Digital pix - ordering prints
 

Hi... does anyone use any online photo services to get prints, once they've downloaded their TRAVEL images to their pc?

I was looking at www.shutterfly.com as an option to request prints, rather than taking the memory card somewhere. I don't have photo-quality printer or a CD-r drive at this time, and am holding off purchases for a while. I like to scrapbook each trip, so just doing online albums isn't enough for me.

Please tell me how you go about getting prints made. Thanks.

Hi, I've always used shutterfly or snapfish and I have not been disappointed with the quality of the pictures. It is very easy to order extra copies, and they routinely run promotions where you get prints cheaper, buy some get some free, etc. Also, since they usually have sign up offers on your first purchase, you can get an account for yourself at home, one at work, one for your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, kid and take advantage of it. They also make it very easy to email the pictures to friends and family.

I use Ofoto... a part of Kodak..

You upload to albums and order as many or as few prints as you wish. The albums are free and I think the prints are about .28 ..about the same as printing them yourself.

Whoo, you guys must have left work early, like I did!
Thanks for such quick responses... I already had some pix on Yahoo, so I 'tested' them by ordering a few prints. Their vendor is Shutterfly, hence my increasing curiosity about the whole process.
Also like the idea to take advantage of multiple accounts (kind of like having multiple email accounts to get more megs!)

ANOTHER QUESTION: does anyone take their memory card to a photoshop (ie. Eckerd, Sams, whatever) and get prints + CD? Do you leave the memory card and pick up later, or do they download it and give it right back?

Had digital photos from our last 2 vacations, using the same Canon S300 camera, processed at Shutterfly.
The first one was about 8 months ago and came back quite good.
The last one from 2 months ago was bad.
Good thing you tested by ordering a few pics only. I wish we did the same. Good luck.

They have machines in WalMart that you stick your film card in & get pictures on the spot- one hour later. I am sort of wary about picking up a virus. Put pix on CD and take that in. But you don't have a CD burner. Anyone else used this service?
Our last card got erased by my stupidity. My son found www.imagerecoverypro.com & I sent the card off to them to see if there is a data recovery miracle out there.

Hi Trav,

My local photo shop, IonPhoto, will give you free softwear that lets you transmit your images to their computer for printing.

They will also burn a CD for you from which you can order prints.

I get all my digital photoprints through Dotphoto.com. I also tried Shutterfly.com, but the print quality was appreciably better through Dotphoto, and I am able to get the matte finish I prefer. Cost is $.29 per print, plus postage (usually around $1.20).

I really like the convenience of uploading photos for processing over the internet and having prints mailed to me, so I don't have to make special trips someplace to download the photos and then return to pick up the prints.

The only problem I have is that uploading is very, very slow over my dialup internet connection. Instead, I copy them onto a CD and upload them over the DSL line at work, which cuts the upload time dramatically.

I have a great HP photo printer, which produces amazing quality photos, but the cost of the paper and ink, together with the outlay for the printer itself doesn't make it a good buy, compared to the cost of Dotphoto's prints, especially considering the wasted paper and ink while you're learning to use the darned thing. Before buying a photo printer, I recommend buying a CD writer, so you can archive your photos off your computer and make backup copies of precious photos to store offsite.

Give it a try and see what you think. Just go to www.dotphoto.com or one of the other internet sites and you can download software you can use to upload and order prints.

In regard to >ANOTHER QUESTION: does anyone take their memory card to a photoshop (ie. Eckerd, Sams, whatever) and get prints + CD? Do you leave the memory card and pick up later, or do they download it and give it right back? <

As with everything to do with digital photography, there is no answer other than yes, no, maybe, and it depends.

There are various ways of taking a digital memory card somewhere for prints.

THE EASIEST, but least controlled: Pop the card out of the camera, go to a store that offers the service, leave the card, and come back for prints. The store is no more likely to lose your card than it is to lose your film, and that rarely happens.

BETTER: Pop the card and go to a store with a computer kiosk, where you plug the card into a slot in the computer, and see your photos on a monitor.

Then you press buttons and touch the screen and work your way through the pictures. At a minimum, you just instuct the machine to make prints of the frames you like, skipping the losers. But it is very easy to press a couple of on-screen buttons and crop your photos a bit, zooming in on the most impiortant parts and cutting off the waste. You can simply and easily make them a little lighter or darker, and it is easy, too, to adjust the color a bit. You can order 4x6 or 5x7 or 8x 10 or 8 x 12 from most of these machines.

Store policy dictates whether you can wait for the pictures, or have to come back later.

Regardless, once you've pressed the buttons on the kiosk computer, you take your memory card back and do not leave it at the store.

The kiosks are usually connected to either Fuji Frontier or Noritsu RA-4 printers, which are machines that use real photographic paper, run through real photo chemicals, with the long life of real photo prints. The Fuji prints are usually on Fuji Crystal Archive paper, which is the longest lasting, as far an anyone can look into the future, of all photo papers. Noritsu machines can be loaded with various papers, and Kodak has long life papers, too.

HARDER AND BETTER: You can take you memory card to your home or office computer, manipulate the image on the computer, and then put it back onto some transport device, and take that to the store and load it into the kiosk.

