Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Ted Guild <[email protected]>, 01 Dec 2002 11:50:47 -0500

Replies:

Parents:

None.

So I have a mediocre digital camera (to be replaced as soon as I
decide what I want to get and this one meets with an unfortunate
accident) and a growing collection of digital photos.

I've been slacking off on taking traditional photos even though I have
a couple really nice 35mm SLR cameras and a number of lenses, plus my
grandfather's old Rolleiflex TLR [1] (neat camera) that I use to take
some 2 1/4" square portraits on occasion.

I can generally deal with the lack of prints and find the online photo
albums easier, not to mention cheaper, to share with friends and
relatives. However, I get asked for prints from time to time.

I went with a middle of the road inkjet printer (Lexmark Optra 40
Color with some added memory, works well under Linux and CUPS) and it
can do some ok photo prints. I don't tend to print much in general
and photos less often. High grade paper is a tad expensive as are the
inkjet cartridges. The process is a little slow (it's a parallel
port not USB printer and this printer seems to need to load the image
into memory before printing it) and the quality of the resulting print
is not optimal. My printer simply can only do a fraction the pixels
per inch that the image is captured at and that will be more
pronounced with a newer camera.

I'm leaning towards batching up prints to produce and outsourcing the
operation instead of getting in a circle of camera and printer
upgrades for years to come. Someone recommended [2] as a decent
service. I'd ideally like the whole transaction to be electronic
except for the snail mail of the prints for future scripting
(e.g. so my mom can order herself a hard copy of a picture she wants
without any action required on my part).

Anyone else have a good reasonably priced service they're happy with?

1. http://www.foto.no/rolleiflex/
2. http://www.photoworks.com/

--
Ted Guild <[email protected]>
http://www.guilds.net

Re: Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Henrik Edlund <[email protected]>, Sun, 1 Dec 2002 18:00:19 +0100 (CET)

Replies:

Parents:

I have this service among my bookmarks, but I have not yet tested
them myself:

http://www.colormailer.com/

Henrik

--
"Corporations are like cockroaches. They'll survive everything."
-- George Lucas, Comdex, Las Vegas, 19 November 2002

Re: Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Ted Guild <[email protected]>, 01 Dec 2002 13:37:33 -0500

Replies:

None.

Parents:

ted
henrik

Henrik Edlund <[email protected]> writes:

> I have this service among my bookmarks, but I have not yet tested
> them myself:
>
> http://www.colormailer.com/

Thanks.

Hmm what I should probably do is try out a couple of these and report
back.

I'm realizing I still owe this list a report on the webcam and motion
sensoring stuff [3] - short answer motion and my add on hacks works
well except for the shadows given off by leaves on a windy day are
hard to account for. Setup often left off and webcam used for other
play. I was going to incorporate ffmpeg into the equation and may
compile better notes later.

3. http://impressive.net/archives/fogo/[email protected]

--
Ted Guild <[email protected]>
http://www.guilds.net

Re: Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Ted Guild <[email protected]>, 06 Jan 2003 10:56:10 -0500

Replies:

Parents:

ted
henrik

So I actually reviewed a few as promised, or tried to at least. I may
look for more again later but in case I don't here's what I came
across.

All prices in USD. tried printing same 4 photos in 2 different sizes
at each.

With most you have to specify opt-out for receiving offers from them
and/or them sharing your info with partners.

Terms and conditions typically excessive with each and with some you
may lose some of your copyrights to your images mostly as a disclaimer
should they get out, etc. but they attempt to preserve your privacy.
I guess even if they don't specify this it's a possibility. Naturally
I'll sue if I find photos of my family distributed by them for any
purpose.

colormailer [1]

pros

resolution guide [2] to let me know what would be reasonable based on
the jpegs I send them.

measurements in metric - even though being American I'm disadvantaged
in this area I try to overcome my country's shortcomings which they
graciously recognized after entering my address and afterwards
displaced photo sizes in inches

mention my email alias [email protected] and get 10 free 4x6" prints, and
I get 2 8 x 10" Henrik who provided this link said he hasn't tried
them yet or I would say give his email address instead as he deserves
the credit for the referral.

International, doesn't matter where you reside.

Clarity, the prints came out very well better than local shop.

In short I recommend them of those sampled.

cons

jpeg filename, should also recognize jpg

more expensive $0.40 for 4"x6" (actually said 4.5)

javascript and popups - eugh a real turn off unless used sparingly and
reasonably (pretty rare) gets a bit confusing and have to tab between
them myself (perhaps behavior better with other browsers). This may
make scripting more difficult.

photoworks [3]

pros

cheaper

Web based file upload

cons

seems to repeatedly time out creating account and logging in

I note it's IIS and aspx (asp + active X? I forget) and I'm not an IE
user. Person who recommended this site browses the web as MS intended
so might have been smoother for them.

