High Quality Prints!
Written: Jul 19 '04 (Updated Jul 20 '04)
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Background
Like the typical young male, I didn't get into photography until I was a little older. I didn't purchase my first "real" (eg. one that cost more than $100) till I was over 25, and that was a APS camera. I've recently moved on to digital photography and love it. The bottom line is I've now used ClubPhoto.com for over four years, first as a film customer and now as a strictly digital customer.
My Experience
I started as a Club Photo customer because they seemed to offer a high quality product. That is they were the first major photo site to allow high quality downloads of pictures. At first the service had a fully functional free service, but they've whittled that down so you really need to be a Gold or Platinum subscriber to make it worthwhile. Why? Only Gold/Platinum members can have albums that won't be deleted if not viewed AND you can also allow high quality downloads of your photos, something which most other major online photo sites still don't provide.
Film
Here's the catch.. I was very happy with Club Photo's film processing, but since early this year they don't develop APS and recently they stopped developing 35mm film. The HUGE advantage they had over other online sites, was that they would develop your film, upload it to the site and send you an index print for a modest fee. That way you only had to pay for the prints you wanted, and you could easily send copies to different people in different places. While, they don't develop film, you can still send them a CD and have prints printed off that, but no Gold/Platinum or other discounts are applicable and they won't send your CD back. I guess we are in the digital age as they assume everyone uses digital cameras and has access to the internet
Digital Photos
Club Photo uses Living Album software. It's quite simply, you simply create an photo album using the software and then it will automatically replicate that album for you on Club Photo's site. Then all you have to do is log on to the ClubPhoto.com site and you can easily start ordering prints/products. The Living Album software is not the easiest software to use, but its not the most difficult either. I like it simply because its integrated with ClubPhoto.com.
Membership Levels
As of July, 2004 Gold membership was $14.95 and Platinum membership, $24.95. You get a modest discount if you choose to go with a two year membership instead of a one year membership. The BIG difference between the two is that you get 20 Albums that won't ever be deleted as a Gold while you get 40 Albums as a Platinum. Also, when you order prints you get 5% off as a Gold member and 10% off as a Platinum members.
Full membership details are summarized below:
Gold
- Unlimited high resolution downloads
- FREE 30 4x6 or 4xD prints and one 8x10 print (a $11.49 value)
- 5% off all purchases*
- 20 specialized Gold albums
- Preferential album gallery listing
- Option to disable hi-res downloads for guests
- Instantly e-mailed guest book entries
- Special log-in alias
- Eligible for photo of the day
- Cool Gold symbol next to your name.
Platinum
Great Benefits
- 40 specialized Platinum Albums
- Unlimited high resolution downloads
- 60 FREE 4x6 or 4xD prints and a FREE 8x10 print (a $18.99 value)
- FREE Album CD (a $7.95 value)
- FREE Pro version of Living Album Software (a $29.95 value)
- 10% off all purchases*
- Album visitor's counts
- 60 fun album backgrounds
- Gallery albums listed first
- Option to disable hi-res downloads for guests
- Home Page Image
- Instantly e-mailed guest book entries
- Special log-in alias
- Eligible for photo of the day
- Cool Platinum symbol next to your name.
Why Club Photo
The best reason to use Club Photo is the quality of the prints. I experimented and got the EXACT same print from ClubPhoto, the Kodak digital photo machine at CVS.com (and most stores have Kokak machines) and Snapfish.com. The competition wasn't even close. ClubPhoto had by far the highest quality prints. From talking to friends, only Ofoto.com is as good and they don't allow for high resolution dowloads but do still develop film.
In addition to the high resolution downloads, ClubPhoto has one of the widest selections of merchandise available to include t-shirts, mugs, mousepads, etc.. The best time to buy merchandise is when Club Photo has sales. For example, they'll often have a sale on Christmas Cards BEFORE the big rush and during slow periods they'll offer discounts on other types of photo merchandise. As for prints, they'll also tend to have sales around major holidays, they are often timed to end before the peak period which is usually the weekend AFTER the holiday.
Summary
If you want a site that produces high quality prints of your digital photos and allows for high resolution downloads then ClubPhoto.com is for you.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dguruswamy
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Member: Dharm Guruswamy
Location: Arlington, VA
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 2 members
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