The easiest transport device is to put the images back onto the memory card. Usually you cannot do this with the card in the camera, but you can do this if you have a card reader. A card reader is a little box that is wired to your computer (usually via USB cable) You take your card out of the camera, insert it in the reader, and the files transfer to the computer.

Then you can erase the memory card (I do this by putting the card back into my camera and use the in-camera formatting to clean the card) then you can put the card back into the reader device, and zap pictures (after you've editied them any way you want) back to the card, and carry the card to the store.

But if you have a CD burner, you can transfer the files from the computer onto a CD, and take that to the store. Plus this means you'll have a permanent (as long as a CD lasts) copy of the file, in case your hard drive crashes.

ADVICE: If you manipulate the photos on your computer, using some software like Photoshop Elements, do not re-size the file, and do not crop it in the computer. Leave it full size and uncropped, limiting your modifications to sharpening, color changes, lighter, darker, contrast, etc.

Let the in-store machine set the proper resolution and file size automatically, depending on ther size prints you want. And the ratio of length to width of a photo changes from a 4 x8 to a 5 x7 to an 8x10 to an 8x12 (same as 4x6) so if you crop at home, you might get the ratio wrong, or, if you get it right for one size print, it will be wrong for other size prints.

When you crop at the store, a box frame of the right height to width ratio is super imposed on the print, and you adjust the box size to control the cropping.

AND FINALLY, BIG PRINTS -- if you look hard enough you can find similar machines, including a fancy AGFA machine, in some stores that make 10x15 prints and others that make 12 x 18 prints, also on high quality real RA-4 photographic paper.

TECKIE STUFF: as a general ruyle, think of a 3MP file for maximum 8x10, 4 MP for 11x14 or 10 x 15, 5 MP for 12 x 18, and 6MP for even larger. These rules allow for a little cropping, too.

BA

WOW BAK! Good Stuff!

I like to burn my pictures to a CD,(picture files slow down my lap-top)
I have archived some old family photos by taking a "picture of the picture"! It works great!
I love my Sony set-up! Viao Laptop and Sony Camera. They match perfectly!

I have only used the link on AOL for photo printing. It was for work so price was not an issue! Made nice 8x10's and had quick delivery!

I have to say again for those of you that have boxes of old family pictures, get them digitized on to a CD Brings back the days of the "Family Slide Projector Shows" and when you show your Grandma the 'Old Country" and her childhood, the look in her eyes will make all the effort worthwhile!
JOHN

These are all wonderful ideas... I will look into Dotphoto.com; also like the in-store kiosk where I can clean up the images and request only what I want printed.
>> Can you save the images to a CD using the kiosk?

Eventually, I will plan for a CD-R drive because I do not want to rely solely on saving to hard drive.

Thanks for all your advice, and hope your New Year is off to a fantastic start!

Further to an earlier message. IF YOU SHOOT FILM and take it to a photofinisher with a digital Kodak or Fuji kiosk, chances are it can be develoiped into negatives, and then the negs can be scanned onto a CD.

You can then put the CD into the kiosk slot, and "m,anage" your own prints by cropping, making them lighter or darker, correcting the color, and so on, right in the store.

Plus you have the CD to take home and use for preparing photos to e-mail or put on a web site.

BAK

Jody...thanks for the tip on OFOTO...I like kodax developing and have been searching for a place to develop out pictures from October...having tried a few at local camera stores and not being pleased with them, I am hoping that Kodax does it's usual good job.

I've used ofoto to make cards, print pictures, made a calendar, and had one favorites blown up 20x30 for framing. I've been really happy with all my results. I've seen Christmas Cards made at shutterfly... they were nice too.

I use Photoworks for my standard film (theirs), but they also accept digital and I have uploaded a digital image to my account. They save the rolls or CD on an account for you, and there you can arrange the immages as separate albums, giving you an idea of which images you would want in your paper album. I'm happy with their service.

I use photoworks (www.photoworks.com). You can download a pre-paid mailer from the web site and send your memory card to them, or you can upload your images to a photo album on their web site. The uploader software is free and downloadable from their site. Their work is guaranteed.

Grasshopper:
Thanks for the info, I'm glad to hear that you have good results, I just sent them 50 pics to try out...you have given great advice on Centovalli/Switzerland. My pictures from these places are still not developed into prints and I am dying to put them into an album/calander/ect.

Ofoto has turned out pretty well for us too. Had several enlarged for framing with good results. There was one particular photo that was shot dark and moody - and I liked it that way, so I purchased it as a large format. They did attempt to lighten it, which I felt took away from the shot (fog rolling in over a mountain-ringed lough in rural Ireland). I wrote to them, explained that I didn't want corrections and they rush shipped out an entirely new batch, not just the one pic, no charge and no questions.

Suzanna, What a nice thing to say. I think that Centovalli/Swiss photos would make a wonderful calendar! In fact, over my mantle I have an enlarged photo I took from the first castle of Bellinzona. I made friends a beautiful calendar from photos I took sailing with them on the SF Bay. They aren't cheap but they are so much fun to see throughout the year.

I've been using ofoto as well. They usually send you a discount code with an order of prints, so that costs get lower the more you use them. In fact, of the digital pics from our France trip last year and the regular photos developed at our favorite local shop, the ofoto prints were actually nicer! I've also used them for some enlargements which turned out very well.