In an era dominated by digital photography, the tangible charm of printed photos often gets overlooked. While our smartphones and computers are filled with countless images, there’s something uniquely special about holding a physical photograph – whether it’s to display on your wall, gift to a loved one, or preserve precious memories in an album. If you’re looking to bridge the digital and physical worlds and print your digital photos, you’re in luck. Numerous online services offer convenient and diverse options to bring your digital memories to life. However, not all services are created equal. Print quality, ease of use, shipping, and even cropping policies can vary significantly, impacting your final satisfaction.
Navigating the landscape of online photo printing can be overwhelming. This guide dives deep into some of the most popular photo printing services, comparing their strengths and weaknesses to help you make informed decisions and ensure your cherished digital photos are printed beautifully. We’ll explore crucial factors like print quality, service limitations, and user experience, focusing particularly on services that cater to digital photos taken on smartphones and digital cameras.
One prominent service, Mpix, boasts popularity and a user-friendly app for ordering directly from smartphones. Despite this convenience, our tests revealed some significant drawbacks. Panelists consistently ranked Mpix prints as their least favorite in terms of overall quality. A major point of contention was Mpix’s approach to smartphone photos: the service forcibly crops images to fit standard print sizes, which can be incredibly frustrating for photographers who meticulously compose their shots.
Cropped edge of photo print from Mpix showing forced aspect ratio adjustment for standard print size.
For those who value preserving the original composition of their photos, this forced cropping can be a deal-breaker. Fortunately, alternatives exist. Services like EZprints and RitzPix stand out by offering smartphone-friendly print sizes with a 4:3 aspect ratio, perfectly matching the native format of most smartphone cameras. Furthermore, services such as Printique and Nations Photo Lab go a step further, providing the option to print your images uncropped, regardless of aspect ratio mismatches. As of now, Mpix lacks both of these crucial options, limiting its appeal for users printing digital photos directly from their phones.
Bay Photo is another service that offers small print sizes suitable for smartphone photos and is praised for its robust packaging. However, our evaluation of Bay Photo’s print quality revealed it to be merely average. In blind comparisons, participants generally placed Bay Photo prints in the middle, rarely considering them the best or worst, indicating a decidedly middling performance in terms of print output.
If budget is your primary concern, Snapfish might seem appealing due to its low prices. However, our tests revealed significant compromises in quality. Snapfish prints, particularly in 8×10 and 4×6 sizes, exhibited harsh contrast, resulting in a loss of detail in both shadows and highlights. Portrait photos printed by Snapfish also tended to have noticeably orange skin tones, an undesirable color shift. Packaging was another area where Snapfish fell short. Smaller prints were shipped in flimsy cardboard envelopes lacking adequate padding, leaving them vulnerable to damage during transit. While larger 11×14 prints were shipped in tubes, the absence of internal padding led to bent edges, as shown below.
Cropped edge of photo print from Mpix showing forced aspect ratio adjustment for standard print size.
Snapfish’s inadequate packaging isn’t an isolated incident. A print from RitzPix also arrived damaged. Despite charging a hefty $14.95 for shipping – more than double the average of other services tested – RitzPix shipped an 11×14 print in a flat envelope with only thin backing boards for protection. The undersized envelope, combined with minimal protection, resulted in corner damage when the package was crushed in transit. A larger envelope or, ideally, a box, could have easily prevented this damage, highlighting a significant oversight in RitzPix’s shipping practices.
Corner damage on a RitzPix photo print caused by inadequate packaging and rough handling during shipping.
EZprints, similar to Snapfish, stood out for its subpar print quality. Prints from EZprints consistently had a hazy, washed-out appearance, lacking sharpness and clarity. Areas of solid color appeared mottled, further detracting from the overall image quality.
Shutterfly, while being one of the more expensive services we tested, delivered only average print quality. Packaging was again a major concern. Small prints arrived in thin, flat envelopes, and larger 11×14 prints were shipped in tubes, causing significant curling that required flattening before display. While curling from tube shipping is a common issue, Shutterfly’s packaging didn’t offer any advantages to offset this inconvenience.
Curled photo print from Shutterfly after being shipped in a tube, requiring flattening before display.
Zazzle offers photo printing but is primarily designed for single-item orders and provides limited paper options. The ordering process is cumbersome, requiring users to drag each image individually onto a print-size template for each print size selection. This tedious process makes Zazzle impractical for ordering multiple prints, especially in various sizes.
Heavy books used to flatten a curled photo print, illustrating the time-consuming process of uncurling tube-shipped prints.
Winkflash faces a barrage of negative customer reviews, citing issues ranging from lost photo access due to ownership changes to unresponsive customer service. Customer support is limited to a web form, with no phone or email contact options available. These significant customer service and reliability concerns make Winkflash a service to avoid.
FreePrints entices users with the offer of up to 1,000 free 4×6 prints per year, requiring only payment for shipping. However, the service’s website provides minimal information about print quality, paper options, or the company itself, relying solely on a phone app for ordering. The lack of transparency and limited online presence raise red flags, suggesting caution is warranted.
Amazon Prints offers 4×6 prints at a competitive price, particularly for Amazon Prime members who already utilize Amazon Photos for storage. The ordering process is straightforward, and print quality is decent, falling in the mid-range of services tested. However, skin tones tended to lean towards orange, and packaging, consisting of a thin cardboard mailer, proved inadequate, resulting in corner damage to some prints.
Walmart provides a 4×5.3-inch print size option, accommodating smartphone photos’ 4:3 aspect ratio without cropping. However, their overall selection of print sizes is less comprehensive compared to top-rated services.
Conclusion
Printing your digital photos should be a joyful experience, resulting in beautiful, lasting memories. While numerous online services promise convenience and quality, our in-depth comparison reveals significant differences in performance and service. Services like Mpix, Snapfish, EZprints, and Shutterfly present notable drawbacks in print quality, cropping policies, or packaging. Services like RitzPix and Amazon Prints have shown inconsistencies in packaging leading to damage. For users seeking optimal results when printing digital photos, particularly from smartphones, exploring alternatives that prioritize uncropped printing, offer smartphone-friendly sizes, and ensure robust packaging is highly recommended. Always consider the balance of print quality, service features, and user experience to choose the best service for your precious digital memories.
