Photobook - CVS Kodak Review

Overall 4.33 of 5 view all 3 reviews

anothershopper
New York, NY

Simple, Quick, Cheap - CVS is the place- No Shipping Costs

Every day computer user, I believe in honesty, quality conscious, into trying new things, a travel photographer, married, a bargain hunter, love to travel

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Pros

Cheap, reasonably priced, Quick and easy to create on Kodak Kiosks, Prints right away

Cons

Pages cannot be double sided, Printed on photo paper, Limited layouts, The pages do not look very professional

MAR

2008

If you're like me, you'll want to know how all the different vendors for photobooks compare. I had read some reviews on the CVS book and I was excited by the prospect of not having to pay for shipping and it was a reasonable price at 12.99 for the 6 x 8, the 8 X 11 was more expensive. I had read some raving reviews on it. However, when I got into the store to see a sample, I discovered it was not what I was looking for. The quality of the prints on each page does look better than Snapfish (one of the lower end books) whose 8 X 11 book costs $19.99 base + 6.99 regular shipping (often there are some discount coupon codes available to lower it a little). But definitely not better than Shutterfly, whose book costs $29.99. But it doesn't really look like a professional book in my opinion. The covers are some sort of leather bound and has a window, but the pages (it cannot be printed front to back) are printed on Kodak photopaper just like a regular 4x6 print. And then all these pages are just binded together with the cover. So it's basically like me having the layouts on my computer and then printing them on photo paper using my photo printer and binding those pages together. It's not like the pages that you get when you order a Snapfish or Shutterfly photobook. The pages don't really turn that well in the sense that you cannot lay the book out flat on the table opened (unless you crease the photo paper where the binding is). Also I imagine that in time the photos will fade easier than with a book that is ordered from Snapfish. But it is a much cheaper alternative and the photos are printed on high quality kodak photo paper and no shipping costs are involved. It really depends on what you are looking for and your expectations for the end product. If you are like me, wanting something more professional and willing to pay a little more to get that extra quality, I would not recommend using CVS (instore). But if this is what you are looking for,
and do not mind having to go into the store to design everything and do not mind having the pages show the kodak photo paper wording on the back, then I would recommend this. It's cheap, the turnaround time is fairly quick, you can pay in cash and add it to your errands. I did buy one using photos from a very small & less-important trip to test it
with my own photos. The process to make the book was ok (no real complaints), except it had to be done in-store and not in my own home. But since the quality in the end wasn't what I was looking for, I will not be using this service was my main service.

Last edited on Mar 05, 2008