Disappointed by digital photos.

studentphil

LuciferTDark wrote: »

It's probably the printer that's the problem, a cheap HP inkjet isn't going to give you the perfect photos you want no matter what you do with it, that's why I'm sticking with plain old film cameras till they stop making the film.

How about you pop a couple of the photos you're having problems with online so we can all have a look at them.

I have ordered some online from ASda, I will see what they come out like, £4 is not much to give it a try.

Lendusapund

HI
I know someone whose changed their camera about 3-4 times cos every time they were printing out at Asda/wherever, they were really poor. He'd been up mountains, across the ocean - all over with this cam.and feels hes lost a lot of memories due to the dud photos which came out afterwards.

'yellow' has been a big issue with both my nieces new Xmas cam, plus my brothers recent one. Woman in Asda pointed that out to him (she worked behind the desk att he photo booth). The woman advised him to try non-gloss prints on their better machine..which was currently broken. The last time he had some processed was in Prontaprint? a town-photo shop I think.. they were very much more costly but the woman in the shop was very knowledgable about his camera and his problems..if I remember where it ended I'll add it later.

RichT

studentphil

Lendusapund wrote: »

HI
I know someone whose changed their camera about 3-4 times cos every time they were printing out at Asda/wherever, they were really poor. He'd been up mountains, across the ocean - all over with this cam.and feels hes lost a lot of memories due to the dud photos which came out afterwards.

'yellow' has been a big issue with both my nieces new Xmas cam, plus my brothers recent one. Woman in Asda pointed that out to him (she worked behind the desk att he photo booth). The woman advised him to try non-gloss prints on their better machine..which was currently broken. The last time he had some processed was in Prontaprint? a town-photo shop I think.. they were very much more costly but the woman in the shop was very knowledgable about his camera and his problems..if I remember where it ended I'll add it later.

RichT

Cheers, I thought digital cameras were really just meant to be point and snap and there wasn't a huge need for a lot of specialist knowledge. My pictures look fine when I look at them on my computer and when I print them on normal paper, so I guess it is this photopaper I have got.

I know a lot of people end up with like pink pics of camera phones but I suppose that is because they lack a flash and the camera is very poor quality.

before_hollywood

studentphil wrote: »

I wouldn't call not wanting to pay 15p a photo tight as that is £3 per 20.

2 slight points:
1. i paid more than that for processing from a 35mm disposable
2. photo paper costs more than that doesn't it?

i have a 9mp fuji camera and an epson photo printer, i get decent enough results at home put taking the card to boots or somewhere makes more sense (mainly cos i can't be a***d)

Contains_Mild_Peril

Digital cameras, like film cameras, come in point-and-shoot and advanced-user varieties.
Your printer software should allow you to adjust the settings for the type of paper used. Glossy photo paper will usually give better results if the printer is properly configured, but finding the best paper for your particular printer is trial and error.
It's also often very poor value, especially for small print sizes which are cheap to have printed at Klick, Jessops etc. If you count up the cost of your paper and ink including wastage, you'll probably find the High St or online mail-order labs offer better economy as well as higher quality prints. I normally use Jessops or Snapmad.com, and the judges at my local camera club normally can't tell whether they're digital or film photos.
There are usually several online digital processing services which offer the first few prints free for new customers, so my advice would be shop around and try a few.
You should only be paying anything like 15p per standard-size (e.g. 6 x 4") print if you're either using instant/ express services or only having small quantities printed at a time, or both. If you get loads done together and adon't mind waiting a day or more, you should get them for about 5-7p per print.

studentphil

So what time scale of processing gets you the best value, 7 days?

before_hollywood

some places have them done even at the cheapest rates in a few days, i think maximum was about 3 days, i usually have them done same day if i can cos otherwise it means paying as much in 2 lots of parking or waiting a week

studentphil

before_hollywood wrote: »

some places have them done even at the cheapest rates in a few days, i think maximum was about 3 days, i usually have them done same day if i can cos otherwise it means paying as much in 2 lots of parking or waiting a week

Okay, I have had a look at Jessops and they only seem to offer next day or one hour and even next day is 20/25p a go. I am alright as I go to town everyday so I don't have parking costs or anything like that.

letsbehonest

I have been printing my own for a few years now with no problems, I get better results than boots, Tesco's ect, and I was using the cheapest Canon Inkjet they made.
Tip. download Picasa2 it's free and is a complete photo library/editor. I also have Photoshop but find Picasa better for general editing and printing.

username

Another thing you've got to be mindful about is the camera that you're using. Megapixels only matter up to a certain extent, it's all down to the skill of the photographer and the bits of the camera.

In short don't expect a crappy £50 12megapixel jobby from Superdrug to produce great pictures. And even if you have got a decent compact camera, using digital zoom (which is often turned on by default on a lot of cameras) will simply just make the image !!!!!!.