Getting Prints Made From Digital Cameras?

schussat asks: "Now that I have a digital camera, I'm looking for a good company to produce prints (I know, some say prints are obsolete, but it's nice to be able to hold a photo once in a while). Do you guys have some favorite sites that make high-quality prints? What about Linux support? I've found that PhotoWorks, which I have long used for 35mm film prints, does not yet support Linux uploading at all; Shutterfly on the other hand has a Linux GTK uploader client. Are there others that folks would recommend?"

Comments

I have used OFOTO.COM

[EABinGA]

I took advantage of an offer from ofoto.com (affiliated with amazon) to receive 25 free prints.

I submitted various 640 x 480 pics taken with an old Sanyo camera.

The results were quite good.

For a 4" print, minimum resolution should be 640 x 480, higher would be better. Also the lossines of the jpg file (I send some with various levels of compression) plays a role. You can easily see artifacts on highly compressed or economy mode pictures. My 640x480 pics were about 65k in size and the quality of the pics were excellent. They print the pictures on kodak paper, so it is i.e. a photograph and will last just like one (no ink fade etc.)

I think they charge about $0.40 a print, plus S&H (2.50).

You can also preview your pictures in various frames, and order them too.

If you want the best...

[drix]

One word: Iris. If you want the absolute best prints from a digital source that money can buy, you will have them printed on an Iris printer. I was in an art gallery just the other day looking at photographs taken by professional photographers - e.g. museum/display quality - and was simply astounded when one of the photographers walked over to me and told me that more than half of them were printed on an Iris printer. Sure enough - she was right! From a distance of more than one inch away, the prints looked indistinguishable from developed prints. I do not use this phrase lightly, either - certain cheapo dye-sub "photograph printers" that sell for a couple hundred dollars advertise "photo quality" when they really are not, however Iris prints really are. I have been into photography for awhile and I feel I have a discriminating eye... but the Iris is just gorgeous. Can't tell an Iris print from the original, period, unless you get right up close enough to see the dots. Even then, they're only visible in light areas of the picture. Anything with color is continuous-tone.

If my word is not enough, please check out this testimonial. I think it's very compelling in its own right.

As for labs, again, colorimaging.com comes very highly regarded, although I have not used them. Chances are if you are seriously looking into Iris prints and you find a lab that can actually afford one, then they are probably well-established enough that you can trust them to produce quality output.

The Netherlands..

[radja]

there's several photoshops that allow uploading of pics for printing. In a recent survey by the dutch newspaper AD what was chosen as the best place to send your pics was Foto Baron. Uses php to process everything. And has been working without problems for more than a few months. will also work with linux.

Disclaimer: I wrote the php stuff, but am not otherwise affiliated with foto baron or digitalefoto.nl. I am also NOT responsible for the content of the site, so don't whine to me about flash

//rdj