·Printers

  The main concern for scrapbookers when choosing a printer is 'Is it archival safe?" The answer is found in the type of ink used. Always check to make sure the ink is safe for your pages! A lot of the inks are fine, HP ink is considered safe and Epson is coming out with some great long-life, archival-type inks.
The other concern is to make sure it will handle your cardstock. Some of the lower-end printers will choke when you try to put that heavy weight cardstock through!

One of the hot printers right now (and the one I am using) is the Epson Stylus C80 which, when used with the water-resistant DuraBrite inks, is up to 70 years light-resistant. Another great feature of the C80 is that you can put heavier-weight paper though because it feets it straight through without the curling around the roller that some other printers do.
The lower-cost Epson Stylus Photo 820 touts it's 25-year print longevity when used with Epson inks.
If you are using a digital camera the HP Photosmart 1315 is a very versatile printer for text or photo printing. It even has multiple memory-card slots and an LCD screen so you can view what you're printing without turning on your computer!
The Epson Stylus Photo 2000P runs appx. $800 but is optimized for archival photo printing - this one is extremely nice but really for the pros out there - or if you've got that problem of money to spare ;) !

Whatever printer you choose make sure to ask if the ink is acid-free and safe for your scrapbooking needs.

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  ·Digital Cameras

When it comes to cameras you have to choose between film or digital. We'll deal with digital here. Digital cameras are really becoming on par with the quality of film cameras and they provide a lot of versatility in sharing and editing your photos. Plus if you take a pic and you don't like it just erase it and take another! Prices range from around $100 to over $1,000.
The most important thing is to know what you expect to do with the camera (basic point-and-shoot up to major photography).

Beginner/Entry level digital cameras usually are about 1 megapixel (mp) with the higher the number the better the image quality. These are usually designed for ease of use and can be a great way to get in to digital photography. They are good for snap-shot size photos or using on your monitor. The Kodak DX 3600 has been picked as a very good camera in this range (it has 2.6 mp). appx. $275.
The Kodax DX 3215 is the lower cost version with 1.3 mp running appx. $179.

Mid-Range cameras will allow for larger prints at good quality (like 5x7). Picks might be the $300-500 range. The Nikon Coolpix 775 has 2.14 mp and 3x zoom for appx. $349 while the Sony CyBerShot DSC-S75 has 3.4 mp, a memory stick and 3x optical zoom.

The serious high-end cameras run up to $1,000 or more but will be more complex and product high-resolution large images. The Nikon Coolpix 5000 with 5.24 mp runs appx. $1,000

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  ·Photo Processing

When it comes to getting your pictures developed there are a lot of options - from the local camera shop to the Wallmart/Targets/Costco to the online and mail-order processors.
When comparing local photo shop vs. Wallmart- type developers you will generally find that it is a cost vs. quality choice - higher quality and higher cost at the local photo shops. If you have some once-in-a-lifetime type of pictures to develop you may not want to entrust them to the mass development guys - but make sure what your local photo shop does with them, if they send them to the same processing lab as the Wallmarts you might as well pay the Wallmart price!

For Online Photo Processing (see right column) there are a number of options including Snapfish, Ofoto, PhotoWorks and Shutterfly. These offer developing of your film rolls as well as prints from digital cameras.

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  ·Online Photo Processing

The main players online include Snapfish, Shutterfly, Ofoto, and PhotoWorks. They usually offer developing, prints, film mailers, photo greeting cards, pictures on disk, etc.
Prices for 4x6 prints run appx. $0.45-.59 plus $1.49 for shipping costs.

If you have a digital camera these will allow you to get simply upload your files to their site. They also allow you to post your photos on their site so your family/friends can see them.

Ofoto will develop your first roll of film free.
Snapfish is offering to develop your first 3 rolls of film free (or 10 prints).
Shutterfly is offering first 15 prints free.

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  ·Photo Software

Of course to edit your photos on the computer you'll need to use one of the online photo processors (like snapfish), own a digital camera, or scan your images/negatives.
Adobe Photshop is the defacto standard for editing images. But the lower priced Adobe Photoshop Elements is probably the one you want to use. It merges the sophisitication of photoshop with lots of tutorials and helps to get you running. It also has a very cool Photomerge feature which creates a single panorama out of a series of overlapping photos.

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    ·Sending Photos Through Email

 When you want to send someone photos via email remember to make sure and shrink the images down to around 640x480 pixels before emailing them. This will keep the file size small so that it doesn't take too long to transfer and recieve - especially important for people on dial-up internet access (vs. dsl or cable modem).

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