything else out to WHCC or a local lab (my bigger stuff).
Printing in house will not save money in my opinion.

It depends on what it is. I have two 2200s and a 7800. 7800 I used for rolls of canvas that is then stretched in-house. 2200s are for small orders, personal work and for art festival work that I keep on hand. I also do my own printing for my gallery work and competition work. Most of the wedding/portrait work goes to a lab, but a few of my customers were with me from before I started using a lab and prefer for the prints to match in size/texture rather than standard lab sizes, so those clients I still print for.
Always interested in making my business better, more productive, more profitable, so I may look into WHCC and at least check out what they can offer. But I'll always print some at home and I'll definitely continue printing my canvases at home because of price factors!

Ellen