Anyone using walgreens.com for printing photo's ?

If so how is it ? Might try it out, like the idea that I can do it on my home pc, and go pick them up.

I tried one of their in-store kiosks. The results were terrible. When I showed them to the Lab Dude he said that mine were actually the best one's he'd seen made there

Halliday wrote in post #2207310
I tried one of their in-store kiosks. The results were terrible. When I showed them to the Lab Dude he said that mine were actually the best one's he'd seen made there

What was bad ?

The color. It was a year or two ago so I don't remember exactly. I think they looked like old-fashioned 'sepia' toned pix. I printed a few as a test and never went back.

I'm going to test it out, what else are people using ?

I've tried at least three different Walgreen's via kiosk, as well as a few other drugstores.

In a word, YUK!

Maybe it's some sort of auto-contrast-boosting computer garbage, but anything dark gray was rendered black. The color wasn't right, either.

mpix.com and a local pro lab now get my print business exclusively.

I've printed generic shots there a few times - not stuff I'd frame, but stuff I give to family & friends. They've been wowed - but that's not saying much around here.

I've never had a color issue, but I'm not a big color-perfect snob. I would go nuts if they gave me sepia though!

I did have a problem once where I printed 8x10s and they gave me 8x12s. But they stretched a couple to fit, and cropped a couple others without regard! Argh! But I just waited while they printed again, and had both "techs" complement the shots - they said they'd never seen such great shots come out of their printer. (No, I don't really think they loved the pics, just the prints looks so good.)

A couple of tips - convert to sRGB and get the colors how you want them, and do not expect that they'll be a perfect match to your monitor. But they should be close enough. Make sure you size them correctly - crop to the correct aspect ratio, like 4x6 for 4x6 prints, and 5x7 crops for 5x7 prints. Make sure they're sized to 300dpi for those dimensions.

Don't expect them to perfectly print just anything you give them - give them exactly the right stuff.

And finally, tell them NO COLOR CORRECTIONS - NO SHARPENING - NO CONTRAST ADJUSTMENTS. Write that on their envelope, on your CD, and on the envelope you put your CD in.


It's just a printer, and if you do the right work and do it correctly the prints will be just fine.

Unless they screw up, so check them before you leave the store.


But, in the end, MPIX will do a better job if you can wait and pay a little extra.

Scottes wrote in post #2207925
And finally, tell them NO COLOR CORRECTIONS - NO SHARPENING - NO CONTRAST ADJUSTMENTS. Write that on their envelope, on your CD, and on the envelope you put your CD in.

Well I was doing it over the net, so I will see if I can write a note in.

I'll check out mpix.com, I have a few photos though that I'm just sending out to friends, and not going to put them on a wall.

I use york for snapshots.
There 4x6s are as good as anyone's.
The 5x7s are very good
The 8x10s have been about 80%/20% good to very good/bad to awful.
With the 8x10s people shots come out ok but complicated landscapes get mangled.
Due to the price im going to continue to use them for 4x6s and 5x7s but am getting 8x10s and larger done elsewhere.

http://www.yorkphoto.c​om/

Halliday wrote in post #2207358
The color. It was a year or two ago so I don't remember exactly. I think they looked like old-fashioned 'sepia' toned pix. I printed a few as a test and never went back.

It all comes down to color management. Color and brightness of your monitor will be different than someone else's monitor. My monitor is not calibrated and when I print at Walmart Fuji stations the color is off. But I use the Kodak kiosk that has "auto enhancement" that will correct this issue and fix the WB to its settings that will print well.

Also if you are printing large image size pictures as 4x6 it could be coming out "soft" because of how the printer is resizing your images to their print DPI. It's best to resize your images to 300dpi at 4x6 and then re-sharpen your images with USM because reszing images makes them soft.

I think most Walgreens use those Kodak kiosks and their one-hour stuff is done on Fuji Frontiers. The results can be okay, but it depends on how well the machine is maintained. Not worth the trouble if you ask me. These online labs like Mpix deliver a much better product right to your front door.

Hellashot wrote in post #2208733
Also if you are printing large image size pictures as 4x6 it could be coming out "soft" because of how the printer is resizing your images to their print DPI. It's best to resize your images to 300dpi at 4x6 and then re-sharpen your images with USM because reszing images makes them soft.

What about for bigger sizes ?

Walgreens sucks. I printed a snapshot there and the same one at Sam's Club for comparison. The Walgreen's print was very washed out. You should consider Mpix. Their prints are lovely. And cheap, too.

I'm going to use Mpix, should I

Let them, Color Correction the photo though ?

And does anyone have pics of the metallic finish and matte ?

I really like the service and pic quality I get from my Walgreens,
most of my stuff is just for fun and friends.
I use online ordering and pick up later, they are a great value considering price, quality ,service and convienience.
Especially general snapshots 4x6 are inexpensive and are ready to pick up
in a short time .
My local Walmart is not as good in my opinion.
I don't use the self serve machines, I order all mine online , enlargements to 8x10 have been very satisfactory.
It's best to try a few different places to process your pics, you'll find one that fits your needs, unless I really need something special I'll stick to my local stores.