Couldn't log in after N attempts timing out - CYA

Since I don't live in Canada (yet although US is scaring me lately,
note brushing up on metric) I had to go Googling [4] for others to
compare. I'll check the Canadian ones listed and see if they are
prejudice against US customers.

photoaccess [5]

pros

First listed (besides the two "sponsored links") so must be heavily
linked to, probably from all their online galleries and related
commercial endeavors for professional photographers selling prints
through them.

Hmm they have some concept of what I want - for my mom to be able to
order photos online but would require I keep my photos on their site
[6] which isn't what I want.

I could make wall calendar, mouse pads, mugs etc from my photos. I'm
sure there are a number of places that do that.

cons

Re: Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Henrik Edlund <[email protected]>, Mon, 6 Jan 2003 18:33:25 +0100 (CET)

Replies:

ted
henrik

Parents:

On Mon, 6 Jan 2003, Ted Guild wrote:

TG> mention my email alias [email protected] and get 10 free 4x6" prints, and
TG> I get 2 8 x 10" Henrik who provided this link said he hasn't tried
TG> them yet or I would say give his email address instead as he deserves
TG> the credit for the referral.

Actually I ordered by first prints (mouse pad and some
enlargements) on 16 December, but I have not received them yet. As
they are located in the UK it should take maximum two days of
normal postal shipping to get them to me in Sweden (no customs
that take time). I have mailed them to verify if they actually
have shipped them yet. I am currently afraid they have gotten lost
in the x-mas mail traffic.

Henrik

--
"Nope, I'm just an ordinary guy with nothing to lose."
-- Lester Burnham, "American Beauty"

Re: Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Ted Guild <[email protected]>, 06 Jan 2003 13:38:54 -0500

Replies:

None.

Parents:

Henrik Edlund <[email protected]> writes:

> On Mon, 6 Jan 2003, Ted Guild wrote:
>
> TG> mention my email alias [email protected] and get 10 free 4x6" prints, and
> TG> I get 2 8 x 10" Henrik who provided this link said he hasn't tried
> TG> them yet or I would say give his email address instead as he deserves
> TG> the credit for the referral.
>
> Actually I ordered by first prints (mouse pad and some
> enlargements) on 16 December, but I have not received them yet. As
> they are located in the UK it should take maximum two days of
> normal postal shipping to get them to me in Sweden (no customs
> that take time). I have mailed them to verify if they actually
> have shipped them yet. I am currently afraid they have gotten lost
> in the x-mas mail traffic.

They were slow. I didn't track the time it took but it was also
during the holiday season. They were a bit costly and slow but the
quality or the prints, usability (some unneeded javascript and
alternate windows aside), terms, being able to do business in multiple
countries (EU and North America t least), etc got them my vote.

Use Henrik's address for referrals so both you and he gets the free
prints should you try them out. He was the one who originally
suggested this particular service.

--
Ted Guild <[email protected]>
http://www.guilds.net

Re: Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Henrik Edlund <[email protected]>, Fri, 10 Jan 2003 23:13:01 +0100 (CET)

Replies:

None.

Parents:

On Mon, 6 Jan 2003, Henrik Edlund wrote:

HE> Actually I ordered by first prints (mouse pad and some
HE> enlargements) on 16 December, but I have not received them yet. As
HE> they are located in the UK it should take maximum two days of
HE> normal postal shipping to get them to me in Sweden (no customs
HE> that take time). I have mailed them to verify if they actually
HE> have shipped them yet. I am currently afraid they have gotten lost
HE> in the x-mas mail traffic.

My mouse pad and enlargements arrived today from ColorMailer. The
company is actually located in Switzerland, not in the UK as I
said earlier.

I am satisifed with my 13x17 cm enlargements. I can't tell they
are taken by a IXUS 330 digital camera. I don't have much earlier
printed photos to compare with, but maybe I'll report back if I
test some other service.

The colour on the mouse pad is not that good. It is saturated,
possible from that they are not able to print thousands of colors
on it. But it is totally cool with a personal photo on a standard
mouse pad, so I am satisfied anyway.

Henrik

--
"Nope, I'm just an ordinary guy with nothing to lose."
-- Lester Burnham, "American Beauty"

Re: Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Joseph Reagle <[email protected]>, Mon, 6 Jan 2003 12:44:58 -0500

Replies:

Parents:

On Monday 06 January 2003 10:56, Ted Guild wrote:
> So I actually reviewed a few as promised, or tried to at least. I may
> look for more again later but in case I don't here's what I came
> across.

Ted, what's your conclusion? Which, if any, would you use in the future?

Re: Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Ted Guild <[email protected]>, 06 Jan 2003 13:42:16 -0500

Replies:

None.

