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Cost of developing Digital prints survey

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taicw

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Hi, just trying to get a good gauge of how much it would cost to develop digital photos into print in the states and in singapore.

Anyone can recommend a place to develop digital photos into print in Singapore? (any s'porean out there?)

Last shop i enquired asked for SGD 0.50 per photo with a base of SGD 5.00 for handling cost. Is that kinda steep or what?

Thanks,
Taicw

gallery: http://www.pbase.com/taicw
 
Taicw,

Well, I have not tried printing any of my shots as yet. But from what
I know, Fuji and Kodak shops do offer to print from digital medias.

As for the US, you check out Shutterfly http://www.shutterfly.com ,
SnapFish http://www.snapfish.com and Fototime
http://www.fototime.com . They basically offer a 8x6 image print
for about US 0.49c. Hope that helps as a guide.

Actually at SG$0.50 per print, it is not that expensive counting the
fact that you selective print your shots. For prints, you would need
to add all the cost involved in the prints such as film cost, processing
and per print cost which more or less add up to about the same amount.

Edwin------ http://www.pbase.com/eddy2099My Digital photo album
 
taicw said:
Hi, just trying to get a good gauge of how much it would cost to
develop digital photos into print in the states and in singapore.
Click to expand...
For comparison, here is what I figure my cost of printing at home is:
US$
8x10: $1.20 (1 per page)
5x7: $0.60 (2 per page)
4x6: $0.40 (3 per page)
4x5: $0.30 (4 per page)
I figure about $0.50 for ink, $0.40 for paper, $0.20 for archival sleeves,
and $0.10 to amortize the cost of the printer.

My real cost is greater because in my analysis, I did not allow for the fact
that I have to purchase all supplies in quantity, in advance, and that
there is some waste because yield of prints worthy of not being thrown
out is somewhat less than 100%. For example, every time an ink cartridge
runs dry in one color, the page that was being printed is spoiled. I also
did not count the time it takes to trim the prints to their final size.

I rarely print smaller than 5x7, because for 4x6s I can get prints from
the online places for about the same cost, and the online prints are
made with conventional chemical processes, not ink drops, so they
do not have to be placed in individual sleeves to avoid damage from
handling.

For protecting my ink jet prints, I use "Archival PLUS Safety Sleeving" from
http://www.iconusa.com/online/SafteySleeving.htm and
"Clear File Archival Print Pages" from
http://www.iconusa.com/online/Printpages.html--Roy F.
 
I just had some enlargements done at EZprints.com. 11x14 was surprisingly cheap, at $5.95. A 6x24 panorama was under $7.00. 4x6 are $.49, and, I think 8x10 are $2.95.
 
http://www.andromeda.com/people/ddyer/photo/albums.html

This site lists many places to get pics posted/printed. That should get you started.
taicw said:
Hi, just trying to get a good gauge of how much it would cost to
develop digital photos into print in the states and in singapore.

Anyone can recommend a place to develop digital photos into print
in Singapore? (any s'porean out there?)

Last shop i enquired asked for SGD 0.50 per photo with a base of
SGD 5.00 for handling cost. Is that kinda steep or what?

Thanks,
Taicw

gallery: http://www.pbase.com/taicw
Click to expand...
--If you're not the lead dog the view is always the same.
 
Damage from handling? What printer/ink combination are you using?
I just ran one of my prints from my Epson 820 under a water faucet
for 5-10 seconds, and wiped off the excess with plain old toilet paper.
It doesn't seem too much worse for wear, a few very fine "surface
scratches" is all. Not so sure a "real" print would fare any better.

A couple years back I "torture" tested a print from my original Epson
Stylus Photo that was printed on Canon HG-201 glossy film (nice stuff,
but $$). I ran it under very hot water - as hot as my hand could stand,
and while doing so scrubbed the surface with my fingernails. I scratched
the surface to be sure, but no other apparent harm.

What kind of handling are your prints normally subjected to, and how much
are those sleeves in comparison to the cost of the rare/occasional reprint
you might have to make?

As for "processed" prints... I think the best deal going for 4x6 is
walmart.com's 26 cents each.
Roy F. said:
taicw said:
Hi, just trying to get a good gauge of how much it would cost to
develop digital photos into print in the states and in singapore.
Click to expand...
For comparison, here is what I figure my cost of printing at home is:
US$
8x10: $1.20 (1 per page)
5x7: $0.60 (2 per page)
4x6: $0.40 (3 per page)
4x5: $0.30 (4 per page)
I figure about $0.50 for ink, $0.40 for paper, $0.20 for archival
sleeves,
and $0.10 to amortize the cost of the printer.

