Where to get pictures developed? Is there a difference?

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

Hi!

What has been your experience in the quality of developing at various places? Are some of the on-line places better than a Walgreens store? What places use better paper or ink?

I usually take to Walgreens and have been ok with the quality - sometimes they seem "cut off" at the wrong place and once I had a real color issue (they were all orangey)

I just came back from vacation and want my photos to look as good as possible - can you please give advice?

Thanks!

 

[hncg57c]

I had a problem with Walgreens as well. I had them develop like $60 worth of film and all of the pictures came back with a small black bar on one side of the picture. I won't be using our Walgreens any more to develop pictures.

For digital pictures, I like to use online sites. My favorites are probably Kodak and then Snapfish. I have also used Winkflash as well; they are OK. I go where I can get the best price when I want to print out pics.

 

[Nikel]

Some costcos are supposed to be really great. (We don't have one, so I don't know.) I recommend MPIX.com to my wedding customers that get the disc.

The cutting issue is a crop issue. Sometimes when you change the crop, there's just not enough room to keep everything. I crop everything I order to the size I'm ordering, but mpix has a guide you can drag on the image so you have control over what gets chopped. MPIX is the consumer division of a pro lab (Millers), and they use professional paper. HTH.

 

[My2Girls66]

I use my local Ritz Camera Store for digital prints. Very good quality and I can pick them up the same day. If I'm getting prints for someone that I'm going to have to mail them, I use Snapfish and have them delivered to the person. Very pleased with the quality and they are cheaper per print than Ritz, tho, I do have to pay shipping.

 

[Mckymousefn]

I like using Mpix.com They print on professional paper, good in price and delivery is quick. I have ordered a lot of pictures from them that i took at my kids games as well as at Cub games, they always turn out nice!

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

I now use Dans Camera shop for my prints. Used to go to walmart but am protesting them right now so I order the pics online and DH picks them up for me since he works nearby.

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

thx, I think I will try mpix.com!

 

[Sorsha]

We always use Walgreens (upload online and pick up locally), and just as a heads up they have addressed the "cropping" issue recently.
Apparently they realized that a traditional 4X6 print didn't fit digital pictures properly, causing the issue where they seemed to be "cut off" wrong. They now offer an option where the system will analyze your shots and let you know how many of them won't fit properly in a 4X6. You then have the option to select the new "true digital" size for your prints, which makes them about 4X5-point-something. I have used this option twice now, and find that it does fix the cropping issue IMHO.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

FWIW, you don't get digital pictures "developed." You get prints made. Even with film, there were two components when you dropped off your film. The first was that they "developed" the film so that it wouldn't expose any further and so that it was ready to be printed. The second was that you made prints.

It's a bit like saying that you are going to tape something on your Tivo, turn the channel, use some tin foil, except that those have direct analogs (record, change, and aluminum). There really isn't anything that is the same as "developing" in the digital world unless maybe it's converting from a RAW file to a JPEG.

As for your real question, I can't really say. I do most of my printing at home.

 

[jjod96]

I have been really happy with the quality at Target. You can load them onto Shutterfly and then have them printed and pick up at your local Target. The price is a bit more than some of the other online places but I really think the quality is GREAT!!

 

[jann1033]

i've tried a number, snapfish, shutterfly, walmart , adorama, walgreens target and the best imo by far were mpix, even the way they are packaged shows imo they care what they are doing( the metallic is very nice for some types of shots, not sure if i would use it for everything)...a customer of mine got some mugs etc from ezprints and they were very nice quality, china etc., one had a problem and they fixed if right away but i know they just changed their paper so not sure how their prints are now. snapfish and shutterfly and adorama were fine for snap shot type stuff, and even smallish prints maybe if you can tell them not to correct color, crop etc...., walgreens imo stunk (as did the rest, target i haven't used for yrs so maybe on line they are better if they are partnered with shutterfly but they totally ruined the last batch i took there so not apt to try them again),walgreens mine was a freebie and not worth the cost but they were convenient if that is #1 to you, they might be ok for everday snaps, for an 8x10 not so much, it just looked really odd, like it is was double processed or something, weird coloration etc...not sure if they print in the store but mine was awful. there is an inhouse processing guy not far from me i keep meaning to try but keep forgetting about it