**Free** Prints of PIX from your New (or Old) Camera

[Ribbet]

If you just got a new camera (or if you have an older one), here are several sites that offer FREE PRINTS of your pictures.

NOTE: This is not an exhaustive list; please suggest other opportunities and we'll update the list below if appropriate). Also see the link to Andromeda.Com below -- which lists many opportunities.

DotPhoto.Com (60 free prints)

ephotodriveup.com (60 free prints) -- (note: this site uses DotPhoto.Com for processing; so 60 free prints may **not** be available here if you also sign up for freebies at DotPhoto.Com)

25 Free Prints from Amazon/Ofoto (search for "Ofoto")

Ofoto.Com (15 free prints)

SnapFish.Com (10 free prints if you upload them; or 1st 1-3 rolls developed/printed free)

Shutterfly.com (15 free prints)

Andromeda.Com lists many "free pix" sites

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NOTES:

1) Beware the phrase "Free Developing." Sometimes this means they'll develop your film/digi-pix and post them in an "album" on their web site -- you must order (and pay for) prints. Other times "free developing" can mean **both** free prints **and** your PIX placed in on-line albums.

2) Once you sign up w/ these sites, you often have a limited time (e.g., 60-90 days) to upload/send/print your pix. So don't sign up and do nada -- your opportunity could vanish. On the other hand, don't wait too long -- these opportunities vanish (e.g., HP's "Cartogra" used to offer 50-60 free prints; now they offer only 15% off).

3) Most/all sites limit freebies to 1 per: Name, Address, Family, E-Mail Address, PC, etc.

4) Downloadable software...

Most of these sites now offer downloadable software which can be very helpful in uploading digi-pix to their sites. I'd urge you to download/try out their software -- which lets you upload many PIX at once, and sometimes lets you preview, edit, crop, etc.. **Without** their software, you may have to upload PIX one at a time (and with no preview/editing options) -- very tedious, time-consuming and frustrating.

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[edit] added link(s) [/edit]

 

[Bob61]

I think Ofoto has the best method for uploading digital pictures. Their software download is easy to use and is nice for making screen savers from your pics.

 

[gard]

<< I think Ofoto has the best method for uploading digital pictures. Their software download is easy to use and is nice for making screen savers from your pics. >>



ofoto does have good tools for uploading, viewing and sharing pictures with decent security, but they DON'T have a way to DOWNLOAD. The pictures you are shown while viewing your album have lower resolution than the ones you uploaded. Even if you right click on the image while viewing and saved it, the image is never as good as the one you uploaded. They do offer unlimited storage for the pictures, but if you ever lose the original from your local disk, you can only get low resolution images from ofoto.

I've ordered prints from ofoto a few times and the color quality was not satisfactory (to me!). I printed some of the same pictures through walmart.com and not only was the quality better, the price was less (29c v. 49c, if I remember right) and I could avoid S&H by collecting the output at the local B&M.

I've not used dotphoto.com, but read somewhere that they do have a download facility.

Didn't mean to thread crap and hope there's some useful information in there somewhere ...
gard

 

[Optical]

Good find. The link was excellent. I've been looking for this for awhile.

 

[lawaris]

this is great !!!

Have enough to use up all offers here

 

[dmk11]

thanks for the links. I've never heard of dotphoto.com before..
but it seems pretty cool. You can send them a CD full of your pictures and they'll upload it for free! I think taht's very convenient.

 

[djkball]

Thanks alot . I really have been look for some of these .


Now if i could only get a digital wallet for cheap i would be all set

 

[AnimEva]

i am kinda confused by this, since i am very new to digital photo priting services. Do they print the pictures you send to them and then give them back to you like as if you were doing this with normal film? or do they just upload the pictures you send to them to like an online photo album??? or do they do both?

 

[Ash74]

They do both. We have been using dotphoto.com for the past few months and we must have printed over 300 pictures of our wedding and honeymoon in the Bahamas. The pictures always turned out good and we never had a problem with the site. We were also able to share the online albums with our friends and family.

