News

Print kiosks deliver professional results suitable for framing

May 17, 2004

MCLEAN Va.--Last year, there were about 50,000 photo kiosks in the United States from manufacturers that include Fujifilm, Kodak, Polaroid and Sony according to an article on USATODAY.com.

The article explains how users can print each picture, print multiple pictures or select specific pictures to print in a variety of sizes including wallet, 4-by-6-, 5-by-7- and 8-by-10-inch.

The advantages to digital over traditional film are that with traditional you get the good, the bad and the truly atrocious. Photo kiosks let you edit your digital pictures with techniques such as zooming in on a particular part of the picture, cropping a photo, removing red-eye and correcting color and contrast.

However, the correction software on the kiosks is not as good as using a high-end digital-imaging software program, such as Adobe Photoshop, on your home computer so you won't be able to do major fixes.

The reporter, Kim Komando, recently tested Fujifilm's Printpix, Kodak's Picture Maker and Sony's PictureStation. She said she found them easy to use and capable of producing high-quality pictures.

According to Komando, all three are surprisingly fast. Most produced a standard 4-by-6-inch print in a matter of seconds. Even the slowest-printing kiosks were faster than one-hour developing shops and it took a few minutes to print 24, 4-by-6-inch prints.

The article suggests that because different stores may have different features, it's best to call ahead to ensure they have what you want.