Wednesday February 22, 2006
Published on Guardian Unlimited
IN THE OLD DAYS it was easy: you put your finished 35mm film into its black plastic container and gave it to the chemist. Five days later your prints came back, complete with stickers warning of red-eye, over-exposure and poorly-framed subjects.
Now everything is digital and we are becoming increasingly sophisticated in how we manage our images. We can select, edit, crop and finally print only the very best. The rest are either sent to our friends on email or stored on a memory card, CD or computer. "Only about 10% of digital camera photos are ever printed," according to the consumer group Which? "So, if you do print them, it means you especially value those shots."
But the question is how do you print them? And how do you make sure you get the best value-for-money while retaining the best quality?
Home printers
Two years ago computer magazine PC Pro ran a scathing article on home printing, citing "fading, smudging and extortionate prices" as reasons why printing your own pictures was not worth the hassle. It said a 6x4-inch print could cost up to £1 to produce and start to fade in less than six weeks.
As with most technologies, though, the printers have been developed. Towards the end of last year What Digital Camera magazine's annual digital-print service round-up concluded that photo-printers for the home were getting better all the time.
New, dedicated photo-printers which use dye-sublimation print technology instead of the traditional ink-jet have improved quality. They promise colours will last for 100 years, and costs have fallen. The handbag-sized Epson PictureMate, for example, is typical in that it only prints 6x4-inch prints but claims costs of only 20p a print using the recommended paper and ink. That drops to 17p a print if you shop around for consumables online.
These types of printers also print directly from your camera's memory card and that means you don't need a computer or additional imaging software. You do of course have to buy the printer - most come in at under £150 and the Epson PictureMate costs around £80.
But despite the advances in home printing, What Digital Camera's survey came to two conclusions. On quality it said: "The best conventional lab results still have the edge, especially for small and medium-sized prints." And on value-for-money: "An online or local printing service will save you time and probably money."
Online printing
Getting your photos printed - from your camera or phone - through a website is becoming increasingly popular as households across Britain sign up to broadband. In the past year the online photo-processing market has expanded, with some big names from the US moving into Europe and supermarkets like Asda and Tesco launching their own services. Quality is generally very good and 6x4-inch prints cost between 10p and 20p.
Most websites operate along similar lines. It's free to join and upload pictures to online "albums". You really need to do this over a broadband connection otherwise it is painfully slow. Once the pictures are online you select which ones you want to print, specify size, gloss or matt, whether you want a border and how many you want to buy. You pay by credit or debit card and three to four days later your pictures arrive in the post.
One benefit of this is that you can share your photos with others, for example by sending friends an email inviting them to view your album. Having seen the pictures, they can then order (and pay for) their own prints.Another benefit is the cost: the websites tend to be cheaper than the high street and cheaper than printing at home.
Of the dozen printing websites I compared to see what it would cost to get 24 photos printed at 6x4-inches, the cheapest was one of the biggest: Snapfish. It boasts 20 million customers in the US and was bought last year by Hewlett Packard, which has since launched the service in Europe. It charges 10p a print plus 99p p&p - that's £3.39 for 24 prints. The most expensive was Colourmailer, which also operates Sony's online print service. Prints cost 16p and p&p £2.19, which is £6.03 for 24 prints.
However, most sites offer discounts if you get 100 or more prints or if you pre-pay for online "credits". Other pricing models exist too, which make it cheaper to order lots of prints. Pixdiscount, for example, offers prints at 7p each with free delivery for up to 100 prints but adds a £1.80 "processing charge" (£3.48 for 24 prints). So for 50 prints you will pay £5.30, compared to £5.99 at Snapfish. Many sites offer introductory offers too - often up to 20 free prints are available when you use the service for the first time.
Interestingly, some of the UK's biggest high street names use the same supplier for their online printing services. A UK company called Pixology operates the online printing services for Asda, Tesco, Jessops and Boots. All offer similar deals: 15p or 16p a print plus £1.50 p&p.
On the high street
Prices vary even more widely on the high street. A single print can cost £1.50 at a local high-street photography shop or 49p at a standalone print-kiosk in Boots. High street chain Snappy Snaps charges 30p a print for a run of 24 (£7.20).
Perhaps surprisingly, one of the cheapest places - and with excellent quality - is at the supermarket. Many have invested heavily in state-of-the-art printing technology for digital photographs in the past year, something lots of independent high-street photography stores have struggled to do because of the high costs involved.
Both Asda and Tesco charge 15p a print (£3.60 for 24) and Asda came top in last year's What Digital Camera's printing survey for quality, beating most of the dedicated photography shops. The main benefit of course is that you can drop your card or CD off with someone who knows what they're doing and pick the pictures up later that day. In that respect, it's a bit like going back to the old days.
Tips on getting the best prints
· You will get best results if your camera is 3 mega-pixel (mp) or above, anything below this will produce a grainy photograph when printed at standard size (6x4-inches).
· For ease of compatibility, make sure your images are in jpg format
· Unless you have a colour-calibrated computer screen, knowledge of colour-management and endless patience, don't play around too much with the colours. Leave them as RGB (leave the colour alone) and if the print results aren't as expected ask the processor - online or high street - to print them again.
Price comparison
We compared the cost of getting 24 photos printed at standard size (6x4-inches) using services online and on the high street. These prices don't take into account any offers or freebies.
Snapfish: 10p a print + 99p p&p = £3.39
Truprint: 10p a print + 99p p&p = £3.39
Pixdiscount: 7p a print + £1.80 processing charge = £3.48
Tesco stores: 15p a print = £3.60
Bonusprint: 12p a print + £1.50 p&p = £4.38
Epson PictureMate: 20p a print = £4.80
Kodak: 15p a print + £1.39 p&p = £4.99
Jessops: 15p a print + £1.50 p&p = £5.10
Colourmailer: 16p + £2.19 p&p = £6.03
Snappy Snaps: 30p a print = £7.20
0 comments:
Post a Comment