PICTURE PRINTING

[devilwoman]

Wasn't sure where to post this so perhaps this will get a few responses. Can anyone suggest where they get their digital pictures printed. And how large can they be printed? I mean how can you tell how large a picture can be printed from digital and still look good?

Thanks,

[clorich]

I got some surprisingly good prints from snapfish.com. They were all 4x6 and some of the colors were a little off on a pic of vegetation that was almost completely green, but the rest were great. Some people have told me they like Costco, but I don't have one around here so I can't check it out for myself. I've printed 8x10 from the G2 at home and it looks pretty good, although I'd say this is probably the limit of acceptable quality for me.

[msvadi]

I print at Costo club. Good price and quality. The largest size I printed with G2 was 11x14 and it looked good.

[Claytonian]

I have used quite a few websites for printing my photos. Here is a quick rundown. This may get a little long, but I hope it helps you out!

dotPhoto.com: I have gotten excellent results from them and they are my current choice when buying prints. *However*...they do an awful job with black and whites in my experience. They explained their process to me once. Something about using color tones to get the shades of grey. The point is, they turn out awful. Instead of blacks and whites, they almost look sepia toned. Which is why I go elsewhere for B/Ws (see Wal-mart comment). Oh, and they are very cheap as well. .29 for a 4x6, but much less if you buy packages or bulk deals. I have a bulk purchase which brings the cost to about .18 per print and I have 2 years to use the bulk amount (550, which won't be a problem for me!).

Wal-mart: They are cheap (.26 for 4x6), but inconsistent. I have gotten some good looking prints from them, but I had a huge order printed earlier this year and the color was awful on ALL of them. They reprinted for free and they came out the same, so I just got a refund. Seems they are hit and miss. I *do* still get some black and whites from them, though, since they seem to do a good job with those.

Shutterfly.com: Overall, they are good, just a little pricier (.39) than I would like. Results are pretty good though. Bright and clear. I will be going thru them for a couple calendars I am having printed for gifts this Christmas.

ezprints.com: Prices are good (.29), selection is huge, but results are a little spotty. Their prints seem to be a touch on the dark side, kind of murky looking. But I also have not purchased many prints from them, so I am basing my opinion on a just a few results. They are one of the few sites that offer panorama prints (inexpensively) which is cool.

Ofoto.com (Kodak): Not a lot of experience, but results were good for the few free prints I recieved. Also .29.

(Sony) Imagestation.com: They were a little pricey, but now they are at the .29 level also. I have had great results from them. Good color, bright and clear.

Those are the main ones I have experience with. As for how big you can print, I think 11x14 looks great using the 4 mp of the G2, but depending on the picture, you could probably go all the way up to 16x20 and get a nice looking print.

Well, I guess that's about all the rambling I will do. Hope it helped you out a little bit. Let me know if you have any more specific questions. Feel free to email me as well. Good luck!

Clayton

[anoop_mn]

I have had good luck with my local Sam's Club. If you print with them, make sure the files are of the same aspect ratio as the print you want. Otherwise, the machine decides to crop your files!!

Anoop

[devilwoman]

Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your thoughts and experiences. Very helpful.

[ajax]

I have had good luck with http://www.photoaccess.com. A majority of my printing is black and white, and I have been very happy with their service. Quality is good; service has been excellent; delivery varies from extremely fast to fast; they recently lowered their prices [sorry, can't quote them]; you can upload the photos for others to view and/or print also [if you want to share your photos with family for example].

I tried Costco and the black and whites were a bit muddy, though I made an error in not selecting glossy paper.

I ordered a friend some color snapshots through snapfish.com because they were offering 15 free prints upon sign-up. I did not see them--but--she absolutely did not believe that they were from a digital.

Have fun!

[msvadi]

I just received several 8x10 prints I ordered at dotphoto.com. Awful quality. Colors are just wrong. I don't recommend. I will stick with Costco in the future.