Digital Prints...Photos or Faux Prints?
As a newcomer to digital photography, I'm particular over what I want. I've delayed buying a
digital camera for years because I want photos – not prints; I want clarity, not just convenience.
The key question for most people starting out in the world of digital photography is “Can digital
cameras produce photos of 'traditional' quality?”. Sure, it depends on the kit, but it is accepted now
that a decent 3 megapixel camera should be able to produce photos of photo quality. The camera
used for this test is a Canon Powershot A80 (4.3 megapixels).
With broadband making vast data tranfer feasible, the easiest way to get your digital images printed
is to upload them to a webpage and get them delivered to your door. There's a huge choice of
companies to pick, all promising cheap digi-prints of superlative quality.
The list selected for this review were based on a quick google search. Where possible, the photos
were uploaded directly rather than downloading software (I have no desire to fill my desktop with
rarely-used programmes).
Many of them offered free trials, which is helpful (but beware the postage costs!). Everything from
ease of web navigation to customer service was noted, but with the main aim of comparing the
tangible product to see if any of them could produce prints that looked no different to traditional
photos.
The Suppliers
15 suppliers were chosen:
Supplier Website Free Trial?
24hr Digital www.24h-digitalphoto.co.uk 10 photos
Photobox www.photobox.co.uk No
Ofoto www.ofoto.co.uk 10 photos
Digi-Prints www.digi-prints.co.uk No
Pixmania www.mypixmania.co.uk 10 photos
Truprint www.truprint.co.uk 20 photos
Bonusprint www.bonusprint.co.uk No
Pixum www.pixum.co.uk 10 photos
Pixaco www.pixaco.co.uk 10 photos
Fotoinside www.fotoinside.co.uk 5 photos
Winkflash www.winkflash.com/uk No
ColourMailer www.colourmailer.co.uk/ No
Klick Photopoint www.klick.co.uk/digital.htm No
Topfoto www.topfotoservices.co.uk
Max Speilman www.maxspielmann.com
The bottom 5 failed to receive, acknowledge or send the order and all failed to respond to emails.
Use at your own risk!
The Websites
All except BonusPrint & 24hr Digital had a direct upload option. Where software is available to
download it usually does provide advantages. However, for simple upload & print, it is worth
comparing the webpage experience.
The speed of upload was similar on all webpages (2Mb in <5 minutes consistently).
The various companies provided very different ways of picking your files. Some only allowed
single file clicking at a time; others had very easy activeX pages that allowed you to drag & drop
straight from your folder. Watching progress of your upload (however sad) is very useful.
One of the best free features, though, has to be the option of storing to a free album for sharing or
re-ordering.
Supplier Ease of Use (web) Free Album Storage? Upload Progress Chart?
24hr Digital No web option N/A N/A
Photobox **** multi-choose option Yes Yes
Ofoto ***** Drag&Drop Yes Yes
Digi-Prints *** zip file or single file No No
Pixmania **** multi-choose option Yes Yes
Truprint **** multi-choose option Yes Yes
Bonusprint No web option No Yes
Pixum ** single file selection only Yes No
Pixaco ***** Drag&Drop No Yes
Fotoinside ** single file selection only Limited Yes
Winkflash ***** Drag&Drop Yes Yes
ColourMailer **** multi-choose option No Yes
Klick Photopoint * website crashed repeatedly No Yes
Price
This comparison was done on 6”x4” print size, or equivalent. Beware of high delivery charges
(especially for small orders). Any suppliers higher in price than these were rejected.
Supplier Price/print Delivery Price
24hr Digital £0.24 £3.49
Photobox £0.12 £1.50
Ofoto £0.24 £1.29
Digi-Prints £0.12 £1.45
Pixmania £0.12 £1.89
Truprint £0.12 £0.90
Bonusprint £0.12 £1.20
Pixum £0.14 £1.90
Pixaco £0.10 £1.95
Fotoinside £0.14 £1.95
Winkflash £0.09 £0.99
ColourMailer £0.15 £1.99
(correct at time of going to press – September 2004)
Print Size – take note!
Print sizes vary. Most digital cameras take photos at 4:3 ratio (VGA) rather than the traditional
35mm camera's 3:2 ratio. This poses problems. The choices are 3-fold:
1. 6”x4” photos, but with white borders on the left & right of the photo*.
2. 6”x4” photos, but with the image cropped at the top & bottom of the photo*.
3. 5.5”x4” or 6”x4.5” photos, with a full image.
* (on a landscape print)
Some offer a choice of 1 & 2; others offer a choice of 2 or 3; others don't provide a choice.
Read the small print! Pixum, for example, provide 4”x5.5” photos. Particularly poor here were
Pixaco & FotoInside, who both gave you the option of 6”x4” photos, but print on 6”x4.5” in size.
