DIY Network

Printing Digital Photos Without a Printer No printer? No computer? No problem. You can still get prints of your digital photos. From "The Whole Picture" episode DTWP-213

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Erin shows her student a variety of options for creating prints from your digitals--including docking stations and self-contained printers.

Photo Printer Basics

Photo printers come in many shapes and sizes so, before you make the choice, do your homework. Be aware, there's a big difference between a regular printer and a photo printer, and the difference is all in the inks. A regular ink jet printer uses four colors while a photo printer uses six, so make sure you double check this information before you buy.

One option you have is a small printer with a camera dock. The idea is really simple: your digital camera docks in place on the printer and your images can be printed directly in 4x6 photos. No need to transfer the images to your PC.

When you place your camera in the dock, the current or most recent photograph will appear on the viewing screen. To print the current image, simply press the print button on the printer. You can select other images by using the arrow keys. You can also select to print more than one copy of the image.

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As you print, the paper will make a few passes through the machine--with each cycle for the different inks being used to print the photo. Also, this type of printer uses pre-cut pieces of photo paper. Once the print is complete, you'll need to tear off the edges along the perforations.

The camera dock printer is perfect for traveling. It's small and lightweight, and easy to share pictures with friends and family right on the spot. If you take a lot of pictures, and you print mostly 4x6 photos, this is a good choice. But, if you want bigger prints, you'll have to get a bigger printer?

A medium sized desktop printer will print larger sizes, up to a 5x 7. Like the first model, it's also designed for easy printing without having to connect to a computer. You can load your pictures by inserting your media card or zip drive directly into the printer. The built-in LCD display will show the images after they load. What's unique about this model is the ability to add creative effects such as a border or greeting right there on the printer--without using additional software.

But let's say you want to print an 8x10 of your favorite photograph. For this you will need a full-sized desktop model. If you decide to go this route, you can still print the smaller sizes if you so choose. This is a popular choice because it really serves as two printers in one. You can use it to print your standard documents as well as your favorite photos. Some models even allow you to crop the picture. Using the built in viewing screen, you can see the picture and the changes you make, before you print.

But perhaps the most useful favorite feature of this type of printer is the ability to save your pictures directly to a CD, using an external CD burner that plugs directly into the printer. Why is this important? Well, if you print pictures directly from your memory card, and then erase the card to make more room for pictures, the print is your only record of the image. And we all know pictures can fade, get damaged, or even lost. That's why it's always a good idea to back up your images to a CD. This way you can save the original images by storing the CD in a safe place.

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