Say Cheese!!
Written: Mar 28 '01
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The Bottom Line
I recommend Snapfish for all your everyday photos. It's a very convenient service, and an inexpensive one.
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| Full Review |
The advertising for Snapfish.com just sounded too good to be true. Very low cost film developing, just for answering a few quick questions. And since I have a mental block against actually putting a finished roll of film in my purse and turning it in for development, the idea of just dropping it in the mail seemed like a great one to me. So I signed up for the service about a year ago.
Within just a couple of days, I received in the mail a few prepaid mailers, some labels with my name and address on them, and a disposable camera. I wasn't expecting the camera, so I was pleasantly surprised. Now, I am an extremely erratic picture taker, so I took several pictures with the camera, then stuck it in a dresser drawer, where I proceeded to ignore it for quite a long while.
After moving from California to Washington, I came across the camera again, and decided to finish up the film. So I took a bunch of pictures of the view from my back patio, and of a giant spider that I was adopting as a pet. With the camera finally used up, I hunted down the mailers and labels. The mailing in process is pretty simple. It goes like this:
1. Affix a label to the disposable camera, or roll of film.
2. Fill out the info on the mailer, this includes your mailing address, and your choices for film development,like size and finish.
3. Insert the film or camera into the mailer.
4. Seal the mailer.
5. Drop it in the mail.
After you have completed these simple steps, all you have to do is wait. Snapfish.com is very good at communicating the progress of your film development. A couple of days after mailing in my film, I received an email to let me know my film had arrived at Snapfish. A day or two later, I received one stating that the film had been mailed out. Sure enough, the pictures arrived the next day. Soon after that, I received an email telling me that my pictures were available on the Snapfish site as well. Each step was completed well within the time frame that they predicted.
The pictures were of a decent quality for your general picture taking. I would not recommend using Snapfish to develop your wedding photos, or any other formal pictures. But they are definitely adequate for those pictures we take everyday. I especially like having the pictures available online. I do not own a scanner, so this is a big plus. Now I can show all my friends in California what my new home looks like, without having to mail out pictures to everyone.
Like everything in this world, there is a catch. Each roll of film costs $1.99 to develop, plus $1.69 for shipping and handling. In my opinion, this is a very reasonable price. However, in order to receive this price, you agree to log into the website and answer a couple of questions, (basically a small survey), and view your photos on their website. If you do not do this final step, they will charge you a regular developing fee. When I went to the site, they only asked me two questions, so it was a painless experience. Be prepared, it can take a couple of minutes for all of your photos to load on the screen, depending on the speed of your computer.
You can get up to 24 rolls developed each year per household, so start snapping!
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Location: Pomona, CA
Reviews written: 55
Trusted by: 20 members
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