Issue Date: December 8, 2002
Your photos, online
If you've been hankering for a digital camera but don't want to fork over the cash, bring your film camera into the digital age. It's easier than taking film to the drugstore: Just mail your film to one of a handful of Web sites that develop digital copies of your photos and put them online for you.
Even old cameras have digital potential: Photo sites will store your pics in cyberspace.
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At clubphoto.com, log on and print an order form. Then drop your film in the mail. In a few days, you'll get an e-mail telling you your photos are online. Have fun creating an online album, complete with captions, and enter your friends' e-mail addresses; the site then sends an e-mail invitation to your album. You and your guests can order prints, holiday cards, candy, cookies, T-shirts, frames and other gifts with your photos on them. You pay $1 to have your film uploaded and 25 cents per print (up to 4x6). The best part, though, is that your photos are neatly stored on the Web instead of in boxes all over the house. Want to send a picture to Aunt Ruth? Log on and pick one. To store photos indefinitely, you have to sign up for an annual plan ($24.95 to $34.95).
Most other photo sites work similarly, varying in pricing schemes, editing tools (Club Photo has none) and stuff you can order. Ofoto.com, a Kodak company, charges $3.95 to upload film, but there's no storage fee. Here you'll find the best selection of editing tools. Turn your photos into a calendar, sepia-toned images and more.
Shutterfly.com has a few editing and card tools, and your first 15 prints are free. Photoworks.com will send you a free roll of film and put low-resolution images, good for e-mail, on the site at no charge (but the sign-up procedure is cumbersome).
Stop envying gadget-rich photographers. Your knowledge of the Web is even better.
-- Christina Wood
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