My real cost is greater because in my analysis, I did not allow for
the fact
that I have to purchase all supplies in quantity, in advance, and that
there is some waste because yield of prints worthy of not being thrown
out is somewhat less than 100%. For example, every time an ink
cartridge
runs dry in one color, the page that was being printed is spoiled.
I also
did not count the time it takes to trim the prints to their final
size.

I rarely print smaller than 5x7, because for 4x6s I can get prints
from
the online places for about the same cost, and the online prints are
made with conventional chemical processes, not ink drops, so they
do not have to be placed in individual sleeves to avoid damage from
handling.

For protecting my ink jet prints, I use "Archival PLUS Safety
Sleeving" from
http://www.iconusa.com/online/SafteySleeving.htm and
"Clear File Archival Print Pages" from
http://www.iconusa.com/online/Printpages.html
--
Roy F.
Click to expand...
 
In the US, Walmart.com Photo Center:
$.26 for 4x6
$.96 for 5x7
$2.96 for 8x10
all on glossy Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper.

They will ship them to your home for a charge or have them delivered to you nearest Wal-Mart store for pickup free.

The 4x6's I had done turned out great.--Bob 'MacTarheel'Olympus CAMEDIA C-2100 Ultra Zoom'Big on Image Stability, Low on the Ritcher scale.'
 
Also if you order at walmart and pick them up at the nearest outlet it's free shipping. We have a Walmart super center here an I pick them up there all the time. I can't print out 6x4's for .26 cents each myself.
Inigo Montoya said:
A couple years back I "torture" tested a print from my original Epson
Stylus Photo that was printed on Canon HG-201 glossy film (nice stuff,
but $$). I ran it under very hot water - as hot as my hand could
stand,
and while doing so scrubbed the surface with my fingernails. I
scratched
the surface to be sure, but no other apparent harm.

What kind of handling are your prints normally subjected to, and
how much
are those sleeves in comparison to the cost of the rare/occasional
reprint
you might have to make?

As for "processed" prints... I think the best deal going for 4x6 is
walmart.com's 26 cents each.
Roy F. said:
taicw said:
Hi, just trying to get a good gauge of how much it would cost to
develop digital photos into print in the states and in singapore.
Click to expand...
For comparison, here is what I figure my cost of printing at home is:
US$
8x10: $1.20 (1 per page)
5x7: $0.60 (2 per page)
4x6: $0.40 (3 per page)
4x5: $0.30 (4 per page)
I figure about $0.50 for ink, $0.40 for paper, $0.20 for archival
sleeves,
and $0.10 to amortize the cost of the printer.

My real cost is greater because in my analysis, I did not allow for
the fact
that I have to purchase all supplies in quantity, in advance, and that
there is some waste because yield of prints worthy of not being thrown
out is somewhat less than 100%. For example, every time an ink
cartridge
runs dry in one color, the page that was being printed is spoiled.
I also
did not count the time it takes to trim the prints to their final
size.

I rarely print smaller than 5x7, because for 4x6s I can get prints
from
the online places for about the same cost, and the online prints are
made with conventional chemical processes, not ink drops, so they
do not have to be placed in individual sleeves to avoid damage from
handling.

For protecting my ink jet prints, I use "Archival PLUS Safety
Sleeving" from
http://www.iconusa.com/online/SafteySleeving.htm and
"Clear File Archival Print Pages" from
http://www.iconusa.com/online/Printpages.html
--
Roy F.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
-- http://www.angelfire.com/ar/thecameranutjwb/Jimmie From ArkansasOly 2100UZ B300, C-180 & +1+2+4 Closup lensEpson 750Z & Tiffen 2XKodak 215 (Wifes)
 
Well, here in the US, I've tried several, and like others, have found that two of the best quality are also the cheapest, namely Walmart.com and dotphoto.com.

After doing my initial samples, I ended up buying a "bulk package" of 400 4x6's from dotphoto, for what works out to 17 cents (!) each.

And that's for excellent quality Fuji Frontier system prints on Crystal Archive photo paper, which seems to be the "hot setup" at the moment.

I also tried Ofoto, Shutterfly, and PhotoAccess, all of which were higher priced, at around 49 cents per print.

With the first two, the quality was not quite as good as Wally and Dot, so they were straight out.

The PhotoAccess prints looked good (the best of the Kodak shops IMO and comparable, if a bit different from the Fuji shops). But again, the price was substantially higher, so I've passed on them for now also.

PhotoAccess does have one rather unique advantage, in that they will make "odd sized" prints that fit our "digital aspect ratios" without cropping.

This seemed like a great thing, until I realized that then the prints wouldn't fit in "normal" photo albums... hmmm.

--Cheers, Carey( http://www.pbase.com/ckriger )
 
Also, standard shipping is only $1.38, for any quantity, to get photos delivered to your house (in the US) from WalMart.com, so for a large order, the shipping cost is relatively very small.

