New developments in printing favorite photos

I am always the last in my social circle to jump on board with the latest technology. By the time I finally got myself a cell phone, everyone else had a Blackberry. And I had to wait until my sons were old enough so I could make the move from film cameras to digital.

Before computer-based photography, I used to take my 35 mm film to whatever store had the lowest price for one-day service. At $4 a roll to develop and another $1 per roll to purchase the film on sale, each developed photo cost about 25 cents. But many of those photos weren't good enough to make it into the photo album. In the end, the average cost of my acceptable pictures was more than 50 cents per shot.

One major advantage to using digital cameras is choosing the photos you want to print. When you are ready to develop your digital photos, it pays to consider all the options. You could buy a photo printer, but if you'd rather not make that investment, less-expensive options are available.

Drugstores have kiosks where you can print photos immediately from a CD you bring to the store. Cost: about 25 to 30 cents per print, on average.

If you don't mind waiting a few days to receive your photos, you can sign up with an online photo development site, such as Shutterfly, Snapfish, Kodak and others. I like how easy these services are to use. You'll upload your photos to their site and order the ones you like. Your price per print goes down based on the total quantity. You can also get a prepaid plan that gives you a low rate, such as 8 cents per print when you pre-purchase 250 prints (this price quoted from Snapfish). We've used that service -- mind you, only ordering 20 prints at a time -- and the shipping costs ended up raising the print price.

Even the slowest delivery option added $1 to the order, or 5 cents per print. So we paid about 13 cents per print altogether and had to wait a week to receive the photos.

My favorite option is using the relatively new online photo services found on grocery and drugstore Web sites. They are a perfect combination of the in-store and online development methods. You upload your photos easily to the photo section on the store's site, and then pick the photo up at the store. One hour and next-day service is available, and no shipping fees.

Keep in mind that not all grocery store photo centers have in-store pick up. Be sure to read the details. Some are simply partnerships with online photo services that must ship photos to customers.

I've tested both Walgreens and Giant Eagle's online photo development services with great success. Even with my limited technical skills, it was easy for me to follow the directions to upload and order the photos. I paid only 20 cents per print for 4-by-6 prints from Giant Eagle, as I opted for one-hour service. I ordered them from Atlanta (where I live) in the afternoon and picked them up at Giant Eagle in Pittsburgh during a visit the next day. Had I been able to wait two days, I would have paid only 15 cents per print.

Both of my grocery stores in Atlanta offer a similar service, which is now our preferred photo development method because it is the least expensive and most convenient option. I also did not have to pre-purchase a high quantity of prints in order to get that rate. I only ordered two prints, so I paid 43 cents (including tax).

Over the holidays, I took advantage of a free 5-by-7 print offer from Walgreens that I received via their e-mail newsletter. I uploaded a favorite photo and picked it up later that same day. I didn't pay a dime for the photo, but did buy a frame for it while I was there. Not bad!