Online Photo Services Shootout
Plenty of Web-based companies will make prints of your favorite pics, but which service is the best?
By Tom Mainelli , PCW Print
Photo Services: Features Comparison Chart
Photo Service
PCW Rating
Overall print quality
Print pricing
Kodak EasyShare GalleryBest Buy
80 Very Good
4 by 6: Very Good 5 by 7: Very Good 8 by 10: Good
4 by 6: $0.15 5 by 7: $0.99 8 by 10: $3.99
Bottom line: Kodak's easy-to-use site makes a good range of features available and earned the highest print quality ratings overall.
Snapfish
77 Good
4 by 6: Good 5 by 7: Good 8 by 10: Good
4 by 6: $0.12 5 by 7: $0.79 8 by 10: $2.99
Bottom line: This well-designed site came through with good prints and reasonable prices, plus the option of fast pickup at Walgreens.
Shutterfly
75 Good
4 by 6: Good 5 by 7: Good 8 by 10: Very Good
4 by 6: $0.19 5 by 7: $0.99 8 by 10: $3.99
Bottom line: The interface is a joy to use and print quality is solid, but high prices and lack of pickup options hurt the final rating.
Yahoo Photos
74 Good
4 by 6: Fair 5 by 7: Fair 8 by 10: Very Good
4 by 6: $0.15 5 by 7: $0.59 8 by 10: $1.99
Bottom line: This service's sparsely designed site offers numerous editing features and good prices, but print quality was inconsistent.
Wal-Mart Photo Center
69 Fair
4 by 6: Fair 5 by 7: Fair 8 by 10: Good
4 by 6: $0.12 5 by 7: $0.58 8 by 10: $1.96
Bottom line: Low prices and in-store pickup options don't make up for this service's lackluster site tools and dismal print quality.
Canon Pixma iP6600D
Not applicable 1
4 by 6: Very Good 5 by 7: Very Good 8 by 10: Good
4 by 6: $0.65 2 5 by 7: $1.05 2 8 by 10: $1.12 2
Bottom line: This $200 photo printer matched the print quality of the top-rated Kodak EasyShare Gallery service--without the wait.
1 This printer's PCW rating was derived from noncomparable test measures; see " Top 5 Photo Printers" chart. 2 Vendor's estimate of cost per print.
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