Here's their shipping info page: http://www.walmart.com/co/shippingreturns.gsp

Heidi and I just put our first orders in to WalMart.com so we could see the results for ourselves. We each ordered less than 20 photos, so we will be picking them up at the store.
Jimmie said:
Also if you order at walmart and pick them up at the nearest outlet
it's free shipping. We have a Walmart super center here an I pick
them up there all the time. I can't print out 6x4's for .26 cents
each myself.
Click to expand...
--- Eric, http://www.InvisibleRobot.com/
 
Do yourself a favor. Take your favorite photo and edit, crop and resize for 8x10. Put it on a zip disc or CD and take it to Kinkos. Tell them you want it printed on their Tektroniks 350 or 780 color laser printer.

For .99 cents you will get the most gorgeous print you have ever seen. Unbelievable vivid color saturation. I did a 8x10 (.99) and an 11x14 ($1.99)yesterday of my old barn with ominous sky shot and was blown away with the colors compared to my Walmart.com or inkjet prints of the same photo.

Framed behind glass these prints should be at least as archivable as the best inkjet print out there. The paper has like a satin sheen to it.

For 4x6's for photo albums I'll still use Walmart.com. Good quality and you can't beat the price of .26 cents with no shipping.

But for my wall hangers, I don't think I can go wrong for this quality at that price.

Bob-- http://www.pbase.com/mofongoDon 't spend two dollars to dry clean a shirt. Donate it to the Salvation Army instead. They'll clean it and put it on a hanger. Next morning buy it back for seventy-five cents.
 
Sounds like you've found the perfect solution for 8x10's.

There's a Kinkos on my way home, so I'll give 'em a try. I just received my first trio of 8x10's from dot and I think they look great. Of course, at $2.95 each, they ought to...

if Kinkos can do as good or better for $0.99, I will be loving that.

Thanks for the tip!
Bob S said:
Do yourself a favor. Take your favorite photo and edit, crop and
resize for 8x10. Put it on a zip disc or CD and take it to Kinkos.
Tell them you want it printed on their Tektroniks 350 or 780 color
laser printer.

For .99 cents you will get the most gorgeous print you have ever
seen. Unbelievable vivid color saturation. I did a 8x10 (.99) and
an 11x14 ($1.99)yesterday of my old barn with ominous sky shot and
was blown away with the colors compared to my Walmart.com or inkjet
prints of the same photo.

Framed behind glass these prints should be at least as archivable
as the best inkjet print out there. The paper has like a satin
sheen to it.

For 4x6's for photo albums I'll still use Walmart.com. Good quality
and you can't beat the price of .26 cents with no shipping.

But for my wall hangers, I don't think I can go wrong for this
quality at that price.
Click to expand...
--Cheers, Carey( http://www.pbase.com/ckriger )
 
Do they use inkjet printers or real photoprinters? I mean, do the prints (at least 4x6) look EXACTLY like prints from 35mm film?
MacTarheel said:
In the US, Walmart.com Photo Center:
$.26 for 4x6
$.96 for 5x7
$2.96 for 8x10
all on glossy Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper.
Click to expand...
 
CKriger said:
CKriger wrote:
Sounds like you've found the perfect solution for 8x10's.

There's a Kinkos on my way home, so I'll give 'em a try. I just
received my first trio of 8x10's from dot and I think they look
great. Of course, at $2.95 each, they ought to...

if Kinkos can do as good or better for $0.99, I will be loving that.

Thanks for the tip!
Click to expand...
I forgot to tell ya, save it as a Tiff file in Photoshop. Probably could do a .jpg but they recomended to save as Tiff. (not Tiff in the camera...use SHQ-Jpg)

They have the cutters there too but don't cut full bleed with no boarders if you're gonna matt them. Leave some room for the print behind the matt.

Bob-- http://www.pbase.com/mofongoDon 't spend two dollars to dry clean a shirt. Donate it to the Salvation Army instead. They'll clean it and put it on a hanger. Next morning buy it back for seventy-five cents.
 
They look BETTER than any 35 mm photo prints that I've had done. Of course I've never had a camera that would make photos like this UZi. It is a REAL photo print, glossy high quality FujiFilm paper.
Taras said:
Taras wrote:
Do they use inkjet printers or real photoprinters? I mean, do the
prints (at least 4x6) look EXACTLY like prints from 35mm film?
Click to expand...
--Bob 'MacTarheel'Olympus CAMEDIA C-2100 Ultra Zoom'Big on Image Stability, Low on the Ritcher scale.'
 
Bob S said:
Mofongo said:
CKriger wrote:
Sounds like you've found the perfect solution for 8x10's.

