Best Website to order digital prints from?

[Space Ranger]

Last year I did a little test of several online printing services.

1) SnapFish
2) WalMart (1 Hour/Pickup at local store)
3) Shutterfly
4) Kodak/OFoto- Pickup at local CVS Store
5) Kodak/Ofoto – Mailed
6) Sony Imagestation
7) Eckard Drugs – Pickup at local store
8) PhotoWorks.

I uploaded the same six photos to all the sites and waited to see what I got. Of course each photo was from Disney World. The pictures were taken on my Canon 20D at its highest resolution (3504x2336 pixels)

When we got them all back we did a side by side test of each picture. I put the name each company on the back of the photo. None of us knew where each picture was printed. My DW, DS, and I each picked our favorite for each photo.

When all was said and done SnapFish and ImageStation were the top winners. Their prints were pretty much identical and represented the original photo the best. Based on the price I have pretty much been going with SnapFish since I have close to 300 free prints from their Refer-A-Friend program.

The worse was the WalMart One-Hour prints. Their prints had the matte finish and the colors were very fuzzy/blurred.

Overall I have been very happy with SnapFish and have gotten close to 100 prints from them.

Here are the photos that I had printed.

Have fun with your digital camera.

John

 

[donaldduck1967]

I noticed no one mentioned clubphoto. I've been using them for 3 yrs and am pleased with the results

 

[Marypoppinsiam]

I love Costco. The prints are amazing and and the cost is inexpensive. I haven't tried Snapfish but maybe I will in the future after reading this thread.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I like the prints from Wal-Mart just fine. I'm usually pretty picky and they look great!

 

[bicker]

My biggest concern would be how these prints, wherever folks get them, look two or three years later, after they've been hanging in frames, in direct sunlight, day after day. I believe that's one of the things the professional tests tested.

 

[OceanAnnie]

My biggest concern would be how these prints, wherever folks get them, look two or three years later, after they've been hanging in frames, in direct sunlight, day after day. I believe that's one of the things the professional tests tested.

I agree. What about albums? Does albums being acid free have a bearing on the pictures degrading? It seems like it would.

There are a lot of variables to consider!

 

[elizke]

I use Winkflash, as someone else mentioned. The prints are cheap and very good. I have used Walmart but don't like having to pay to keep the pics there. Winkflash has unlimited storage and my family can order any I've uploaded there. I also like a matte option.

I also use Smugmug for storage and occasional prints (they use EZprints I think.) And I agree with another poster that for special prints MPIX is excellent. Again though, can't keep prints there.

I've also tried Adorama and Kodak Gallery, and was not thrilled with the prints.

It's a maze out there!

E.

 

[Ariel Wanna-be]

My biggest concern would be how these prints, wherever folks get them, look two or three years later, after they've been hanging in frames, in direct sunlight, day after day. I believe that's one of the things the professional tests tested.

I don't remember where, (Consumer Reports maybe?) but I read an article that said the prints that come from Sony ImageStation are comparable to traditional film prints in terms of image longevity. I've been using them for about a year and I've always been pleased. I have a few in frames, and the quality seems to be holding up fine, but it really hasn't been long enough to tell.

 

[makinorlando]

Overall I have been very happy with SnapFish and have gotten close to 100 prints from them.

John

I am glad to hear that! I am waiting for my first print orders to come from Snapfish in the mail. I have not used any of the services before, and decided to try them.

Their website is very easy to use, to upload etc. I have been building my albums with WDW holiday photos!

I like that you can choose the special borders if you want them on the prints.

 

[Cruise04]

If you are a scrapbooker, older photos are some of the worst to put into a scrapbook as they break down after a while, if they haven't already. So you definitely might want to watch the picture quality (ink mainly) on some that might tote that they are like the older quality pictures use to be and are thinking about scrapbooking.

I just used Walgreen's and uploaded my pictures online as well as had two disposable cameras to have printed and they print theirs on the glossy if you want, you have an option. The quality came out awesome.

I have pictures that I have had developed at WalMart over 15 years ago that are still great pictures, they haven't broken down or anything. And they aren't in an album, they are stacked in their sleeves still. Oh, I did do a scrapbook with the pictures from our 1999 trip and they were printed at WalMart and no problems at all. They still look good. I don't like the non-glossy (I think it's considered matte finish) that WalMart uses. DH had some pictures developed there last night and they were too grainy for me.

 

[Tiger926]

I just picked up a bunch of photos from Walmart today - uploaded for .12 CDN print. I was very hesitant about doing so as 1) I can't stand Walmart, 2) I stopped getting my photos done there a few years ago as they were not good quality, unorganized, etc. and 3) They use Kodak paper and I much prefer Fuji crystal archive (rated higher than Kodak actually). Well my suspicions were correct. The pics don't look good at all, within 1 hour took 3 days and they charged me for pics that they didn't even develop. Basically the store that I got them developed at is very unorganized and so I wasn't expecting much but for .12 I figured I'd give them a try.

As a Creative Memories scrapbook consultant I get tons of photo developed and by far the best here in my city is Costco. The stuff I just got from Walmart isn't even close - we have a brand new 8mp Panasonic camera, so the quality of the images is stunning, but Walmart just doesn't know how to develop properly and they crop their images way too much for my liking!

Great thread. You U.S. residents are so lucky that you have so many online labs to choose from as we only have a few here (Costco only uploads in Manitoba - but I'm patiently waiting for that service even though Costco is only minutes from my home!)

Tiger

 

[always quiet]

I just order prints from imagestation. I guess I will soon know how good they are! I did like how when I uploaded the photos, it told me which choices I had for size (all my photos would be "good" up to an 8 x 10). I actually ordered some 4 x 6 prints, a 5 x 7, an 8 x 10 and a set of wallets. The prints were .12, the 5 x 7 was .55 and the 8 x 10 was 1.88. Not bad as far as prices go.