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Home: Video University Forums: Digital Photography for Videographers:
Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar?

Brackish
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Oct 31, 2007, 5:29 AM

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Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar?	Can't Post

I'm looking for experience from folks who know the
procedures for having prints made off a CD at
the cheapee places like One Hour Photo Labs,
Costco, or any others where you take in the
CD.

Say you ask for 5X7 or 8X10 prints but the dimensions
of the CD images are 4X6. What about cropping?
Is the cropping automated? Is it done by a person?
Can the Walmart customer request a particular
crop?

Also, say the CD images are already cropped to
a mix of 5X7 and 1:1 square. Does the cheapee
Walmart printer adjust the size of the paper to fit the
image dimensions?

I've never had any prints made at these places
and I'm wondering what the process is like for
clients who choose not to order prints from us.

Would appreciate any insights as to how it works.
Maybe someone you know - a family member or
friend perhaps - has dealt with these cheapee
printing places?

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Postal Boy
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Oct 31, 2007, 8:47 AM

Post #2 of 17 (1062 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Cropping is done automatically I think. I never take a CD in. I would put it on my computer and upload the files to www.walmart.com/photo and do it online. That way you can preview the crop. It is 19c for a 4x6 at the 1-hour shop.

Prints at Walmart can come out fairly inconsistent from time to time. I always like to check them before doing anything with them, and only use them in a rush emergency for things I give to people. Walmart tends to really saturate the colors.

I use MPix for just about everything else...they deliver (with standard delivery) in 2-3 business days, their prices are good, and quality is good as well.

-Postal

Brackish
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Oct 31, 2007, 5:27 PM

Post #3 of 17 (1048 views)
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Re: [Postal Boy] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

That way you can preview the crop. It is 19c for a 4x6 at the 1-hour shop.

Thanks. Can you make adjustments to the crop?

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Brackish
Veteran

Nov 1, 2007, 12:56 AM

Post #4 of 17 (1033 views)
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Re: [Postal Boy] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Besides Walmart, what are some other popular
print makers that clients might use?

Do you think more folks these days are
bringing the CD physically into the printer?
Or are they more uploading the prints
through the internet?

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Postal Boy
Veteran

Nov 1, 2007, 1:05 PM

Post #5 of 17 (1012 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I think clients are taking the CD in. Sams and Costco seem to be pretty popular, and I think Walgreens advertises 1 hour services as well, but I have never set foot in a Walgreens before.

Timothy Harry
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Nov 1, 2007, 3:18 PM

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Re: [Brackish] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

we do ours through the local camera shop. its one hour and I can upload online. Doesnt help you out too much though as you dont live in the same town. FOr stuff on the weekends when our favorite photo shop isnt open we use walgreens. they are pretty decent with their stuff, say that they are 1 hour, but I have picked them up in 15 minutes before too. THeir stuff comes out so much better than wal-mart and I dont have to deal with the screaming little kids that their parents cant control. THe best birth control ever is a trip to walmart, I swear I never want kids.

Tim Harry

Bandwagon Media
Odessa, TX

"I'd rather be a conservative nut job than a liberal with no nuts and no job."

Brackish
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Nov 1, 2007, 10:54 PM

Post #7 of 17 (988 views)
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Re: [Postal Boy] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks, Postal.

I'll check out Sams' and Costco's procedures. It's helpful
to know what things are like from the client's point
of view.

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Brackish
Veteran

Nov 1, 2007, 11:01 PM

Post #8 of 17 (987 views)
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Re: [Timothy Harry] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks, Tim.

You know where else is getting filled with screaming kids?
Starbucks. I met an out-of-town client there recently - I
traveled an hour to get there - and there were about
a dozen small kids in there, yelling
and running about ... thought I was in Chuck E. Cheese
pizza.

I checked out the details at WalMart and Walgreens
for making prints. Got most of the info I needed.

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Postal Boy
Veteran

Nov 2, 2007, 10:25 AM

Post #9 of 17 (977 views)
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Re: [Timothy Harry] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

When I do my own at Walmart I don't really have any waiting problems. We live in a small town, and they knew who I was after the first few prints (some really stylized architecture stuff) so now when I get close to the counter the guy just grabs my stuff and hands it to me with a "hi"... Angelic

Jordan O.
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Nov 2, 2007, 2:11 PM

Post #10 of 17 (968 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Walmart is handy, but the people there always get pissed at me because they are convinced I'm copying another photographer's images. I end up signing something and regret loosing the last 15 min of my life arguing with them as opposed to ordering from mpix.com

Postal Boy
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Nov 2, 2007, 2:15 PM

Post #11 of 17 (966 views)
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Re: [Jordan O.] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Most of my stuff has a "postma videography" logo somewhere on it, and my company is named after me so they haven't really given it a second thought. Now they know who I am and that I take photos so they don't question me at all. It HAS been a while since I sent any there, though, so maybe I'll have issues next time?

-Postal

Brackish
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Nov 2, 2007, 6:01 PM

Post #12 of 17 (958 views)
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Re: [Jordan O.] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi, Jordan.

Do you have any feeling on the quality of the pictures
between Walmart and mpix? Would you expect the
results to be similar at both places?

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Jordan O.
Veteran

Nov 2, 2007, 6:14 PM

Post #13 of 17 (955 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

Hi, Jordan.

Do you have any feeling on the quality of the pictures
between Walmart and mpix? Would you expect the
results to be similar at both places?

I've only ever printed 5x7 and 8x10 prints at walmart, but I prefer the quality of flexibility of Mpix, even with smaller size prints.Without digging up prints and looking at them side to side, I'd have to say mpix produces better prints. Almost every time I open a package from them, I'm blown away by the quality. When the paper pops out of the machine at walmart, eh.

Sparky
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Nov 2, 2007, 11:24 PM

Post #14 of 17 (940 views)
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Re: [Jordan O.] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I've also found the paper to be thicker at mpix than at walmart.

Brackish
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Nov 3, 2007, 6:54 PM

Post #15 of 17 (926 views)
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Re: [Sparky] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I hear the Mueller name come up sometimes when the
talk turns to printers. Know anything about Mueller [?Miller]?

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Postal Boy
Veteran

Nov 3, 2007, 7:38 PM

Post #16 of 17 (922 views)
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Re: [Sparky] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

Also, with Walmart prints I often have a little white line along one side, or the edge will be slightly cropped off since their machine may not feed paper through even each time or something. MPIX always has everything, including fine print at the edges, right where it should be.

-Postal

Laura K
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Nov 5, 2007, 11:39 AM

Post #17 of 17 (883 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Anyone ever have prints made at Walmart, Walgreens, or similar? [In reply to]	Can't Post

I've tried both cd and upload to walmart. YUCK!
They use Fuji printers that when calibrated correctly
can give decent prints. Problem is, they never are.
Our local is so over saturated people have backed off
from using them and they won't listen. They also
frequently have scratch marks on the prints.

I've tried other little online labs in the past, but by far the best
service I've had with the best quality has been the
MPix lab. They offer lots of paper options and sizes
and you can crop right in their little online program.
Once I figured out that my Nikon prints were edge to
edge native 4x6's (der te der), I didn't even use it.
Although I know I probably will later with bigger prints.

I guess it's another, "you get what you pay for".
Although I will say this with the MPix lab I get them
in about 48 hours turn and the only thing that is costs
me differently is the shipping which isn't much.
L
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