Walmart PhotoCenter

I sent in vacation photos from a canon rebel xt.

cheap

The quality varies wildy between 50 photos. Some of the photos are flawless, and others are lower quality then I get from my $50.00 photo printer. I will not use the service again.

With thosands of Wal-Mart stores littering the country side, my hope was that the convience of submitting digital photos online for processing would be a breeze. That was not my experience. If you need quality prints, in a timely fashion, choose another photo processor.

None

Poor quality prints. Painfully slow turnaround time. 2nd-day photo processing actually takes 5-7 days.

Shutterfly

Poorly trained staff.

I send many of my friends to WalMarts for prints of their digital photos, but with some cautions and suggestions. Fuji is the supplier of the equipment and materials at all WalMarts in the Albuquerque area. One problem is various stores have different Fuji systems and the training of the operators varies. I suggest to everyone to use a good edit program, some are free and have varying levels of features. Serif is distributing it's PhotoPlus ver 6.0 through some magazines such as WindowsXP Answers and GIMP is an open source freeware program with many features. If you can find a store that is using the latest equipment ( check with the excellent FujiUSA site ... their support has actually sent people to stores when problems are reported with the quality ... chances are you will have the best results. Preparing your file to fit the format exactly and at a resolution of 300 dpi (pxls) per inch produces excellent results in 4x6 with a 1 megapixel camera. Using resize with software like PhotoPlus can give you a satisfactory 5x7 as well. Keep in mind the printer's limitations. You must be sure that you do not let the Alladin system "fix" anything and that the picture has a full tonal range and good saturation. If you have alot of red eye I suggest you use Ofoto's software to fix it ... it works great and is easy. Besure to save the file back at 100% on jpegs then edit with PhotoPlus or a similar package. One of the keys to success with the Fuji system is that it recognizes "black" somewhere in the file, this is RGB set to zero in each channel. One way is to put the picture on a zero black background so that you have a very small black border around the picture area but within the 4x6 5x7 8x10 print format. Do not let a machine operator offer to adjust the image for you ... you want the system to print it exactly as it is in the file.

The newer Fuji equipment is on the money when it references zero black. Hard to beat the price compared with ink jet print materials/time ... if you dont like the prints you don't have to pay for them

Some older Fuji equipment suffers from quality control, operators not knowlegable, sloppy maintenace, dirt dirt dirt film scanning can be a problem and transfer to CD

you name it we have used it

varies greatly ... talk with a department manager if you are having problems then insist on the store manager ... ask for assistance from Fuji if problems continue ... they have a reputation to maintain .. it is their name that is in front of the customer!

I was attracted by the semi-low price for digital prints, but the poor print quality isn't worth it.

You can order prints online to be picked up at a store near you.

Poor printing quality. Colors distorted/untrue, pictures blurred.

Adorama

Rude on the phone.

The 1-hour Digital Photo service is great! Easy to use, you bring in your compact flash (or any other media), upload it at the 1-hour phote console and wait 60 minutes for your pictures to be printed. Quality was good. I own a 1.0 Megapixel camera and was not expecting great prints but they came out great. The photos were printed on Fuji color paper and the price was very reasonable. $0.29 for each print. The interface at the store was easy to use. You only have to leave your name and phone number so they can identify your photos. I was very pleased with the results. Make sure you have at least 1.0 Megapixels for 4x6. They also offer 5x7 and 8sx10 reprints but the price jumps quickly.

Easy user interface. Fast turn-around. Quality paper used.

The interface only shows thumb-prints (which speeds thing up) so you had better edit and select all the pictures you like before using the console. At $0.29 it's a bit pricey, but with time I'm hoping the price will drop. Then again, when does "reprint" prices ever drop.

Friends recommend Ofoto, haven't given it a shot yet.

No interface with Customer Service except to pick up the prints. That interaction was good.