Digital Film Printing

In June of 2004, a study revealed that nearly half of all digital camera users don't print photos at all, and while I don't fall into that nearly 50% percent, I'm sure there are those who do own a digital camera that do.

There's basically three different choices for a digital camera user:

• Option 1: Printing at a retailer
  This would be going into a retail location to get them developed. Most traditional photo development places do this now.
• Option 2: Printing at home
  This would be purchasing one of the many photo printers available and printing it at home.
• Option 3: Printing via an online service
  Upload your photos to the server, have the film printed on photo paper and sent back to you.

I typically use an online service to print, Cat uses retail, my sister uses a mix of doing retail and online printing, and kwc primarily uses a Canon ip4000r for home printing.

Of the multitude of places that one can get film developed, the following is what I have experienced:

• Target
  As much as I love Target, their digital printing isn't of the highest quality. Some pixelation was noticable in the printing of the photo.
• Walmart
  They will refuse to print any photos that look "professional".
• Walgreens
  My sister uses them whenever they offer free prints.
• London Drugs
  I used them while I was in Canada. In their retail store, they have a photo station to allow you to bring in your media card, copy the photos to their station, and then make any changes (cropping, redeye, etc) before submitting the order. The prints that came out were quite high quality, and the colors were rich and vivid.

Online Printing:

• Winkflash
  Cost is 12 cents a print. I'm currently trying them out. (The photo order was placed this morning). They use Fuji photo paper. No minimum order necessary for any of their items. Shipping is only 99 cents. I like how high resolution downloads are free (some services charge for this). Max size is 10x15.
• Snapfish
  These guys are in the next building over, though I've not used their services yet. Cost is also 12 cents a print. Snapfish has a prepaid plan which can knock prints down to 10 cents a print. Snapfish uses Kodak paper. Shipping is 1.99. Max size is 8x10.
• Shutterfly
  Shutterfly uses variable pricing, using a prepaid photo plan. Their cost ranges from 19 cents (prepaid) to 29 cents (full price). Shutterfly uses Fuji paper. Shipping costs vary by number of the photos, ranging from 1.79 (for 1 - 10 photos) to 14.99 (for 251-300 photos). Max size is 20x30.
• Kodak EasyShare Gallery (formerly Ofoto.com)
  I've ordered prints from them before, they arrived very quickly, and used (what else) Kodak paper. Cost is about 25 cents per print. Shipping ranges from 1.49 (for 1-10 prints) to 14.99 (for 250-299 prints). Max size is 20x30.