There's a Kinkos on my way home, so I'll give 'em a try. I just
received my first trio of 8x10's from dot and I think they look
great. Of course, at $2.95 each, they ought to...

if Kinkos can do as good or better for $0.99, I will be loving that.

Thanks for the tip!
Click to expand...
I forgot to tell ya, save it as a Tiff file in Photoshop. Probably
could do a .jpg but they recomended to save as Tiff. (not Tiff in
the camera...use SHQ-Jpg)

They have the cutters there too but don't cut full bleed with no
boarders if you're gonna matt them. Leave some room for the print
behind the matt.

Bob
--
http://www.pbase.com/mofongo

Don't spend two dollars to dry clean a shirt. Donate it to the
Salvation Army instead. They'll clean it and put it on a hanger.
Next morning buy it back for seventy-five cents.
Click to expand...
Bob,

This sounds super, since I haven't tried any online printing yet. I was thinking framed pictures would be better stain, or matte. Dosen't Walmart only offer high gloss?

I will go to Kinko's and check it out soon, not sure I have anything frameable yet though. LOL!

I take the pictures in SHQ, send to Photo Delulxe, edit, send back to Camedia as JPG highest quality. You mentioned saving as TIFF.

Photo Deluxe won't export as TIFF, it will do BMP. Would it be any benefit to then convert it from BMP to TIFF in Camedia?

Or would it help to send to Camedia as high quality JPG, then to convert to TIFF, or just leave as JPG ?

Also, is the paper thickness thick, medium, or thin? Would it be someting you could pass around or only keep in an album?

One last question, do they print the 8x10 on 8.5x11 paper centered, is that the border you're left with? What size paper do they use for the 11x14 ?

This sounds very exciting, you should make a seperate post so all can enjoy :)

Thanks Greg
 
Thats interesting. We used to have a Tektronics 350 where I work. We used it for lineart types of prints but I never had a chance to do much photo type prints with it. It was such a high maintenance printer we trashed because it broke down so often. What was cool about this printer though was it used a wax type of color stick that it would melt onto the paper as it was printing. There were 4 different colors of these wax bars that you would stack in different slots and the printer would push them through and melt them at the same time, Kind of like a hot glue gun works. The wax bars kind of reminded me of a big square chunk of crayola caryon.
Bob S said:
Do yourself a favor. Take your favorite photo and edit, crop and
resize for 8x10. Put it on a zip disc or CD and take it to Kinkos.
Tell them you want it printed on their Tektroniks 350 or 780 color
laser printer.

For .99 cents you will get the most gorgeous print you have ever
seen. Unbelievable vivid color saturation. I did a 8x10 (.99) and
an 11x14 ($1.99)yesterday of my old barn with ominous sky shot and
was blown away with the colors compared to my Walmart.com or inkjet
prints of the same photo.

Framed behind glass these prints should be at least as archivable
as the best inkjet print out there. The paper has like a satin
sheen to it.

For 4x6's for photo albums I'll still use Walmart.com. Good quality
and you can't beat the price of .26 cents with no shipping.

But for my wall hangers, I don't think I can go wrong for this
quality at that price.

Bob
--
http://www.pbase.com/mofongo

Don't spend two dollars to dry clean a shirt. Donate it to the
Salvation Army instead. They'll clean it and put it on a hanger.
Next morning buy it back for seventy-five cents.
Click to expand...
 
Inigo Montoya said:
Damage from handling? What printer/ink combination are you using?
Click to expand...
HP930C/Kodak paper. With Epson paper the ink soaks in and you
can wipe off fingerprints more easily without damaging the print.
With the Kodak paper the ink stays on the surface for quite a long
time. Thumb prints, especially in dark areas, are difficult to remove.
On my printer, Kodak paper yields slightly sharper prints than the
Epson paper I tried did. I have not tried Epson since they changed
it though. All my Epson paper is from when they were having the
color shift problem on the Epson printers. I never saw any such
problem using the paper on my HP however.

I use the sleeving to protect against fading too, although I've seen
no fading yet in almost two years. But it is widely said that ink jet
prints fade sooner than conventional prints.--Roy F.
 
Give me information on how you prepare your photos for upload to WalMart?

brianC
MacTarheel said:
In the US, Walmart.com Photo Center:
$.26 for 4x6
$.96 for 5x7
$2.96 for 8x10
all on glossy Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper.
They will ship them to your home for a charge or have them
delivered to you nearest Wal-Mart store for pickup free.
The 4x6's I had done turned out great.
--
Bob 'MacTarheel'
Olympus CAMEDIA C-2100 Ultra Zoom
'Big on Image Stability, Low on the Ritcher scale.'
Click to expand...
 
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