Postcard printing Help

[DarkHorse]

OK,

Im looking for Opinions,
on buying a printer,
and
the best type of paper,

to print up Postcards, i hear you can get postcard paper?
with the print already on the back???

ive got an opportunity to place a bunch,,,10-20 of my best alaska pictures,
in a gift shop, so im figuring printing up 10 prints of each shot, to start
then print more as the season goes by,

the cost of printing up 100 of each with a printshop would kill me,,never happen,,

any and all help most welcome,

johnp

[Dobick]

I do not know of any such printer, but wanted to know what you thought about using someplace like mpix?

for 16.08 you can get a pack of 25 postcards (drops based on # ordered)

So at 16.25 per pack of 25, and 15 different images, you can have all of them printed and shipped to you for right around $250.

You might be able to get it done cheaper than that by doing it yourself, but I doubt that it is going to be much cheaper.

[Traccer]

look at the canon Selphy printers, If i remember right they sell postcard paper for them. Would be a quickfix till you figure out if they are going to be worth sending out to print. Another would be a good printer with coverstock, but you'll have to print and cut everything out yourself.

[venchka]

Nothing worth doing is worth doing cheap.

Buy a printer. Get it profiled for your photos. $$$
Ink for learning and printing profiles. $$$
Paper for learning & postcards. $$$
Time for all of the above. $$$

Send images to Mpix. Sent directly to gift shop. Fixed price. Done. You win.

ps: In the time it takes to order a printer & have it shipped to you and get it running, Mpix will deliver your postcards to your client. I ordered a 16x20 at 7:30am on a Friday. I had the print in my hand at 2:00pm Monday. That's fast.

[ronocnikral]

2 quick comments:

1) how did this land in the darkroom subforum?

2) unfortunately, it would be better to do some type of long run press printing job. where the cost of 500 is just a bit more than 200. i would shy away from mpix, as they are not press printed and look like crap, imo. we use uvcards.com and they do an excellent job, and prices are reasonable for a 4/4 UV coated card, short run is a different story.

another option is to sell your images to a souvenir company, you'll make a hundred to 2 hundred dollars. they will do a long run printing job of any image they buy and then you can usually buy back your images printed as a postcard cheap. of course you're signing away rights...

buying a printer, ink, doing color mgmt etc, i would shell out the cash to have a pro do it. and focus on doing what you do best, taking photographs.

[venchka]

Folks wander in and we let them stay.

Sources may vary. It's the principle that matters. Home grown inkjet printing is not economical for large volume jobs.

[Dobick]

Originally Posted by venchka

Folks wander in and we let them stay.

Sources may vary. It's the principle that matters. Home grown inkjet printing is not economical for large volume jobs.

I picked mpix because they have a template readily available for postcards.

White house has a flat card that is press printed on both sides for a comparable price to mpix and is available in small batch runs as well. No need to go ordering 200 when you really only want 25 of each to start with

[venchka]

Keep the competition in mind as well. Your product has to be the best it can be. If your cards aren't professional looking they won't sell.