Not only do they give 60 free prints to start with, they are also one of the cheapest print sites around with 29 cents for a 4x6 print!

 

[nealr]

Just buy a photo quality printer. I got an HP 1115 for $100 (199-75MIR -$25giftcard) a few months ago from best-buy. I got paper free using those $10 off $10 staples coupons, and I haven't had to refill my ink yet.

 

[Ribbet]

25 Free Prints from Amazon/Ofoto (search for "Ofoto")

AnimEva...

As Ash said, once you upload digi-pix to one of these sites (or send them a roll of film), they **usually** do 2 things: 1) they create an "album" on their site so you (and others) can view your pix; and, 2) they send you prints. But ... in some cases, a site may only "develop" your pix and post them to an on-line album (read the fine print).

gard...

...they DON'T have a way to DOWNLOAD. The pictures you are shown while viewing your album have lower resolution than the ones you uploaded.

I'd think that's true of most/all sites. Their earnings come from you **ordering** prints (and maybe advertising). If they, for example, developed a roll of film you sent them, it would **not** serve their purpose to let you view hi-rez pix from their site, and download those you want to print from your PC -- they need to incent you to order/pay for prints.


All (downloadable software)...

Most of these sites now offer downloadable software which can be very helpful in uploading digi-pix to their sites. I'd urge you to download/try out their software --
which lets you upload many PIX at once, and sometimes lets you preview, edit, crop, etc.. **Without** their software, you may have to upload PIX one at a time (and with no preview/editing options) -- very tedious and time-consuming.

 

[Bob61]

<< Just buy a photo quality printer. I got an HP 1115 for $100 (199-75MIR -$25giftcard) a few months ago from best-buy. I got paper free using those $10 off $10 staples coupons, and I haven't had to refill my ink yet. >>

I use my photo printer for many times I need a few prints. But just getting back from vacation with 100 prints I wanted, I wasn't going to sit around and print each one off. Was easier, and with the discounts, didn't cost much more just to upload them and get them in the mail.

I couldn't imagine using some service where you had to upload one pic at a time

 

[FallGuy]

Thanks for the link. I was one of them recently bought a Nikon CoolPix 995 using AMEX PM deal($379 deal from Dell). I was looking for a place to print pictures. I signed up with DotPhoto.com and got 60 free prints. I ordered 50 prints instead of 60. Reason is shipping charges via USPS: upto 50 prints(4X6) $1.89, if you order more than 50 they charge you $3.89.
Great posting. Please share the experience with other online printing places.

 

[CreveCoeur]

FallGuy thanks for the tip on shipping prices. Where did you find them posted, I looked but had no luck. $1.89 seems fairly reasonable for 50 prints. Let us know how long it takes DotPhoto to send them to you.

 

[Ribbet]

Bump -- more "freebies" added to original message.

 

[potcedotcom]

I've used Ofoto and Shutterfly and IMHO, Shutterfly has much better prints than Ofoto. The Ofoto prints were darker, while the Shutterfly prints looked like pro 35mm reprints (same pics printed at both places, mostly for comparison). I have not tried DotPhoto yet, but they are my next victim.

My 0.02

 

[FallGuy]

<< <STRONG>FallGuy </STRONG>thanks for the tip on shipping prices. Where did you find them posted, I looked but had no luck. $1.89 seems fairly reasonable for 50 prints. Let us know how long it takes DotPhoto to send them to you. >>



CreveCoeur, I had to figured out DotPhoto's shipping charges in the hard way by going through the check out procedure. It says : due to holiday season it may take 10 days to print my pictures.

I took almost 1000 pictures at Disneyland, Universal Studio and San Diego
Zoo during the Christmas holiday. Due to low sunlight, some pictures look dark in my NT, win 98 machine but it look so great and bright at my WinXP machine. Why they look like so professional pictures in WinXP not in Win98 or NT. WinXP has its own picture viewer. Nikon CoolPix 995 does a great job but light is a problem when you take pictures under trees. Do you guys use Photoshop or other pic editting tools before you send it for printing?