4kids4me Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Dilemma: I have around 2,000 photos I need to print up (2 years behind and a once in a lifetime trip to print up). I usually put all photos into our family albums. I also have albums for each of my children...they get a two page spread/year of life (will be given to them when they're 18). First question: If I print them up, would it be worthwhile to invest in a photo printer rather than getting them printed at a store? Is it about equal cost? Second question: For my family album, do I need to move into the 21st century and store my photos another way? There's something nostalgic about thumbing through a photo album, but it's SO costly and SO much work (which I don't mind, but if there's a better way). What's out there now and is it REALLY worth giving up my albums. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFwife Claire Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I do albums the same way as you, it sounds like. I have family albums, and then I have a separate album for each child, so I am definitely printing a bunch of pictures each year! I have found that putting the pictures on to snapfish (www.snapfish.com) and ordering the prints from there is the most cost-effective way for me. A few times a year, I'll order several hundred pictures off of there. Since each print is 9 cents, even with shipping, it is cheaper than getting them done at Sams or wherever. We do have a photo printer at home, and when I want to mail a picture to my in-laws (who don't have a computer) or something like that, I'll print one off. But if you print off a bunch of pictures all the time, then you have to change the ink cartridges very frequently, and those things are not cheap, let me tell you! So I don't think that is the best way to consistently get all your photos printed off. As far as storing the photos, I know a lot of people scrapbook digitally, and they have the books printed off. I have not switched to that because it would be pretty expensive all at once to do (I know the other albums probably are not that much cheaper when it's all said and done, but it's more spread out in cost, you know?!), and because I like manipulating the pictures myself, writing in the books, etc. It's more like a part of me that I'm leaving my kids. Plus, I already spend enough time on the computer, and I can scrapbook with other people, which makes for a nice break for me. So I doubt I'll ever change to digital scrapbooking. But it's a good option, and it's becoming more and more popular! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugarfoot Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I love Snapfish, too, when I have a large number of photos that need to be printed. (like now:)) We have a little Epson photo printer that is great for printing a few photos, or a copy of something from a CD, or straight from the memory card of the camera. It will also copy pictures from your memory card to a CD without going through the computer. The kids use it a lot for their projects. I also have a large Epson that will print up to 12 x 12. It's a lot of fun to use, but still, when it comes to printing large numbers of photos, I prefer Snapfish. I've been thinking a lot about digital scrapbooking and then having photo books made, but my DH said that he really likes to have the actual photos in albums to look at. He never expresses much of an opinion about such things, so it sort of surprised me.:D I agree that it's more personal that way. HTH! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieB Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Like others have suggested, for that many photos it will definitely be more cost effective to have them done by a service like Snapfish, Shutterfly, even walgreens and sams/costco. If you sign up for their email lists they all often send really wonderful "coupons".....most of them offer a stack of free prints with your first order....and even if you don't do any of the discount offers you'll probably pay less than a dime a print (4x6). I have a photo printer on my desk but I only use it when I want prints NOW, because the cost for ink is much more than a dime. If you only need a few prints then I tend to use Sam's because I don't have to pay shipping or wait for a free shipping offer. The only downside to using these services is the need to upload your photos....sounds like yours are all digital so at least you don't have the hassle of scanning them first....but uploading 2,000 photos is going to take some time. Most of the services have free storage, so I'd say just set a goal for yourself to upload 20 a day....meaning it will take you about 3 months but at least it's not overwhelming.....and it gives you a chance to take advantage of the deals that come up since they are sometimes limited to how many you can get at the sale price. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4kids4me Posted May 18, 2009 Author Share Posted May 18, 2009 Thanks for all the replies. I wonder if anyone out there doesn't print up their photos, but just stores them on CDs, DVDs, or whatever new technology is out there that I don't know about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacie Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 I don't really print many of mine. I store them on a large external hard drive and back them up on DVDs. Once a quarter I'll go through my pictures, add the good ones to an separate DVD, burn a nice label on it with LightScribe, and use it as our family album. When we want to thumb through an album or look at pictures with relatives, we put the DVD in the player and the pictures play in a slideshow. I'll also make a slideshow with music if I have a little extra time. So basically I've done that ONCE! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmy Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 You can just store them on DVD by year in chronological order - then set up a slideshow to watch on your tv. That's a good option if you don't care about having a photo album to look through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classical Katharine Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 (edited) Scary thing my husband told me: CDs we burn at home don't have an indefinite life. The commercial ones are very long-lasting, but when we burn them ourselves at home, they are not permanent. Does anyone else have any other information on this? I assume that if a photo service produces the CD, they do it professionally, but this was a wake-up call to me about doing it at home and counting on it as permanent storage. Edited May 18, 2009 by Classical Katharine fixed typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 (edited) Thanks for all the replies. I wonder if anyone out there doesn't print up their photos, but just stores them on CDs, DVDs, or whatever new technology is out there that I don't know about? We now save all our pictures on our hard drive, but we have 2 as 1 in a RAID array, so if a hard drive fails, it will tell us, the pictures will still be on the other one, you buy a new second hard drive and have 2 again. DVDs and CDs go bad after 1 to 20 years depending on the quality of the media and its exposure to heat, light, and children. I spend a long time each year making up our Christmas letter, it is 60% or more pictures every year, this year it was 80% pictures. I save them all in an album. The best pictures go in there. I don't enjoy scrapbooking or making albums, but I want to do something to preserve a record of what we're doing and what we look like each year--this is a way to do it that also makes a great Christmas letter. I print it out on presentation paper, it looks almost as nice as photo paper for a lot cheaper, and also folds up better to fit into a Christmas card. I send another one to the Grandparents with presents so they can have a non-folded copy. I send out "real" pictures around the same time with Snapfish or Kodak Gallery to send out to Grandparents, who believe in "real" pictures. They also get photo presents for Christmas. Both sets of Grandparents get mugs. My mom gets a photo book, my MIL gets a calendar (she does her own photo books with her own pictures and the "real" pictures I send her.) Edited May 18, 2009 by ElizabethB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacie Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 (edited) Scary thing my husband told me: CDs we burn at home don't have an indefinite life. The commercial ones are very long-lasting, but when we burn them ourselves at home, they are not permanent. Does anyone else have any other information on this? I assume that if a photo service produces the CD, they do it professionally, but this was a wake-up call to me about doing it at home and counting on it as permanent storage. Well, no current technology is permanent. However, thousands of people every day burn a cd storing something of importance to them. Future technology changes will include means to access the information on the cd, even though it's not the current standard. I have 8mm films that I converted to vhs tapes, then onto DVDs. I'll convert them again when the next "thing" happens along so I don't lose them along the way. Make sure you keep up with the industry standards, and convert your stored items when they need it. As for the cd's themselves lasting, no they won't last forever. But you won't either! ;) Just make sure you have backups of your backups, store them in separate places, and keep them out of sunlight and harsh environments. Storage technology will evolve faster than your cd's will break down so as long as you store them properly and safely and keep up with any changes that come about, you should be in good shape! This is my philosophy on it anyway. I've researched a lot and there are lots of opinions out there! Edited May 18, 2009 by Stacie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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