Printing home or away?

Some of the latest printers can churn out prints in as little as 15 seconds

For sheer immediacy, nothing beats creating your own photo prints on an inkjet printer. Indeed, some of the latest Canon and Epson printers can churn out 6x4in prints in as little as 15 seconds, and deliver an A4 photo print in under a minute. Upsize to an A3+ printer, and you can expect 19x13in photo prints in around five or 10 minutes, for dye-based or pigment-based printers, respectively. And naturally, you’re in full control of the whole process. What could be better?

As it turns out, there are some downsides to printing your own photographs at home. For starters, you need to buy your own printer, which can cost anything up to £600 for a range-topping A3+ model. Then there’s the additional cost of ink and paper, whichyou use in a photo print varies depending on your subject matter and print size. Some inkjet printers offer much better value than others when it comes to cartridges but, for ballpark figures, you can expect combined ink and photo-paper costs to be between 20p and 30p per 6x4in print, £1 to £1.50 for A4, and £3 to £5 for A3+ (19x13in).