The holidays are over, and 20 percent of American households now own a digital camera. The problem is that many new users don’t know what to do with the pictures after they take them.
Digital photography provides quick methods to share photos: e-mailing them to friends and relatives, or posting them online. But eventually, most of us want hard copies of our favorite prints to put in albums or frames.
The simplest way to get prints is to do it yourself. Color inkjet printers have improved to the point where it’s hard to tell their output from a photofinisher’s. But ink and paper are outrageously expensive, and it may take two or three tries to get a good print.
If you’re willing to delay gratification, there’s another way to get prints from digital photos that are likely to look better, cost less and last longer than pictures you print yourself–online photo services.
There are several advantages to having prints made online. First, these guys know how to do it. They have the equipment to get decent prints almost every time.
Second, most photo sites produce real halide prints on Kodak or Fuji paper with standard photo industry chemistry. They’ll last much longer than ink-based images from most desktop printers.
Third, they’ll mail copies directly to your friends and relatives.
Using an online photofinisher also can save you money, particularly on snapshot-sized prints (3 x 5 or 4 x 6), which cost 25 to 50 cents each. For larger prints, particularly 8 x 10s, you can probably do it more cheaply yourself.
On the downside, you’ll have to wait four or five days to get your prints back by mail. And if a print isn’t good, you won’t know until it arrives.
– ClubPhoto.com: Excellent photo album management and sharing, 25-cent prints. Permanent storage for a yearly fee.
– Kodak Picture Center (http://picturecenter.kodak.com): Expensive but top-quality Kodak prints (49 cents), limited photo sharing. Photo Pages make great permanent albums.
– Ofoto.com: A Kodak subsidiary, same price structure as Kodak.
– Snapfish.com: Good quality and low prices for developing film and making prints.
– PhotoFun.com: Nice customer Web sites, slide shows and downloadable photo albums.
– Shutterfly.com: Prints for 29 cents, but best bargains are SnapBook albums. Fifteen free prints with sign-up.