Parents:

Joseph Reagle <[email protected]> writes:

> On Monday 06 January 2003 10:56, Ted Guild wrote:
> > So I actually reviewed a few as promised, or tried to at least. I may
> > look for more again later but in case I don't here's what I came
> > across.
>
> Ted, what's your conclusion? Which, if any, would you use in the future?

http://www.colormailer.com as mentioned is the one I preferred. Bit pricey
and slow, plus filenaming convention (I sent a note for this as a bug
fix) of jpeg instead of jpg or jpeg are their issues. Decent quality
prints.

Still not ideal but better than the others I tried.

--
Ted Guild <[email protected]>
http://www.guilds.net

Re: Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Gerald Oskoboiny <[email protected]>, Sun, 1 Dec 2002 18:27:41 -0500

Replies:

None.

Parents:

* Ted Guild <[email protected]> [2002-12-01 11:50-0500]
> I can generally deal with the lack of prints and find the online photo
> albums easier, not to mention cheaper, to share with friends and
> relatives. However, I get asked for prints from time to time.
>
> I went with a middle of the road inkjet printer (Lexmark Optra 40
> Color with some added memory, works well under Linux and CUPS) and it
> can do some ok photo prints.

I bought a piece of junk Epson 480SX color inkjet a couple years ago
(impulse buy because it was only $80 CAD and I read that Epsons
are generally well-supported by Linux), but it turned out to be
one of the very few Epsons that wasn't well-supported at the time.

I finally dusted it off and got it working last week, but I don't
expect to use it much for real photo prints, mainly for office
paperwork and goofing around.

> I'm leaning towards batching up prints to produce and outsourcing the
> operation instead of getting in a circle of camera and printer
> upgrades for years to come. Someone recommended [2] as a decent
> service.

> Anyone else have a good reasonably priced service they're happy with?

I have seen a lot of online print services but haven't tried any of
them since most of the American ones don't seem to ship to Canada.

I have had prints made at a local photo lab (Ginn Photo [3]) that
I really like because they allow uploads by FTP and email [4],
not just HTTP. So I can make a zip file of a bunch of files and
do a single FTP upload, then email them to let them know what I
want done.

I paid $.45 CAD ($.29 USD) per 4x6 print, and I was amazed at the
output: prints made from my old 1.3 megapixel Olympus are almost
indistinguishable from normal 35mm film prints. (at 4x6")

My girlfriend has had some 8x10s made at PhotoLab.ca [5] and they
also look very good, even one that was taken with my 2MP Canon S200.
I want to try getting some 12x18s done with the output of my 4MP
Canon G2.

I just found a survey [6] of various Canadian photo printing places,
but haven't read it yet.

> I'd ideally like the whole transaction to be electronic
> except for the snail mail of the prints for future scripting
> (e.g. so my mom can order herself a hard copy of a picture she wants
> without any action required on my part).

Yeah... I have seen a number of sites like this (general user
photo galleries with 'click here to buy print' buttons), but
haven't investigated setting it up on my site yet.

I'd like to add buttons like that to each of my pics online,
skimming a few extra bucks for myself from each transaction,
unless it's one of my friends or family.

I'd also like to add 'license this photo' buttons to many of my
pics. Dan Heller's site [7] has a lot of great info on the photo
licensing biz [8]. (and some excellent photography)

> 2. http://www.photoworks.com/

[3] http://www.ginnphoto.on.ca/
[4] http://www.ginnphoto.on.ca/ftp/ginn_ftp.html
[5] http://www.photolab.ca/en/default.asp
[6] http://www.notjustjay.com/photo/
[7] http://www.danheller.com/
[8] http://www.danheller.com/license.html

--
Gerald Oskoboiny <[email protected]>
http://impressive.net/people/gerald/

Re: Recommendations Printing Digital Photos

from Joseph Reagle <[email protected]>, Mon, 2 Dec 2002 09:48:48 -0500

Replies:

None.

Parents:

On Sunday 01 December 2002 11:50 am, Ted Guild wrote:
> I'm leaning towards batching up prints to produce and outsourcing the
> operation instead of getting in a circle of camera and printer
> upgrades for years to come.

My photo epson inkjet does a very nice job, though I hardly ever use it. It
works great with linux now (via cups/kde/gimp), but it's still a hassle.
One of my plans this 4 day weekend was to turn it on and check out the
prints from my newer hi-res fuji. Of course, since I use it infrequently,
by the time I get it going, make sure the drivers are correct, have it
clean itself 3 or 4 times (since I haven't used it in so long) to be
calibrated, make sure that didn't exhaust the ink, and then wait 8 minutes
for every photo, I didn't. Consequently, I only use it for the occasional
8x10. It's nice to have, and inkjet printers are so cheap now-a-days -- the
cost is the ink and paper -- but I too would be more interested in a
good/inexpensive print service then mucking around with it myself.