News

Writer has trouble going digital at photo kiosks

December 30, 2002

CHICAGO -- Despite the efforts of companies like Eastman Kodak Co., Sony Corp. and Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. to make a strong push to appeal to digital camera owners at their self-service photo printing kiosks, freelance writer Andy Ihntako was frustrated during his recent attempt to use them.

In a report that appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, after he was unable to get prints using his camera's SD card during a visit to seven different kiosks, Ihntako wrote: "I think these kiosks are fine for copying photos, but they're misapplied for digital printmaking."

At Ihntako's first stop, a Kinko's, there was no Picture Maker kiosk -- although one was listed at that location on Kodak's Web site.

At the second stop, a CVS pharmacy, the kiosk had a CD tray and a floppy drive, but no place to insert digital media.

At stop three, a Ritz Photo store, the Fuji kiosk "was busted and refused to read anything," he wrote.

At the fourth stop, another drugstore, the Kodak Picture Maker kiosk had a PC Card cage in addition to the CD and floppy, but the attendant said she didn't have an adapter for Ihntako's SD Card.

At stop five, a kiosk at Best Buy, the machine had slots for every memory card imaginable. "What it didn't have was paper," Ihntako wrote.

At stop six, a camera store, the Kodak Picture Maker was limited to duplicating printed photos.

At the seventh stop, another drug store, Ihntako wrote: "The concept of a time-traveling cyborg would have made about as much sense to (the clerk behind the counter) as the concept of a digital camera did."

In Ihntako's opinion, the major problems with the kiosks he encountered were:

• Too many memory formats. "All but one of the kiosks I visited were cool with CDs and floppies, and most of them could have handled a CompactFlash card. But SD devices have only been popular for about a year," he wrote.
• To get instant results from his camera, he would have had to bring his own SD to PC Card adapter, a $30 item.
• Digital imaging is too new, and staffers are undertrained. "Thus, unless you luck out and come in when the Store Geek is working, you're on your own," he wrote.
• The machines can be "fiddly" and require maintenance. This is a problem, he wrote, "when only a subset of employees even know how to operate the things."

Ihntako wrote that he did get some nice prints from Kodak's Picture Maker when he returned with his adapter. "It uses thermal dye-sublimation technology, which results in sharp images and vibrant colors, but also a minor lack of durability and a huge cost per print," he wrote.

However, Ihntako recommended visiting more traditional photo finishers, many of whom can make traditional prints from digital media on-site.

"You'll have to wait a couple of hours (and maybe you'll still need to buy that adapter), but you'll get photos that are physically indistinguishable from traditional prints, at a fraction of what those kiosks charge," he wrote.