Printing Digital Camera Pictures 

     One of the key advantages of digital over traditional film cameras is in the economy of the final printed picture.  At first glance this may not seem to be the case since many traditional printing places do have good deals to develop and print a roll of film.  However, with a digital camera your whole mindset about printing pictures may change.  You will find that with a digital camera that you will take more pictures, but print a far fewer number of them.  In a sense, this is more comparable to how a professional photographer would operate.  All of us have had the experience of having quite a few bad pictures get printed from a roll of film, some people have even had entire film rolls printed up with all the pictures under or overexposed because the camera was malfunctioning!  With digital you know exactly what you should be getting when you print the picture.  

On line Printing

     Even without printing of pictures, some people enjoy simply viewing their pictures with a good picture browser program (See below).  In fact, a strong case can be made for never printing a picture since most monitors today are larger than most people ever print a picture.  Of course, small 4"x6" pictures can be convenient and larger 8"x10" and 11"x14" can be good for display purposes.  This is where a good on-line photo printing service can be a key asset for the digital camera enthusiast. 

Printing at Home

     At home printing of digital pictures can be one of the great joys of owning a digital camera.  The quality of the printed picture will be related to the number of pixels that the camera produces.  This is a general guideline, with "photo quality" being comparable to a standard 35mm print:

• 1 Mega pixel can print up to a 5" x 7" in photo quality
• 2 Mega pixel can print up to 8" x 10" in photo quality
• 3 Mega pixel can print up to 8" x 10" in photo quality with results better than the 2 Mega pixel above.
• 4 Mega pixel can print up to 11" x 14" in photo quality.

     It must be stressed, however, that there are many variables effecting quality in the above chart.  For example, one should not underestimate the difference a great lens can make on a digital camera.  Thus, comparing two cameras both having 4 Mega pixels, but with one camera being, for example the Olympus E-10 and the other being a point and shoot type camera, the Olympus E-10 will probably create the better picture.  In fact, the Editors of Computer Cameras have had pictures printed from on-line sources at 16" x 20" from the E-10 with outstanding results.  Better results can be achieved with an on-line printing service compared to a home printer, thus if you needed a 16" x 20" print the on-line sources are the way to go.  

     In terms of what printer to purchase for home use, they are always evolving.  We've given some current selections below, all will print digital photographs with results comparable to the local photo shop up to 8" x 10".  

more to come...

On line digital photo printing:

 
Kodak Prints

FREE film developing and easy online photo sharing with Snapfish! Sign up!

Printers:

  Printers are evolving very quickly, so click through and check out other printers from Amazon with our best picks below from November 2003 below:

At home digital photo printing supplies:

Software for Organizing and editing Pictures:

   DVD PictureShow 2  PhotoImpact XL

    
 Photo Explorer 8  

Computer Storage and other hardware: 

  
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