[Bob in St. Louis]

Hey folks,
I have a quick question for you.

Has anybody used the online photo hosting sites like Photobucket, Flickr, Shutterfly, Kodak etc.... to have your photo's developed? The wife and I were wondering about the overall quality of the final product (obviously heavily dependant on the quality you upload to them).

I've been curious about trying this and a recent comment here in an Eye-Fidelity thread "re-sparked" my interest.
I currently have Photobucket (and Webshots).

Thanks, 
Bob

[BradJudy]

We use Shutterfly, largely for the photobooks which we love to use for our trip pictures. 

Smugmug did a comparison of some services a while ago to choose their outsourcer for prints (EZprints), but that was in 2003 - http://www.smugmug.com/prints/digital-prints.mg .  They do have a neat blog about ICC profiles and how pictures appear in web browsers - http://blogs.smugmug.com/great-prints/ 

There has been some discussion online about finding local places (like Costco) with good printers and getting printer profiles online (they are available for a large number of specific locations in the US) to get a high-end result for little money. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks Brad. Good info!

Anybody else? 

Coincendentally, Photobucket sent me an email today saying that I can now order the prints through them, but pick them up an hour later at "Target". I can't remember the last time I was in a Target, but I didn't know they did processing.

Bob

[BradJudy]

BTW: If you're interested in trying the local printing using specific printer profiles, here's the site that has the profiles I mentioned - http://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/

[Philistine]

I uploaded a large number of holiday snaps (200-300) from two different cameras to Ritz Photo (9c - special deal) and Costco (17c), just wanted something cheap and cheerful.  I had a low expectation for Ritz & high expectation from Costco - result was the opposite, quality of the Ritz photos was excellent and Costco mediocre.   

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks for the link Brad. Cool stuff.
I checked St. Louis, and there's only two places listed and they're both Costcos. 

Philistine - I would have thought Ritz would have done a better dob being a dedicated photography store as opposed to Costco a modern day "general store". Good to know though, thanks for the info.

Bob

[PhilNYC]

I tried a lot of these fairly early on when these businesses were fairly new.  The two that I ended up liking the most for their print quality were Ofoto.com (now KodakGallery.com) and Shutterfly.  Ended up using mostly KodakGallery because the quality was more consistent.  Haven't really gone back to compare them all again because I have a lot of albums up on KodakGallery and haven't really had any real motivation to move to another service...

[BradJudy]

Phil - did you look at the smugmug link I posted?  Ofoto and Shutterfly were the two they compared Ezprints to and they picked ezprints (based on feedback from a group of pro photographers).  Someday I'll try ezprints and compare to our Shutterfly prints, but I haven't done it yet. 

[PhilNYC]

Phil - did you look at the smugmug link I posted?  Ofoto and Shutterfly were the two they compared Ezprints to and they picked ezprints (based on feedback from a group of pro photographers).  Someday I'll try ezprints and compare to our Shutterfly prints, but I haven't done it yet. 

Yeah, I just took a look at it.  Maybe I'll give EZPrints a try (even thought I have 8+ years of photo albums on Ofoto!)... I recently got my first DSLR, so maybe the difference in quality will be more noticeable...

[BradJudy]

Maybe you can test a print or two.  We generally only do prints for 8x10s or 5x7s and do pre-made photo albums for the rest.  Perhaps after our next trip I'll try EZprints for the 8x10s (we generally print two or three 8x10s each year after a big trip).  I don't have much invested in online galleries, so it doesn't worry me much. 

I have considered using Smugmug for everything now that they also do photobooks.  I really like their gallery interface and well done access controls.  I'm also interested in trying fotoflot for our panoramas, who they are now partnered with as well. 

[jcrane]

a little late to the game but I can give some advice since I am just across the river aa

I have used both Sam's and Wal mart in a pinch for must have 1 hour photos. For the price and speed they are ok.
I normally use (99% of the time) either Mpix or exposure manager. I have great prints from both and Danielle can even see the difference.
Mpix is out of Columbia Missouri and normally if you upload say on sunday night, they print and normally ship on monday and I have them wed via priority mail. I have done everything with Mpix from small wallets up to 24" x 36" collage prints and they are great quality.
I would say exposure manager is of the same quality but it is geared more towards sales and I am not sure if they just do prints.

Good luck

jamie

[thunderbrick]

Bob, try Lisle Ramsey.  They used to be located Deihlman Industrial park off of Page (?) and 170.  Now they have partnered with a firm on Black Jack (or called Black Jack).  I think the # is 800-844-5725.  They have done my wedding work for 15 years and have superb service. Talk to Marianne.
Another pro lab (but they take even audiophiles) and they do magnificent work is Diversified Services in Hanley Industrial Court.  Talk to Rose and tell her Bob from Rolla sent you.  She is the best. When she left Allied Photo I took all my business to wherever she went.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Wow, nice recommendations! Thanks guys. 
A fellow can't ask for any more than phone numbers, names, and directions. 

Bob