Where do you get your digital photos printed?

United States
June 29, 2008 3:46pm CST
I'm thinking of getting some of my digital photographs printed, and I was wondering what service everyone uses. I don't drive so it's a rare occasion that I get to a store with a printing kiosk when it's open, so I've been focusing on online companies. I've seen good reviews for several of these (shutterfly, snapfish, kodak, etc.), and have no paper preferences to weight my opinion in one direction over the other. Purchasing good equipment to print my own isn't practical for me to invest in since I don't print tons or sell them. I'd love to hear your personal reviews and experiences with companies you've patronized.
5 people like this
20 responses
• United States
29 Jun 08
You might consider walmart. I'm not a big fan of shopping in the stores, but they do have a good deal on-line right now. Last month I had some pictures developed on line for 9 cents each. You can choose to have them delivered to a store or to you home (or someone else's home). I had to wait about a week to have them delivered to my home, and if I had been thinking clearly I would have sent them straight to my Dad's house-they were for him anyway. I decided it was worth saving the gas money to get them in my mailbox.:)
2 people like this
• United States
29 Jun 08
Cool! I didn't realize that they had a mail order service, too. I'll definitely check it out.
• United States
30 Jun 08
Well i use snap fish, i have to say i am veary impressed with their work, the standard saize digital photos are 9 cents a photo. you can choose diffretn ways to print them, also for no extra charge you can put a border around them if youd like or just leave them the same. and they are always sending my coupns in my email and everything right ow they are giving away wallets with picture olders in them to everyone who purchase's somthing. im sure printing pictures are concideerd. and i always recieve them in a timly manner as well. im just veary impressed. goodluck with you and your serch for a website that is right for you.:)
• United States
5 Jul 08
Thanks for the recommendation! My mom said she uses snapfish, so I'll check out the prints she's had made next time I see her.
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Jul 08
Your veary welcome..hope you find what you are looking for. xxx brittnay:)
@ambkeb (782)
• United States
30 Jun 08
A few others say what I was going to say. LOL Walmart..you can have them developed and sent directly to your home when you do them online. I believe you can do the same thing with Walgreens. Im not sure how that works though Ive only used Walmart.
1 person likes this
• United States
5 Jul 08
I tried Walgreens a few months ago and was pretty disgusted at what they returned. I'm sure not all will send you crap, but I'm staying away from them. Another vote for Walmart, it is! I'll try them out, I think, with my next batch, if their prices compare. Thanks for the recs!
@trickiwoo (2702)
• United States
30 Jun 08
I print my photos myself. I have a free photo printer that came with a digital camera I bought. It prints really good quality 4x6 prints, and it is very easy to use. I know lots of camera stores have specials where you can get a free printer with the purchase of a digital camera, so if you're ever looking to get a new camera, I'd look into that. And if I ever need anything bigger than 4x6 prints, then I just use my regular computer printer and print on photo paper. My mom recently signed up for Snapfish and got a certain number of free prints. The quality was really good. I'm not sure what their regular pricing is, but they do offer free prints when you first sign up and their prints are high quality. One benefit of using an online service like Snapfish or Shutterfly is that you can send the links to friends and family and they can order their own prints! I buy a lot of my camera equipment from Adorama.com, and I know they offer print services.... but I've never used their printing service so I couldn't tell you anything about it. I just know that because I shop there, I get a lot of e-mail announcements about special printing prices. So it might be worth checking out. I know at Ritz camera and Wallgreens, you can upload your photos online and then go pick up your prints at the store in an hour. That might be helpful if you want your prints right away and don't want to wait for them to be mailed to you.
• United States
30 Jun 08
I love adorama! I've never used their mail order service, but their in-person printing is excellent. I hadn't thought about them.
@calajane (1003)
• Poland
30 Jun 08
I have a All-in-one HP printer. With the right type of paper it prints out perfect photos and I stick to that. I know it might not be the most economic choice, but I like to know that all the photos I print are from the beginning to the end mine and made by me :) It gives me that extra warm fuzzy feeling :)
• United States
5 Jul 08
I never thought about the warm fuzzy of them being yours from start to finish. I just really balk at the expense involved with printing your own! The cost of some of the archival inks are truly !
• United States
30 Jun 08
I get my pictures printed at Sams club. I develop tons of pictures and they are a lot cheaper then Walgreens or walmart. They also offer matte finishing which I prefer over glossy.
• United States
30 Jun 08
I also prefer the matte. I'll have to see if Sam's does mail order. Ours usually has a thousand foot line when we're in there!
@greysfreak (1384)
• United States
30 Jun 08
I have a lot of experience with photography classes and digital imaging, and because of that I have mostly always printed my photos myself, either at the school computer lab when I was still there or on my own photo printer. It's not exactly the same as getting prints from wal-mart or something, but if you have a good quality photo printer,some good photo paper and of course keep your cartridges clean and replaced when needed, printing at home can be more convenient and in the long run cheaper. That being said, I haven't had experience with using an outside printer. I know you said that it's not practical for your to buy expensive equipment, but I have seen photo printers now days at pretty reasonable prices (like under 100$ and some for 40 or 50$ even, so that could be something you might look into, then you could also use it for printing everyday items as well. Just putting in my 2 cents. :) It sounds like sending them out is probably more what you are looking for, but I just thought I'd put the options out there. :) Good luck, and I hope you find a good place for getting pictures printed.
