Forums > Technical Discussion > Printing digital pics

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 6th Jul 2001
LOLyeah you are.take em into any kodak printing place.most of them print images that are in jpg format, which I think is the dominant format used by modern digital cameras...at least in Australia, the development costs are relatively similar to 35mm film.Another option for long term, is to buy yourself a full colour bubble jet printer (I've heard good things about epson) buy yourself some photo quality printing paper (just ask at most large newsagents or computer stores) and some photo quality print heads, and you do it yourself.I'm not sure on the difference between the lab printed digi stuff and the decent home set up stuff, but Ive seen both, and the home is fine. Also you can get really creative at home, spending hours editing and superimposing and cutting and shifting... Good luck,Josh--------------------The thinking-person's firedancer - Jude, 2001

Posted: 6th Jul 2001
You can upload your photos to a photo-hosting website like ofoto and order prints from there. This has the added advantage of letting you share the pix online with people elsewhere without ordering numerous copies of your printsI've used imagestation, and had a few prints made. Except for a few that were shot at low resolution, the prints are fantastic--you'd never guess they came from a digicam.From what I've been reading, high-quality inkjet printers can achieve the same output quality as these websites do, but the paper is fairly expensive and printing involves some trial and error.

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy

Posted: 6th Jul 2001
The best way is what adam said, but it will cost some cash. Its not too bad though. Just weigh the differences of the time, effort, and materials. Kinko's, most grocery stores are capable of digital prints now depending on the card your camera uses. If you can get access to a laser printer, just go buy your self some proffesional quality photo paper and print them yourself. thats what i did here at work with my Honeymoon pictures from Italy. To do the work on a bubble jet, and to keep the quality high in the photos, it will use alot of ink. I learned this the hard way at home, but then again i had over 100 pics, printing 4 pic per page 3X5 at the highest quality print setting. Good quality kodak paper in 11 X 8.5 sheets, 20 pack will run you 12.99 and up.hey Adam, do you reccomend that site you metioned then? That sounds like a good idea. Were the prices good? Im going to check them out.Super'------------------"Only the warrior that hears the call will know when to leave, Where to go" -unknown"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams"- Willy Wonka

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear.


- Mark Twain

Posted: 6th Jul 2001
I have to agree with Adam. I gave up 35mm about 2 years ago and went digital but hated never getting to print anything decent (I supposedly have a "photo quality" printer, but I don't know who's standards they are going by). I use shutterfly.com and have been pleased with their service. You can order different sizes and share them with others. I am not too impressed with their sharing capabilities because they don't show the full resolution image (which can be a good thing for slower connections) but I like the printed picture quality. Plus they are fast. I normally have the pictures in my hands within 3 days of ordering them.Only pictures I have had problems with are the low resolution ones, and shutterfly credited me for them since I didn't like them. I just got my first set of poi photos this week, and they look good. Will look better once I figure out my camera settings and start taking better pictures.Another bad things with printers is that many of them need to be used on a regular basis to work properly (some models clog up easily otherwise) and ink is pricey. Plus, think about how much black ink you are going to go through just for poi pictures. But hey, if I had the money i would get me a top of the line photo printer. But I don't, so I will use the online services for now.Suz~ off to do some spinning in Chicago...

Posted: 6th Jul 2001
Superman--Imagestation is fine for me. All the services except Photopoint are free for uploading as many pix as you want, so all it costs is patience to try them out.Imagestation may be going through some changes, because they use Zing's hosting software at the back-end, and Zing is out of business. I really don't know.Things I like about imagestation:1. allows you access to the original, full-res image2. allows you to give out an easy-to-remember link to your archive (mine's https://www.imagestation.com/members/adamrice).
Some services let you send an e-mail invitation to specific friends, but don't make it easy to link in.3. offers a fair amount of control over the presentation of albumsThings I dislike about it:1. uses complex, javascript-intensive HTML that occasionally crashes netscape when I'm editing albums.2. uploading program is slow (or it might just be their servers)3. Just as it offers a fair amount of control, it requires a little more fiddling. I'm geeky by nature, so that's fine with me.Ofoto (which handles printing for imagestation) has a nice user interface. Shutterfly has the fastest interface, but it's also the most limited. As far as I can tell, only imagestation and photopoint let you download the full-res images. Some services, in fact, only show very small images on-screen--it is clear they are trying to get you to order the prints, which is where they make their money. But I may be missing something.Imagestation prints are US$0.49 for 4x6", plus (I think) a flat $2.49 shipping per order. They give you 10 free prints per month for 5 months. Many of the other services have similar introductory offers.I don't have a color printer, so I would have been looking at a relatively big upfront expense to get started making prints that way. Even if you do, I suspect the cost of consumables, plus the hassle of tweaking the printer, would make printing at home a wash compared with having a web-based service do it--except you do get that instant gratification.

Laugh while you can, monkey-boy

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 9th Jul 2001
Im looking in to buying a new/used digital camera. Can someone please tell me what i should be looking for and what the least amount of money i will have to spend to get something that will take quality picsThanking u in advance

Posted: 13th Jul 2001
If you want to take awe-some fire pics, adjustible shutter speed and aperture is a must. Ive found that even a 1 second shutter is great. ------------------We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.~Edgar Cayce

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