Digital Lifestyles Reference Guide

Online Prints From Digital Images

Last updated Oct 28, 2005.

Shopping around for online printing services turns up an overwhelming array of options. In addition to traditional prints, specialty houses offer photo printing on greeting cards, coffee mugs, calendars and a host of other alternatives formerly relegated to the over-priced shopping mall kiosk. The one key advantage to online printing services is the price per photo. While prices vary wildly, even the highest per-photo price beats the cost of paying for colored ink to feed a home photo printer when you purchase 30-50 prints (or more) at a time.

One specialty item deserves special mention, because it performs a rather classy service, at least in my mind. The photo book, a coffee table collection from your Wedding, vacation or artistic photography, is something that adds a touch of class to photo printing.

If you still have the Windows XP default view turned on, three photo printing services are available from Windows Online Print Wizard. If you changed your folder view, Tool > Folder Options lets you set the view to Show common tasks in folders. Open any folder containing photos and click the link in the left sidebar to Order Prints Online. Fujifilm, Shutterfly and Kodak EasyShare Gallery are a few clicks away. This should make the three services competitive, but it doesn't.

Fujifilm

Fujifilm falls in the middle of the pricing range for online photo printing. The big feature that sets Fujifilm apart is same day pickup in stores. You can upload images at home, pick a location near your house and pickup your photos in about in hour during normal business hours. By mail a standard shipping fee applies. Fujifilm offers one of the best prices on 8x10 photos while being high on the more standard 4x6 size. Both the Website and Windows XP Online Print Wizard warn if the image quality of the file you want to print isn't compatible with a specific size.

Fujifilm Pricing: 4x6 $0.27, 5x7 $1.29, 8x10 $2.99, Wallets (8) $2.99

Shutterfly

At one time Shutterfly was the leading online photo printing service. Rack prices for standard 4x6 images make me wonder why anyone is still using the service, especially when known quantities like Kodak are charging half the price. One cool feature that sets Shutterfly apart is an offer of putting a message on the back of images. Discounts kick in when purchasing larger quantities of photos, starting in the 20+ volume. To their credit, 5x7 photos are priced competitively. Shutterfly also does photo books, again at unusually high prices compared to competition. Their book offerings include Satin, Suede, and Leather bindings starting at $29.99 or $39.99 plus $1 for each page over 20.

Shutterfly Pricing: 4x6 $0.29, 5x7 $0.99, 8x10 $3.99, Wallets (4) $1.79

Kodak EasyShare Gallery

At least in the United States, Kodak is long known as the best name in film and photo paper. After some rocky years in the film camera business, they successfully made the switch to digital and now sell more digital cameras than any other company. Kodak also offers great digital photo prices. 4x6 photos are cheaper from Kodak than anywhere else on the Web. Kodak also does a decent job of warning when images won't look good in a particular size. Photo books from Kodak come in Smooth Matte Finish or Linen for $29.99 and Leather binding for $39.99. Depending on which type of photo book you choose, the page count goes up to 80, making this an excellent choice for that coffee table collection.

Kodak Pricing: 4x6 $0.15, 5x7 $0.99, 8x10 $3.99, Wallets (4) $1.79

PhotoWorks

PhotoWorks isn't available through Windows XP Online Print Wizard, but is a competitive alternative to some options. 4x6 pricing is slightly higher than Kodak, but far cheaper than other competitors. Across the board, all other prices either meet or beat competitors. I'm including PhotoWorks specifically because they offer a large selection of photo books, ranging from small 5x7 covers priced at $12.95 for 20 pages up to an 11.75x11.75 hard cover with leather and suede cover for $129.95.

PhotoWorks Pricing: 4x6 $0.19, 5x7 $0.99, 8x10 $2.99, Wallets (4) $0.99

mypublisher

One final honorable mention is mypublisher. The company doesn't print individual photos, concentrating entirely on the photo book market. Unlike all other photo book options, which require uploading photos and online layout, mypublisher offers a desktop application for page layout far superior to the online experience. Pricing is comparable to books from other services, starting at $9.95 for perfect bound paperbacks up to 12x16 hardcover books at $59.80.