One-Stop Digital Photography Guide

Cost Per Print

You can find deals at some photofinishing sites. For example, Club Photo charges 25 cents for a 4-by-6 print, and PhotoWorks offers one 8-by-10 for $2.99.

But at photo kiosks, prices vary more. Kiosk makers say they don't determine print prices--the retailer does. On our chart, prices for prints processed at a kiosk were based on our in-store visits in the San Francisco Bay Area. So in some cases, the cost may be less or more, depending on where you go.

In our experience, the Kodak Picture Maker and the Fujifilm Aladdin kiosks charged the most, each requiring that you print a full 8.5-by-11-inch sheet. Fujifilm was the most expensive at $8.99 per sheet, which included one 8-by-10, two 5-by-7s, three 4-by-6s, or several ID photos. For the same size options, a Kodak Picture Maker kiosk in Walgreens charged $6.99.

At Agfa, Pixel Magic, and Sony kiosks, you can choose smaller sheets: 4-by-6 (usually less than a dollar) or 5-by-7 ($1.49 to $3.99), in addition to 8-by-10s. If you just want one or two reprints, going to one of these services can save you money.

If you invest in an ink jet, you can save even more on prints. (We estimated costs based on the prices of ink and individual sheets of paper for the Epson Stylus Photo 960; we did not factor in the initial cost of the printer itself.) For example, a single photo printed on 5-by-7-inch glossy paper runs about 45 cents for the paper and 20 cents for the ink, totaling 65 cents.

The Waiting Game

The fastest way to print photos is on an ink jet printer. We clocked an 8-by-10-inch photo on the Epson using its best quality setting at 9 minutes, 48 seconds.

You can print an 8-by-10 at Fujifilm's Aladdin, Kodak's Picture Maker, or Sony's PictureStation within 3 to 10 minutes, but of course that doesn't take into account the time it takes to drive to a shop. At the Agfa E-box and the Pixel Magic IStation 200 we visited, we had to wait 24 hours to get our prints; the stands were merely touch-screen computers that let us order pictures. Instead of a self-service kiosk with a built-in printer, the prints from Agfa and Pixel Magic were processed at the shop's minilab (the same place where film gets developed). So you have to drive back to the store and pick up your prints.

Ordering prints online can take longer. Figuring in shipping time, your prints could take a week or more to arrive. Our orders arrived in two or three days, but the services we used were on our side of the continent. If you're in a hurry, choose overnight shipping (around $15).

Final Tally

Ultimately, the printing method you choose depends on how much you want to spend versus how much you're willing to wait. We saw only small variations in print quality across the board; photos look impressive overall. If you need your pics now and don't want to fuss with printing your own, go with a kiosk. If you can wait a few days, ordering prints online is the most economical choice and gets you the best quality. And if you're willing to give up some picture quality to save some money, invest in a good ink jet photo printer.