Digital photo
print services review (part 1)
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-- [review part 2 - June 2004]
Introduction -- Test photos -- Cost -- Ease of use -- Delivery time -- Image quality -- Compare scans -- Cropping -- Final results
Costs
Below are the prices for 6x4 and 7x5 prints for each of the online print services together with the p&p costs per order. Some companies offer a discount for larger orders, as shown in the table for 5, 20 and 50 prints.
6x4 |
7x5 |
||||||
p&p |
5 prints |
20 prints |
50 prints |
5 prints |
20 prints |
50 prints |
|
Bonusprint |
90 |
15 |
15 |
15 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
Boots |
150 |
30 |
30 |
30 |
35 |
35 |
35 |
Canon i850 |
0 |
32 |
32 |
32 |
39 |
39 |
39 |
Colab |
222 |
12 |
12 |
12 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
digi-prints |
145 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
Peak Imaging |
180 |
62 |
53 |
36 |
107 |
92 |
61 |
Photobox |
150 |
27 |
24 |
24 |
49 |
35 |
35 |
Photobox prepay* |
150 |
19 |
19 |
19 |
- |
- |
- |
Photodeal |
150 |
24 |
19 |
19 |
49 |
39 |
34 |
Pixum |
190 |
14 |
14 |
14 |
24 |
24 |
24 |
[* Note that there are two sets of prices for Photobox for 6x4 prints. The price is 19p per print when you prepay for a block of 105 prints.]
The cost per print is calculated below for orders of 5, 10 and 50 prints with the p&p charge distributed between the prints.
6x4 |
7x5 |
|||||
5 prints |
20 prints |
50 prints |
5 prints |
20 prints |
50 prints |
|
Bonusprint |
33 |
20 |
17 |
38 |
25 |
22 |
Boots |
60 |
38 |
33 |
65 |
43 |
38 |
Canon i850 |
32 |
32 |
32 |
39 |
39 |
39 |
Colab |
56 |
23 |
16 |
64 |
31 |
24 |
digi-prints |
39 |
17 |
13 |
49 |
27 |
23 |
Peak Imaging |
98 |
62 |
40 |
143 |
101 |
65 |
Photobox |
57 |
32 |
27 |
79 |
43 |
38 |
Photobox prepay |
49 |
27 |
22 |
- |
- |
- |
Photodeal |
54 |
27 |
22 |
79 |
47 |
37 |
Pixum |
52 |
24 |
18 |
62 |
34 |
28 |
The cost of inkjet prints from the Canon i850 printer was calculated assuming 45p per A4 page for ink only (see link). Canon Photo Paper Plus 6x4 paper is around £3.99 for 20 sheets from 7dayshop.com, and 7x5 photos were assumed to be printed on half an A4 sheet of Canon Photo Paper Plus - £8.79 for 20 sheets from 7dayshop.com. The test prints were made with Canon ink and Canon Photo Paper Plus paper but compatible inks are cheaper, as is generic photo paper. This link says that a 6x4 photo costs €0.34/~23p if printed on one quarter of A4 paper, which agrees with the calculation above. Note that other inkjet printers may have higher running costs.
Bonusprint -- Boots -- Canon i850 inkjet -- Colab -- Digi-prints -- Peak Imaging -- Photobox -- Photodeal -- Pixum
© David Griffin, November 2003