Hi

Has anyone used this, or a similar service, for printing out holiday snaps please?

http://www.bonusprint.co.uk/pages/digital_prints.htm?level=0

I don't have a proper photo printer and don't really need one, so this seemed a reasonable alternative.

Ta

Mo

Yup, I used a stateside (with local website, but url escapes me at the moment) once for my Vegas trip pictures. Very easy to use, the only annoying thing being that digital format != 4x6, so every picture needs to be cropped. If you want to do it good and proper you have to spend some time on it.

Our local chemist prints our digital photos for between 8p and 10p a print. Not exactly dirt cheap but the results are flawless. You might be surprised at what deals you can get on printing on the high street.

FAO Johnnyc: Digital hasn't reached our high street yet, aside from the proper photography shop, which charges rather more than your numbers unfortunately.

As I can't drive further afield at the moment, I was hoping there might be an online alternative (thanks Quinten for your reply also).

I'll keep that in mind though for when I'm motoring along again

Regards

Mo

Ecit: Your numbers do surprise me as even 35mm cost 17p :ne_nau:

FAO Johnnyc: Digital hasn't reached our high street yet' date=' aside from the proper photography shop, which charges rather more than your numbers unfortunately.

As I can't drive further afield at the moment, I was hoping there might be an online alternative (thanks Quinten for your reply also).

I'll keep that in mind though for when I'm motoring along again

Regards

Mo

Ecit: Your numbers do surprise me as even 35mm cost 17p :ne_nau:[/quote']

Yeah the guy in our chemist is big into the photography side of things and has all the best gear too. He made huge investments over the last few years that even put my mates Snappy Snaps shop to shame. Obviously larger than normal prints Start to become costly and not everyone pays 10p per print as we go way back.

Don't forget that home printing costs money if you buy a half decent printer. Haven't you read the horror stories on ink pricing. Good paper costs money as well

Personally I use 7day shop for ridulously cheap cartridge compatibles but I'm not sure how lightfast these inks are - probably not very good.

I've used ASDA (Walmart) & Tesco for direct prints from my edited photos on CD & get reasonable results.

The point about proportional sizing is also valid, so if you are shooting digitally you may also have to invest in a computer - I use a MAC + Photoshop Elements which give a useful back-up to my Nikon cameras. As you see, digital may not be cheap but film was'nt either.

If you're a SKODA person you should know where to go for value!!

Michael

Michael

Buy an epson photo printer (about

I looked at photo printers as my sisterhas one and i thought the results were great. that was until my local chemist started printing them. its a world apart tbh.

Apparentely you can have your pics from your mobile printed out in Boots:confused: I've never tried it, but a colleague was showing me a pic of his BF that had been printed out and you wouldn't have known it was from a mobile.

get your ink from phoenix

Phoenix ink really doesn't age well, especially if the printout is unprotected...it's cheap for a reason.

Mo - how many photos do you want doing and at what size? Might be able to get them done properly for you (ie. not just going to print them on my inkjet) for less than BonusPrint...

Rob.

Apparentely you can have your pics from your mobile printed out in Boots:confused:

They use Bluetooth/IR or you can just use the memory card if your phone has a removable one. Quality of cameras in phones these days is getting to the point where they're at least as good as disposables, so the pictures are pretty good for "snapshots"...

Though haven't actually tried the Boots service though as I don't have a camera phone and I don't want to pay 40p-ish for a 6x4 print.

Rob.

I sepnt about 30 quid on an epson c38 and use inright ink with it (3-5£ a pop) and the resalts are great! My phones taken form a 3mp camera look awsome when printed on a4 size paper. highly recommened.

Phoenix ink really doesn't age well' date=' especially if the printout is unprotected...it's cheap for a reason.

Rob.[/quote']

Put all my prints in an album and after 3 years they are still just as bright and clear........I wouldn't even leave a "proper" photo in sunlight if I wanted to keep it......they just fade away after a couple of years.

I keep all the original files on cd/dvd so I can print out more if I need to

Phoenix ink really doesn't age well' date=' especially if the printout is unprotected...it's cheap for a reason.

Mo - how many photos do you want doing and at what size? Might be able to get them done properly for you (ie. not just going to print them on my inkjet) for less than BonusPrint...

Rob.[/quote']

Thank you for the kind offer, Rob. At the moment it's all in my "to do" pile, but from memory... there are c.100 which are currently sitting on my PC. As I don't know where the original disc went, it would mean copying them back to a standard 4.75" CD. Would that work, or have I fallen at the first hurdle?

Generally, ink-fade on colour things from my inkjet printer (using branded ink Lexmark/HP) even not exposed to light is not good. I've been thinking for ages about getting a colour lazer printer anyway, as the page-cost-per-cartridge would soon recoup the capital cost relative to ink, but not sure if they'd be any better for printing photos at home?

Not sure about this cropping business though :confused: What is one meant to crop? Does that mean recentralising (whatever) to one's satisfaction, or something required simply in order to print them?

Thanks to all

Mo

Thank you for the kind offer, Rob. At the moment it's all in my "to do" pile, but from memory... there are c.100 which are currently sitting on my PC. As I don't know where the original disc went, it would mean copying them back to a standard 4.75" CD. Would that work, or have I fallen at the first hurdle?

