How do websites develop photos

Asks fridaX

A. A lot of websites have sprung up recently that develop your prints for you, this basically replaces your traditional photo developer, instead you send your undeveloped film to your chosen website, they develop the photos and instead of sending them back to you, they post them up on an online gallery. This means that they can be viewed by all your family and friends, once you provide them with the web address of your personal online photo gallery. Copies of the photos displayed online can then be ordered and sent to anyone that wants them, alternatively you can usually download them onto your computer for a small charge.

�

Q. I thought only film from a digital camera could be produced and displayed online.

A. No, traditional and digital film can be processed and displayed in this way - some sites will only handle digital film however.

�

Q. Can you recommend any good sites

A. The following three sites allow you to have traditional film and digital images processed and displayed online, they are all relatively easy to use, with cheap prints.

�

Fotango

This is a great site because it not only processes the film you send them and creates an online gallery for your photos, it also allows you to upload your own shots from a digital camera. The site offers unlimited online space for you to store your photos on (once you have bought a set of prints). Its rationale is that the more photos you have in your gallery (either processed by them or uploaded by you) the greater the likelihood of them being requested for reprint by your friends and family - thus creating a lot more revenue than it would generate ordinarily by traditional methods.

�

Its prices are very reasonable too - it offers a list of prices for straightforward developing e.g. �4.99 for 40 4x6 prints, and then a set price for individual prints from its website e.g. 49p per 4x6 print, �1 per 5x7 print etc, obviously the price rises if the photo is larger, by specified increments. This site also offers good discounts if you buy in bulk - so make sure your family buys multiple prints.

�

Boots

Most of us probably have our photos developed at Boots at the moment anyway, so now at the time of processing your traditional film you can ask for your prints to be digitally scanned at the same time and posted on the Boots site. In addition, it can develop prints from digital images or you can have your existing digital photos that are held on your own PC hosted here.

�

Boots charges �4.99 for 24 prints developed in the traditional way, and then 49p per 4x6 print, �1.49 per 5x7 print etc. for prints from its website. It will also host your stored photos online free of charge for three months, when an annual charge will be levied (�3 per annum for 100 prints, �5.50 for 200 prints etc.).

�

Kodak Photonet

This is the online version of your local Kodak developing shop, although it is a bit more difficult to use than the two sites above - once you get the hang of it, it is easy but it took me some time. So much so that I think it does not process ordinary film in the traditional way on its website, you have to have it scanned at a Kodak shop which is easy enough to do.

�

Once your photos are up however, its prints are cheaper e.g. 39p per 4x6 print, 99p per 5x7 print so its worth hanging on in there if you have lots of photos. It will host your stored photos for 30 days free of charge, and once that time has expired it will charge an annual fee of �3 for every 40 photos stored.

�

Q. What about sites that just produce digital images

A. The following two sites only print images produced by a digital camera:

�

Jessops

If you have a digital camera and use it regularly, this could be the site for you. This site prints digital images at very reasonable rates e.g. a 49p per 4x6 print is reduced to 29p per print if you have more than 10 prints done, which is a great saving. You can upload all your digital images onto its site by using Jessops own software -which you download from its website onto your PC. It does not however, store your digital images for you.

�

PhotoBox

This site stores your photos for free - allowing 50Mb of space per customer. Its rates are similar to most of the other sites e.g. 49p per 4x6 print, 99p per 5x7 print but it offers great discounts on multiple prints, up to 40% off if you order enough, so its worth checking out.

�

If you have any other Internet & Technology related questions, please click here

�

By Karen Anderson