This is not made clear on their websites. If this doesn't contravene the letter of the law of the Trade
Descriptions Act 1968, it is certainly against the spirit of the law. You have been warned!
Delivery Speed
What is there to do here? Print, pack & send. It shouldn't take long, surely? Well done to those
who delivered within 24 hours! Well done on those who printed within hours of upload! Shame on
those who found it a long task!!
Supplier Delivery Speed
24hr Digital 48hrs*
Photobox 24hrs
Ofoto 96hrs
Digi-Prints 24hrs
Pixmania 72hrs
Truprint 24-48hrs**
Bonusprint 48hrs
Pixum 48hrs
Pixaco 48hrs
Fotoinside 48hrs
*The envelope was SO big that it needed collecting from the post office. Add 2 days wait!
**Order placed in an evening, so slightly unfair test.
Product Comparison (1) Details on the Back
How often do you see a photo and wonder where & when you took it? The technology is available
to print virtually anything on the back of these photos. The images have every detail in them from
camera type & settings to date & time of image. So why do most companies miss this feature out
completely? They all print something on the back, but too often it is their own details & not the
customer's. Photobox added the most, but even they could still do better!
Supplier Details on back of photo
24hr Digital ** File name, name & date of order, but very faint printing
Photobox **** Date & time of photo, file name (why not add order or album name?)
Ofoto * Nothing relevant to customer
Digi-Prints * Nothing relevant to customer
Pixmania * Nothing relevant to customer
Truprint * Nothing relevant to customer
Bonusprint *** File name
Pixum * Nothing relevant to customer
Pixaco * Nothing relevant to customer
Fotoinside * Nothing relevant to customer
(having details on some photos but not others was not counted.)
Product Comparison (2) Photo Quality
This really is the only real question that matters - Do they look like real photos? Generally, quality
was exceptional. To be honest, if you picked one of them and ordered then you would probably be
satisfied. When comparing identical photos from different suppliers, however, clear differences can
be seen. Of the 11 suppliers that delivered photos, only 6 of them can truly be said to be like real
photos. These 6 were indistinguishable, and the weighting will instead be on your own preference
for other features.
Of the other 5, there were clear losers.
BonusPrint had very good quality photos on first look, but looked very blurred in comparison
with the top 6. After 2 further reprints, they did get it right.
Pixum, Pixaco & PhotoInside were the 3 worst. Is it coincidence that these 3 all use the same
AGFA paper? They suffer from different problems, though...
Pixum suffered by having contrast too high. This can raise definition and give the appearance of
higher resolution, but at the expense of "pixelated" photos that lookd like digital prints. Colours
were also too harsh, giving the whole photo a 'false' look to it.
Pixaco suffered by having contrast too low. This led to an apparent reduction in resolution
(small details like the grain in wood or writing on a sign can be lost). Colours appeared to be
dull on some occasions and harsh on others. Digital correction, maybe? Or maybe just a
combination of poor contrast & cheap paper?
FotoInside suffered with harsh contrast and colours. Many photos were very unrealistic in
colour (white cliffs appeared almost orange & terracotta roofs appeared pink). Many of them
showed evidence of being pixelated (especially in defined lines like the edge of arms or the side
of a crayon).
Supplier Colours Contrast Resolution
24hr Digital ***** ***** *****
Photobox ***** ***** *****
Ofoto ***** ***** *****
Digi-Prints ***** ***** *****
Pixmania ***** ***** *****
Truprint ***** ***** *****
**** A little **** Acceptable, but detail can be
Bonusprint harsh lost *** Detail frequently blurred¹
Pixum *** Harsh ** Way too high **** Can be pixelated
**** Acceptable – again, detail can *** Detail often blurred or
Pixaco **** Soft/dull be lost pixelated
Fotoinside *** Harsh *** Harsh *** Very pixelated in places
¹ Corrected afeter 2 reprints
The bottom Line
There are 7 companies that can print digital images for you of truly photo quality (if you include
BonusPrint for their 3rd attempt). Of those, it is really a case of putting your money on the feature
that is most important to you - whether price, delivery speed, details on the back or ease of upload.
I can't tell you which to choose.
Of those other 3, they all tell me that they are confident in the quality of their products. If you want
the right results the first time, then I can't recommend any of them. A retrial in 6 months will be the
fairest test to see if things have improved.
ALL of the suppliers tested have room for improvement. None are perfect.
Best Value
This award goes to Truprint. 90p delivery & 12p /print for quality photos in 24 hours.
Overall Winner
Photobox are test winners for top quality prints, fast delivery, details on the back & free album
storage, all at a very reasonable price.
Truprint, Digi-Prints & myPixmania can all be commended for quality. Any of these could tip the
balance by adding a few extras to their service!
Ofoto & 24hr digital provide good photos, but inferior service levels elsewhere cannot justify the
high price tags.