• United States
30 Jun 08
It's not exactly the same as getting prints from wal-mart or something, but if you have a good quality photo printer,some good photo paper and of course keep your cartridges clean and replaced when needed, printing at home can be more convenient and in the long run cheaper. I'm looking for a better quality than what the standard photo printer can offer. To me, it doesn't make sense to print less than good pictures when I can order them for much cheaper than ink refills, in the long run. Thanks for the input, though.
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
29 Jun 08
I go to walmart and use the kodak machine.....when your pictures come out they look just like postcards! I did a wedding in Feb. and even the 8x10 turned out beautiful. And they are done while you are standing there so you don't have to go back and pick them up! I am very impressed with the service from Kodak.
• United States
29 Jun 08
Sadly, the kiosks at the Walmarts here are only available when the photo centers are open.
@katkat (2378)
• Philippines
16 Sep 08
We have a photo printer at home but we rarely used it because of expensive inks. It is very costly to use. We now print our photos using the Kodak machine at malls. It is inexpensive yet high quality.
• United States
29 Jun 08
I decorate my classroom with pictures of the students, and I got really tired of the costs and time involved in bringing the pix in to be printed. When I saw a good sale, I bought a photo printer, and it's one of my favorite purchases ever! The photos are ready right away, and we make them part of the bulleting boards around the room. I teach high school seniors, so there are great photos from Homecoming, the prom, Grad Nite, the senior breakfast, etc., as well as the ones I take when they're presenting projects. They bring in pix from parties, the beach, etc., and we change the bulletin boards every quarter. It's made the whole thing much more fun. I have many, many years of wonderful scrapbooks.
• United States
30 Jun 08
I've discovered both the inks and the paper at the dollar store! The quality is no different, but the price surely is!
1 person likes this
• United States
29 Jun 08
Sounds like you do a lot of pictures! From my research, printing them yourself is more expensive, unless you do one of the continuous ink printers. That's a bit more than I'm willing to invest right now!
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
29 Jun 08
I print my own using a plain ol' color printer, nothing special. It's the most convenient way for me as I can edit the photos to exactly what I want and print only those that I need with absolutely no waste.
• United States
29 Jun 08
Printing them myself isn't really a practical option for me because ink ends up being a lot more expensive than it's worth! Thanks for your input.
@Elixiress (3878)
30 Jun 08
I just print them at home on my normal printer and buy some photo paper. They turn out okay if you set the options correctly. I do not believe in paying for something that I can do for less myself. I tend not to print very often, so photo paper can last me a good few years.
• United States
5 Jul 08
From what I understand, printing them yourself is a good option if you're doing the occasional print, but it's not as economical, nor do you get the quality, of sending them off.
@biobio55 (281)
• Indonesia
30 Jun 08
I never go to a printing place to print my digital photos. I have a nice photo printer at home so I printed by myself. I think my printer output is not so different compare to the print shop. I just buy a nice quality photo paper and use original ink so the photo result will be excellent. I also don't print a lot of photos lately since I don't need it anymore. I just print what I like and framed it.
• United States
9 Jul 08
You must have a great printer, then! I've never seen someone print photos on a regular (not professional grade) printer and have them turn out as well as a lab can do them.
• United States
30 Jun 08
I have photos printed often. One of the best "places" to go is mpix.com. They are fast and the prints are good. The prices aren't that bad either. They have a lot of different things you can choose from and they even offer framing. Check it out.
• United States
30 Jun 08
Cool! Haven't heard of them, but I'll definitely check it out. Thanks!
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
30 Jun 08
i usually get it done in K-Mart as they offer good service and cheap price as well... the results are also good... take care and have a nice day...
• United States
30 Jun 08
I print my own pictures. I have my very own picture printer and thus I can print all of my own pictures. Pretty sweet I think.
@alexsis (2149)
• United States
30 Jun 08
I print mines at Walmart on the Kodak machine. I like the fact that you can design and edit the photo. Everytime I go to Walmart theres always a line at both Kodak machine. They also have a Fuji machine but you have to wait a few minutes to an hour on your photos. It prints good too and you can edit and design on the fuji as well. When I did a photo on Fuji I only had to wait about 5 minutes for it. I've never tried the online services.
• United States
1 Jul 08
I bought a Kodak ESP-3 printer, copier, scanner at Wal-Mart for 100 bucks. They also sell a package of 180 4x6 everyday photo paper plus a color catridge for the printer --- cost is $18.00. That works out to 10 cents per picture. Can use better paper, cost goes up accordingly. But, its a great printer for everything else, in addition to photos, and the ink cost is just 10 dollars for black, and 15 dollars for color!
• India
30 Jun 08
Photography is my Hobby. I always use my Digicam for taking snaps. I have a Digital printer at my place and I always use this Printer to print the Digital Pictures. In case this printer gone wrong, I visit the Digital Photo Studio near my home where I can print these Digital pictures. But most of the cases, I use my printer and It does the Job very Good.
@intense (41)
30 Jun 08
I go to Costco. The quality of the photos are fantastic. You also get a choice of glossy or lustre which is a plus. The cost is also very cheap and the color is wonderful. The wait depends on the line but of course i always go sampling and shopping while i wait =]