Shutterfly.com
Written: Mar 24 '00 (Updated Mar 24 '00)
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This review of Sutterfly.com is the third of five reviews I’ll be doing on online digital photography sites. As mentioned in the initial article, I recently spent a Sunday evening by joining five of the sites, uploading photos and ordering prints and enlargements from each one. After I have completed these reviews, I will include a summary so the reader will not have to go through all five epinions to do a comparison, unless specific information is wanted on a particular site or sites, since much of the five reviews will be repetitive and use the same format.
Overview
Today, the ability to capture or scan images into a digital format is not only a convenience but also a necessity for many. As consumers demand higher resolution photos, pixels and file sizes increase, and storage then becomes a problem. What if a hard copy is wanted, or the image needs to be shared. You could buy a true photo quality printer and photo quality paper and make your own prints, but that would be expensive. And, you could email the image or put it on your website, but what if you have lots of images and lots of people share them with? One convenient and economical solution is the online digital photo service. After uploading and storing your images on one of these sites, you can have prints made and/or share them online, as well as many other options.
Shutterfly.com
They are a relative newcomer to online digital photo services; their site was launched in December of 1999. To join, you simply give your name, email address; select a password; and then suggest a secret question and answer. Membership is free and no mention is made to any limit on the amount of photos or mega bytes of storage that can be used. To upload images you click “Upload Photos” and then log in using your email address and password, next select “Browse” and then find the target image on your PC. Press “Upload” and an “Upload Progress” window appears on screen; it offers no information concerning the actual progress, but does close automatically when the task is completed. A message stating that the upload is completed is then shown on the original screen.
To view the image you then select My Photos or you can click Browse to upload another image. Only JPEG (.jpg), files are currently accepted. Multiple images can be uploaded, but you must first download their free “Plugin” and they have a preview feature to insure the file you’ve selected is the correct one. The images are stored according to their upload date, and once onsite the only image editing is available is rotation. The photos are displayed as 96X96 pixel thumbnails (small images) and by pressing the + symbol the images are enlarged to a 304X304 resolution; further enlargement is not available.
Shutterfly’s Services and Features
Online sharing – very limited, the only option is to send an email invitation; you cannot simply copy and paste the URL address assigned to My Photos. With the email, the recipient is given a temporary membership and password; they are also offered a free permanent membership, which currently includes up to 200 free 4X6 prints.
Photo finishing – 4X6, 5X7 and 8X10 inch prints priced at $.49, $.99 and $2.99 respectively. You can include a message on the reverse side of the photos.
Gifts – surprisingly, no photo customized gifts or products; such as mouse pads, coffee mugs and posters are offered.
Free software – their upload “Plugin” for multiple image transfers.
Photo Finishing Details
I selected and uploaded six images to Shutterfly.com, as well as the other four reviewed sites. These images (labeled 001 through 006) can be seen at: http://members2.clubphoto.com/dave220812/samples/ (to view them at Shutterfly, you would need an email invitation, an account and a password). Image 001 is a 1200X1600 pixel pet portrait, images 002 and 005 are 1200X1600 macros, image 003 is a 1200X1600 landscape, and images 004 and 006 are approximately 1500 X1000 professionally scanned landscape images from a Kodak Picture CD. Images 001SF through 006SF are scanned images of the prints I received back from Shutterfly. Images ending with CP, PL, PA, OF are the corresponding scanned results from Club Photo, PhotoLoft, Photo Access, and Ofoto.
Each photo was uploaded individually and the total upload time was approximately 16 minutes, on a 56K modem connected at 48K. I then ordered 4X6 prints of the first five images ($.49 each) and an 8X10 of the sixth image ($2.99); the order would have totaled $6.93 including $1.49 for shipping, but I took advantage of their free 4X6 and shipping offers which made the total just $2.99. Their ordering process is too complicated; it took several attempts and almost 20 minutes to place the order. I was given an order number for future reference and an email confirmation was received moments after the transaction was finalized. The order was placed Sunday evening; the 8X10 print arrived six days later in Saturday’s mail and the 4X6’s on the following Monday. The prints were made on glossy non-Kodak paper and were shipped in protective white cardboard mailers.
Photo Finishing Results
I scanned the prints from Shutterfly at 300 dpi on a 36-bit flatbed scanner and then uploaded them to: http://members2.clubphoto.com/dave220812/samples/ so the original and scanned print images could be compared online. The original images are 001 through 006 and the scanned images of the corresponding Shutterfly prints are 001SF through 006SF.
Image 001SF – color accuracy is pretty good, while the sharpness is excellent on this pet portrait. However, there is a little too much contrast, which results in a loss of the dark background details, but overall this is a very acceptable print. Since the original image had a 1.33 aspect ratio some adjustments were made in order to fill the 4X6 finished print (1.5 aspect ratio). If you want the image to fill the print, my suggestion would be to crop to the print aspect ratio before uploading.
Image 002SF – this is a close up of some coins. Shutterfly did an excellent job on this print; the color is very close to the original, and even at 10X optical magnification, I can find no loss of details on the coins themselves.
Image 003SF – this is a winter barn scene. The print was given just a little too much contrast, which makes the snow whiter, but the barn and trees behind it darker. Still, it’s a very acceptable print.
Image 004SF – a good print overall of the shoreline on Buckhorn Lake, with just a little more contrast than the original.
Image 005SF – this macro print of colored paperclips shows a little too much green to red hue. Otherwise, it’s very accurate and the color is nicely saturated. Overall, it’s a fine reproduction.
Image 006SF – this is an 8X10 print of Wolf Island in Ontario. It’s not as bright as the original and therefore some detail is lost in the darker sections of the print. Overall though, it’s a good print.
Conclusion
Shutterfly’s main service, photo finishing, is only average. Their order entry is somewhat difficult, and their online sharing is limited; other services are nonexistent. In general their website appears to lack some of the passion and enthusiasm that most of their competitors seem to have. Digital photography, on the other hand, is an exciting and creative medium; I feel that most of the prospective users of these online photo sites will opt for the ones that share their fervor.
According to their 12/13/99 press release: “… a leading imaging market research and business development firm, predicts that film digitization, Internet membership photo sharing and the redistribution of images to prints and reprints, will be a $5.64 billion opportunity by the year 2003.
Shutterfly will capitalize on this market opportunity by offering the simplest, fastest and most convenient way for photographers, their families and friends to obtain high-quality prints, including reprints and enlargements, from digital images.”
Online digital photography may be a multibillion-dollar opportunity that Shutterfly wants a piece of, but their customers already have plenty of alternatives that offer as good or better services, and more of them. Despite what their PR says, they are not the simplest, fastest and most convenient!
I hope you have found this review to be interesting and informative, but above all useful. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. It’s always good to hear from fellow Epinions.com members and /or photography enthusiasts!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
ryansridge
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Member: D. McCandless
Location: Rural Pennsyltucky
Reviews written: 51
Trusted by: 316 members
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To insure success, try to eliminate failure.
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