One can obtain a color printer and print digital pictures using
it. This is probably the fastest way to get prints from your
digital pictures, but it may not be the best. Here are some
considerations:
Paper
You can use cheap paper, but the results are not very good.
A good quality, high brightness, photo paper is significantly more
expensive than bulk copier paper.
Ink/Toner
They sell the color ink-jet printers cheap, hoping to sell you
expensive ink. And the standard ink isn't color-fast... it will
fade over time, especially quickly in the sunlight. Fine, you can
print them again, but that's more expensive ink to buy. You can
buy cheap ink, but it is no better... and you can buy even more
expensive archival inks, which, together with special papers from the
same manufacturer, are expected to have a lifetime of 30-40
years. That's pretty good, but also pretty expensive. Do
the math before you buy
the printer.
OK, so you've decided an ink-jet printer is expensive for printing
pictures, and the math looks better for color lasers, even though the
printer itself is much more expensive. I agree. But the
quality isn't great on color lasers. Yes, you can get legible
prints, but the colors aren't often accurate. You make your own
judgement on the quality... just evaluate it with a few of your pictures -- not the
sample prints from the manufacturer... and evaluate it before you buy the printer.
Service bureaus
Since you've done the math on the paper, ink, and toner costs,
compare it to prices from Costco, Sam's Club, Wal*Mart, http://www.webshots.com/, http://www.winkflash.com/
and http://clubphoto.com/ before
you make the
final decision. In every evaluation I've done, Costco and Sam's
Club are the
neck-and-neck winners in terms of cost and turnaround time. Of
course, there are
lots of other service bureaus, and sometimes they run special pricing
deals, and sometimes those beat Costco and Sam's Club. It should
also be noted that Costco.com, Sam's Club, and WalMart.com all have a "photo
center" to which you can upload digital pictures, and have them printed
at the nearest store, or have them mailed to you. I'm a Costco
member, and have been very pleased with their service and picture
quality. I really don't know anything about the quality of the
Sam's Club and Wal*Mart services, having never used them, but they look
comprehensive and competitvely priced. For keeping website-based albums
to share with your friends, if not all are Costco members, webshots is the
only one to offer free downloading of fullsize images, as far as I know.