Boston and Cincinnati news stations
have stories up on their websites with some interesting information on a
digital photo printing study that was recently conducted by Consumer Reports.
According to WCPO
in Cincinnati "Home photo printing --which was supposed to be cheap and
easy -- is not cheap, and for most of us, not easy."
The answer to that quandary is
obvious – get your photos printed professionally. But WCPO points out that when
Consumer Reports compared more than two-thousand photos from leading stores and
online photofinishing sites they found that not all photo developers delivered
great results.
"Most stores use either a
Kodak or a Fujifilm minilab. In our test the Fujifilm minilabs provided the best
quality prints," Consumer Reports reported, as quoted by WCPO reporter John
Matarese.
CBS4
Boston noted that "Printing your digital snapshots at home can
actually cost more than getting them printed online or in a store."
"Wal-Mart has Fujifilm
minilabs and Consumer Reports says at 19 cents for a four-by-six print, digital
photo processing at Wal-Mart is just about the best deal around," CBS4 reported.
Costco or Sam's club also got kudos for their photo finishing services.
I have to admit that I'm pretty blasé
about many of the truly magical things I can do with my computer and an
Internet connection. But I'm still amazed that I can upload my digital photos right
from my computer and then pick them up at a local store within an hour of uploading them. Like science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke said
"any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic."
The study is printed in full in Consumer
Reports' "Annual Photo Guide," which is in the July issue of the
magazine.
Comments