Should be fine - most kiosks I've seen have CD drives on them so you can put them in there. I'll drop you a PM with some prices, if you're interested then we can figure out the logistics from there...

I've been thinking for ages about getting a colour lazer printer anyway, as the page-cost-per-cartridge would soon recoup the capital cost relative to ink, but not sure if they'd be any better for printing photos at home?

Colour laser printers generally aren't great for printing photos (IMHO) - if you want professional results at home, I'd recommend getting a dye sublimation printer. I have a HiTi dye sub printer and the results are pretty fantastic, *but* there are some drawbacks with regards flexibility of print size and dust ingress can be an issue.

Not sure about this cropping business though :confused: What is one meant to crop? Does that mean recentralising (whatever) to one's satisfaction, or something required simply in order to print them?

Yeah, cropping is just the process of "trimming" the photo. You might not actually need to bother with this to print though...depends on your camera.

If you're using Windows XP, if you right click on one of your image files and choose "properties" from the menu, pick the "summary" tab and then click "Advanced". This will show you the width and height of the image...if you divide the width by the height, it'll give you a ratio.

If the result is 1.5, it means all your photos will be 1.5 times wider than they are high...therefore, you can print them at 4x6, 6x8, 6x12 without cropping them.

If you went for 5x7, 6x9, 8x10 etc. then you'd need to crop it, although most photo services will just "centre" the image and remove any excess from the edges.

Rob.

I agree about laser printers not being great for printing photos although if you are printing mixed text and photos then its' the way to go. My HP Colour Laserjet needs a new imaging drum and all four toner cartridges replaced/refilled. Not sure its worth the £300 or so it's likely to cost me when a new printer is about £350.

Very happy with the results and convenience of my Epson R300 with Jettec ink. Imho, results are as good as, if not better than, the ones I had developed at the in-store Jessops and the photos I have up at work attract lots of positive comments about print quality

Chris

I use www.photobox.co.uk for my prints. They are very quick and reliable and the websites nice and easy to use. If you are with ntl they give you 15 free prints a month at standard size.

We used them to get a couple of our cat pictures enlarged so we could hang them in the front room and they look stunning. Couldnt recommend them enough.

Also if your going for a printer for home I would suggest the canon ip5200. I used to have epson printers, but if you jam your cheap ink in them or dont use them for months at a time you soon find that the nozzles block and you'll end up throwing it away. The canon's have a seperate print head which you can replace if you ever need too. The ink comes in seperate cartridges so if you only run out of blue then blue is all you buy and at £9.99 a cartridge is a hell of a lot cheaper then an epson. I have just ordered mine after my mum bought one a month ago. The print quality on it is truly stunning and its very quick at high quality too. I ordered mine at a cost of £74.95 from cameras2u

I use www.photobox.co.uk[/url'] for my prints. They are very quick and reliable and the websites nice and easy to use. If you are with ntl they give you 15 free prints a month at standard size.

I used to have epson printers, but if you jam your cheap ink in them or dont use them for months at a time you soon find that the nozzles block and you'll end up throwing it away.

That was my experience of the old Epson printers, however, they seem to have fixed this (at least with the R200/300) as mine's been running perfectly on cheap ink for almost 2 years now and up until a month ago, had been sitting idle for 6 months

Chris

I use an Epson Photo 870, no doubt, genuine Epson ink is better, (more noticeably on textured paper such as card blanks).

I get all my ink from StinkyInk (http://www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/) their PrintRite 'compatible' cartridges are pretty good, a little lighter, (I edit the output to match what I want with a contact sheet), they also sell good photo paper too.

I tried Phoenix, but was not very happy with the colour quality.

I regularly print out A4 pictures on photopaper and am more than happy with the quality.

That said, depends on your camera of course, I use a Sony DSC-F828 at either 3, 5 or 8Megapixel depending on what I want.

For smaller pictures for keyrings / fridge magnets, the ink still retains the sharpness and colour and does not bleed into itself.

Fade wise, red goes first, (naturally), but they are pretty good and not so different from Epson. Even the so called light-fast inks fade in direct sunlight, (a big no-no for photos / artwork anyway).

Also not adverse to pulling the images into Photoshop for some touch up, especially useful for removing 'substances' from windows when taking pictures of monkeys.

Here's why I do a lot of photos....

www.gentleshawwildlife.co.uk

Another vote for www.photobox.com from me - one great thing is that they do 4:3 sizes, so you can get 6 x 4.5 and also 8x6 for enlargments - meaning no cropping.......

Hi

If you are a Costco member, check out their prices on prints. IIRC around 23p per print for 12 x 8, much cheaper for smaller sizes, so cheap enough to use for proofing.

At home I use 2 Canon printers, an i850 and a s9000. They both make good photos to hang on the walls, provided yu are not going to view them with a magnifier. The A3+ (13 x 19) prints on Canon Photo Paper Pro look lovely. The Canon ink is a little more pricey than aftermarket stuff, but still really reasonable. I think an A4 works out at 49p and an A3 at