What is the cost of printing? How about compared to traditional prints?
The primary cost of printing anything is paper. It is recommended to buy the photo printer’s brand of photo paper for quality prints. Some photo printers and their inks produce low quality prints with third party papers, while others print fine on most papers. As of the time of this writing, the average price for a pack of 20 sheets of 4″x6″ paper costs about $6(~$0.30 per photo). For a 50 sheet pack of 8.5″x11″ for about 30 dollars(~$0.60 per sheet~$0.20 per photo when printing three 4″x 6″ prints on a sheet).* Ink is the next consumable product that adds to the costs. The average cost of an ink cartridge is about $20-$30 for either black or color carts. Depending on printer manufacturer your photo printer may have two carts (one black and one 5 color) or individual carts for each color (6 carts total). There is a tendency in most inkjet printing to use one color faster than others, after which the entire cart needs to be replaced. Individual color ink tank are noted to save money by
