Quote:
Originally Posted by brian.austin
You forgot one key cost: capital cost of the original purchase.
By the time you get an A3 printer + accessories to tune the output, you're easily up to $2,000. So you can look at it two ways:
1. Your first print costs $2,004.00 (printer + accessories + materials). Second print is cost of materials.
2. Your first print costs $2,004.00 but drops every time you print something. 2nd time = $1,004.00, 3rd = $670.67, etc..
Every pro studio I've seen that does production portrait/wedding stuff uses outside labs. It's considerably more cost effective. And yes, shipping one print is ridiculous. I use it only for special situations. Otherwise I batch my order to save on shipping, since 10 prints costs the same $4.95 in shipping (at Mpix, at least).
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On this we agree. As I stated "Does the following justify purchase of your own printer? Probably not". I was simply making a point that at times, it can be less costly printing your own (if you already have the printer) that is. I actually ended up sending the single file to Photowork's in Seattle. The shipping is a nominal cost and the results I have received previously would be difficult to match printing at home. Thus using your above example makes the payback even longer.