As technology advances, new gadgets emerge every year. As new Web sites and retail opportunities are emerging to provide users with hassle-free ways to print photos, and new printers serve as personal dark rooms, it is becoming increasingly hard to decipher the most cost-effective and pratical way to print photos.
Using the Internet to display and store photos is an option is now available via countless Web sites. Most of these Web sites offer the opportunity to display pictures for free, make albums or edit prints. Sites providing photo hosting like Snapfish.com and Shutterfly.com give users the opportunity to print photos for a low cost and have them mailed to their home.
Melissa Moody, spokeswoman for Shutterfly, says the online photo resource grows every year in popularity as more people buy digital cameras and become educated about the options that are available for them.
"Shutterfly was created to help users get pictures from digital cameras at a time when retailers weren't printing digital photos and people could only print at home," Moody says.
The price of a 4"x6" print is 29 cents through Shutterfly, she says, compared to at home where paper, ink and printer usage may cost 50 cents per print.
"To set up your own little mini-lab is a big investment," Moody says.
Snapfish, a service of Hewlett Packard, is a similar Web site that allows users to display pictures for free and offers the option of ordering prints.
Kim Yen, spokeswoman for Snapfish, says it is a reliable place to display and store your memories.
"In a wake of certain disasters, what if you never take the pictures off the digital camera, where can you store them?" Yen says. "But should something happen, like a hurricane for instance, where you could loose all of them, now you can still have access to them online."
Each 4"x6" print costs 12 cents, she says.
"Our price is still below the industry average for what home printers would cost," Yen says.
Snapfish has also teamed up with Walgreens to let users have access to their prints quicker. Yen says once you have selected the photos to print, you can select your nearest Walgreens store and pick them up within an hour.
"If you're out shopping and you know your going to pick up a prescription, you can get your photos as well," she says. "It's so convenient."
Gary Pageau, associate publisher for Photo Marketing Association International, says there has been a recent change in the way people choose to print their photos.
"The big shift has been happening away from home printers to online or retail," Pageau says. "In terms of trending, home printing is still happening, it's just not growing as fast as the rate of retail is."
Pageau says the industry is growing and a lot more options are available to people than there used to be.
"What's driven the trend is that household penetration of digital cameras has increased," he says.
If home printing is done with the right materials, Pageau says it would be indistinguishable from a regular photograph, he says. The quality is different for every option depending on the materials used.
"I don't want to burst your bubble but the online equipment is the same as a retail store," he says. "The quality all depends on who is performing the work."
Pageau says printing at home can be costly, however consumers get what they pay for. He says the actual printer may not be expensive, however the materials like ink and paper begin to add up.
"Definitely the razor-blade model, it's all in the consumables," Pageau says. "The margin is in the razor blades, the actual handle is relatively inexpensive."
Pageau explains the variety of printers available to people who want to print conveniently in the confines of their homes.
"Some printers offer a creative expression outlet," he says. "Snapshot printers are very popular these days but not as versatile. The Kodak EasyShare printer uses thermal media, which is the same as a retail kiosk."
Justin Joseph, spokesman for Canon Printer Supplies, states in an e-mail message that the trend of printing at home is growing similarly to the rate of retail and internet print providers.
He says Canon has recently developed a variety of products that are both convienient and practical for their customers.
"Canon ink jet printers are now manufactured with a technology called ChromaLife 100, a system that guarantees prints to last 100 years in an album without fading or damage," Joseph says.
At-home printing is a convenient way to immediately obtain printed copies of photos without having to wait for a retail provider to print them or waiting for them to come through the mail from an Web site service, he says.
"Printing at home provides customers the convenience of viewing, editing and printing all from the comfort of home without the hassle of dropping off and picking up prints," Joseph says. "The entire imaging process is now controlled by the customer, from capturing and editing to printing."
Pageau says the best option depends on the customer and his or her individual needs and preferences. Some people want their pictures fast, while others are concerned with the cost.
"If everyone valued a cup of coffee the same way, no one would go to Starbucks," he says.
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