Online Photo Developing Reviews
I recently switched to all digital photography when I bought the Canon EOS Digital Rebel. The instant gratification of a digital SLR camera has completely spoiled me! Now that I have only digital images for all of my photographs, I needed to find a way to have prints made for my scrapbooks. I decided to give a few of the online printing companies a try. Instead of sending 40 prints from my winter vacation to one place and risking being disappointed with the results, I conducted an experiment to help me choose a photo developer. I sent three photographs to seven different online photo developing companies: Each photo had a different type of coloring, which helped me evaluate how various colors would print with each developer. One photo included flesh tones; one had a vibrant blue sky; and another included greenery and purple flowers. I was truly amazed at the varying results from each company. 
In addition to comparing the coloring and quality of each set of prints, I also compared prices and delivery time for each company. Often price and service is a stronger deciding factor than finding the highest quality product. I was looking for the best “overall” deal. For each test, I uploaded the photos from my home computer and high speed internet connection. Unless otherwise noted, the process was simple and very similar for each company. *Note - I did not compare online album features available or online photo sharing abilities for this particular test. DotPhoto.com
Price per 4” x 6” print: $0.29
Shipping costs:$1.39
Matte or Glossy: option of both
Paper:Kodak Paper
Delivery Time: 6 days
Discounts Offered:
- Tell a friend and receive 5 free prints when they make their first order.
- Buy credits in bulk packages for as low as $0.15 per print.
- Receive 20 free prints when you join as a Free Member and another 10 free Prints when you upgrade to a Plan Membership.
 Review:
Right away I was disappointed with the flimsy packaging these prints came in. A paper envelope, similar to the photo envelopes you would receive at local developers was all that was protecting the prints. There wasn’t any cardboard inserted in the package to keep the photos from bending. The prints themselves were fairly decent quality, although I think they may have brightened the photos some and turned up the contrast on each image. Each image was slightly high in green coloring. Overall Ranking: 5/7 Ofoto.com
Price per 4” x 6” print: $0.29
Shipping costs:$1.49
Matte or Glossy: Glossy only
Paper:Kodak DuraLife Paper
Delivery Time: 4 days
Discounts Offered: - Various sales are always offered. None seemed to be long-standing sign up or bulk-buy deals.
 Review:
In only four days, my photos were in my hands. I was impressed with the coloring and the quality of each of the prints. They seemed true to the original colors and were printed on heavy Kodak photo paper. They also included an index print showing thumbnail images of all of the photos I ordered. I find this to be helpful when re-ordering or filing prints. Overall Ranking: 2/7 RitzCamera.com
Price per 4” x 6” print: $0.39
Shipping costs:$2.99 (free if you pick up locally)
Matte or Glossy: Glossy only
Paper:FugiFilm Crystal Archive paper
Delivery Time: 8 days
Discounts Offered:
- Club Member prices offer 4” x 6” prints from $0.29 - $0.33 depending on the number of prints ordered.
 Review:
For consistency’s sake, I had these prints mailed to me, although they do give the option of picking up your prints at a local RitzCamera store in as quickly as a few hours. Initially, I had some trouble uploading my images as a bulk upload. I had to upload each image individually. For this test it was no problem since I had only three images, but for a large order that would be quite time-consuming. The quality of prints was fantastic, probably the best of the bunch. The photos were very crisp and clear and the coloring was true to the original colors. The photos arrived in a stiff cardboard envelope to protect the prints. Overall Ranking: 4/7 Shutterfly.com
Price per 4” x 6” print: $0.25-$0.39
Shipping costs:$1.49
Matte or Glossy: Glossy only
Paper:FugiFilm Crystal Archive Paper
Delivery Time: 4 days
Discounts Offered - Receive 15 prints free when you sign up for a new account.
- You'll receive 10 free prints each for up to 10 friends in a calendar year who sign up and place an order.
- Pre-pay for bulk prints for as low as $0.25 per 4” x 6” print.
 Review:
The quick shipping and professional cardboard packaging from Shutterfly make the service great. They also include an index print of the photos in your order as well as printing the filename on the back of each photograph. Unfortunately, the quality of the images was far below what I expected. The coloring on all three photos was highly saturated with red ink. Overall Ranking: 6/7 Snapfish.com
Price per 4” x 6” print: $0.25
Shipping costs:$0.99
Matte or Glossy: option of both
Paper:Kodak Paper
Delivery Time: 8 days
Discounts Offered: - Receive 10 prints free when you sign up for an account.
- You'll receive 10 free prints each for up to 10 friends who sign up and place an order.
- Pre-pay for bulk prints for as low as $0.19 per 4” x 6” print.
 Review:
The packaging style was almost identical to the Dotphoto.com package. The packaging was a flimsy envelope without additional cardboard reinforcements. The images were of decent quality, but slightly high in contrast and very comparable to the prints received from Ofoto.com. Overall Ranking: 3/7 Walmart.com
Price per 4” x 6” print: $0.24
Shipping costs:$1.41 (free if you pick up locally)
Matte or Glossy: Glossy only
Paper:FugiFilm Crystal Archive Paper
Delivery Time: 6 days
Discounts Offered:
 Review:
Initially I had a very difficult time uploading the photos to the Walmart.com web site. Like the RitzCamera upload program, I ended up having to upload each image individually. Again, for consistency’s sake, I had these photos mailed to me, although you could arrange to have them shipped to your local store for a pickup. I was extremely disappointed in the quality of the prints. The photos were very high in contrast and the greens looked almost electric. However, within the packaging, Walmart did include a return label and offered printed instructions for how to return items at your local store. Overall Ranking: 7/7 WinkFlash.com
Price per 4” x 6” print: $0.18
Shipping costs:$0.99
Matte or Glossy: Both
Paper:FugiFilm Crystal Archive Paper
Delivery Time: 8 days
Discounts Offered:  Review:
To use the WinkFlash photo developing service, you can either upload directly to their site using a web-based uploader or you can download their software for uploading images. I found ithe software easy to use, although I did not see as many options for changing coloring, cropping, etc. as many of the other online software programs offer. I prefer the web-based uploading program. The resulting prints were excellent quality and were very comparable to the results I got from RitzCamera, Ofoto or Snapfish. It arrived in a stiff cardboard envelope. Overall Ranking: 1/7 Based on these tests, I’ve chosen WinkFlash.com as my regular online photo developer. The simple everyday low prices and flat shipping rate won me over. Since the quality of the prints was as good, or better, than most of the places I tried, and because I do most of my photo editing on my own photo editing software, WinkFlash was the best deal for my purposes. Not everyone will agree. Your needs and priorities in photo developing may be different. If you’re looking for fast service or online “extras” SnapFish, Ofoto, or RitzCamera might be better choices based on your criteria. Hopefully this experiment will save you some time and money in your search for the right online photo developer.
|
Shop at the Scrapbook.com Superstore for all your Scrapbooking Supplies!