Shutterfly review
Our Verdict
Shutterfly'south impress quality is by and large quite proficient, in item the book's and the card's photograph reproduction. But it's only not good enough to measure upwards to Mixbook or Printique.
For
- Fully editable book and calendar templates
- Large searchable libraries of prune fine art and backgrounds
- Attractive printed book and calendar
Against
- Inflexible menu templates
- Severely express carte software
Tom's Guide Verdict
Shutterfly'southward impress quality is generally quite good, in detail the volume'south and the menu's photo reproduction. Merely information technology's just not good enough to measure out upwardly to Mixbook or Printique.
Pros
- +
Fully editable book and agenda templates
- +
Big searchable libraries of clip fine art and backgrounds
- +
Bonny printed book and calendar
Cons
- -
Inflexible card templates
- -
Severely express card software
Shutterfly is one of the biggest names in on-line photo printing, with millions of users storing and printing their pictures on the site. It also offers i of the widest option of photo products. But being large doesn't make them the all-time. In our tests of Shutterfly, we found the photograph volume and calendar software to exist versatile, flexible and fun, merely flawed.
On the other hand, its bill of fare software is one of the about rigid and minimalist interfaces we've encountered. Shutterfly's print quality tends to be practiced, or at the least to a higher place average. But that isn't practiced enough. Read the rest of our Shutterfly review to see how it stacks up against our favorites, Mixbook and Printique.
- All-time photo books
- Best photo cards
- Best photo calendars Shutterfly review: Prices
Shutterfly review: Prices
Shutterfly photo books
An viii 10 eight-inch hardcover volume starts at $29.98. Shutterfly offers a multifariousness of sizes and styles. For instance, a softcover book ranges from $19.98 (8 10 8-inch) to $24.98 (xi x 8-inch). Hardcover books become upward to 11 10 fourteen-inches for $89.98. Deluxe layflat books start at $134.98 for an 8 x 8-inch with a leather cover.
Shutterfly calendars
An 8 x 11-inch 12-calendar month centerfold wall calendar starts at $34.98, or $44.98 for a 12 10 12-inch. A desktop calendar (consisting of 12 5 x seven-inch monthly cards and a wooden easel) or a spiral-leap v x xi-inch desktop flip calendar costs $29.98.
Shutterfly photo cards
Shutterfly'south card prices vary depending on volume and cardstock pick. Up to l v x 7-inch flat cards on Standard Smooth cardstock price $2.09 each;60 cards would be $1.99 each, and 100 would exist $ane.89 each. The Signature Shine cardstock adds seventy cents per menu, and the Pearl Shimmer cardstock is an additional 99 cents each. All cards include blank envelopes. Adding printed return and recipients' address to the envelope costs 39 cents each. The cost of having Shutterfly mail service the cards for y'all (including postage) is 99 cents each.
Shutterfly review: Software
I enjoyed working in Shutterfly's book and calendar interfaces. In fact, it comes shut to Mixbook's and Printique'south power and versatility. Simply then at that place's the problem with the card interface. Shutterfly's cards are rigid designs with few changeable elements, and the bill of fare software has almost no features or tools. Shutterfly's software has some distance to go before information technology will ever exist a real competitor to Mixbook or Printique.
While non quite up to the slap-up functionality of Printique'due south or Mixbook's content libraries search engine, Shutterfly'southward interfaces for books and calendars accept large searchable libraries of clip art and backgrounds. Unfortunately, the content is illustrative simply, with nothing photorealistic. Incidentally, if you're on a budget, be careful to avert choosing whatsoever prune art or background with a small "S" (for Storytelling) or "G" (or metallic) in the corner. Those two types will cost you extra. What's more, most of the content doesn't natively "live" in the project interface. You take to take the extra step of selecting the ones you desire from the total library window and and so import them into your project where they're displayed in a sidebar. Withal, the content that's "in this project" and those yous've marked your favorites are sequestered in tabs in the carve up library window, rather than easily accessible in the sidebar.
Shutterfly has no cutouts (such equally hearts or stars) to reshape photos from their usual rectangular outline. And its photo editing tools are minimal, consisting of a handful of filters, crimson-heart, car-enhance, and transforming (e.g. rotate and crop).
Surprisingly, Shutterfly's borders (available in the volume and calendar interface, not the cards) have more in common with Costco's predefined colors and line widths than Printique'due south or Mixbook's sensible and elementary color picker and width slider. Shutterfly'due south advantage over Costco is the large number of borders (more than 600), and the fact that most colors are available in three widths (fine, medium and large). Still, Shutterfly doesn't take advantage of its content search engine to allow users to find borders based on color or width.
In addition to the rigid designs of the card templates, the menu software has almost no features or tools. The just thing the software would allow me to do on the front of the card was place my photos (which were constrained to the proportions of the pic placeholders), use the minimal photo editing tools, and add together my effect information in the text surface area. The carte'due south text options are basic: font, size, alignment, and a limited selection of colors. The back of the card is slightly more flexible, with optional layouts and a small selection of solid colour backgrounds.
Like Mixbook and Printique, Shutterfly's calendar grid page is editable. Y'all can utilise an culling background, add clip art and photographs to the bottom page. Using the Send Back icon, the clip art and photos can then become part of the groundwork – or its entirety. However, since Shutterfly allows you to work on only i half of the calendar page spread at a fourth dimension, you tin can't spread your clip art or photo across both the summit and bottom.
Adding a photo to a calendar date box is a impuissant multi-click procedure, similar to Mixbook'south. It eventually gets both a photo and your caption into the box, just using different windows. Like Mixbook, Shutterfly holds onto your effect dates for futurity print projects.
Shutterfly review: Print Quality
Shutterfly photograph book
The quality of Shutterfly's book was very nice, with attractive textured end papers. Bounden is tight, though opening the book revealed stitches in the front end and back inside. Pages had a nice weight (heavier than Mixbook'south) as well as an appealing smooth texture.
The volume's photo quality was uneven. Skintones were warmer than in the Printique volume, but generally natural and bonny. The photos on the cover revealed very good details throughout the dynamic range.
However, on some of the interior images, the shadows were harsh, and the low end of the midtones were too dark, causing a muddied appearance. Other interior pictures had good details and exposure balance. The focus was generally good, but at that place was a slight blur on some pictures on close inspection. Blazon was well-formed, though with some ink dropouts.
Shutterfly agenda
The photos in the Shutterfly calendar had an orange shift that was generally more pronounced in dark skintones. Lighter skintones were attractive, if not particularly authentic. Most pictures had a skilful residual between shadows, midtones and highlights.
Still, some photos' dynamic range was skewed toward the dark range, creating hard, overpowering shadows. Focus was more often than not acceptable, though on close inspection, some details were blurred. Most of the well-formed type was make clean, only the cursive font had some messy edges. The newspaper, which is heavier than Mixbook's calendar, was pleasantly shine.
Shutterfly photo cards
On first glance, the Shutterfly card had a dainty general photo appeal. Colors were acceptable, but skintones were as well blue. The best details were in the shadows.
Highlights were adept, but the midtones were only okay. The sharpness was not quite as adept every bit the other four cards we tested. The type was generally expert, though we noted some ink dropout. The smooth card stock was the lightest of the five.
Shutterfly review: Verdict
Shutterfly comes in third place, after Printique and Mixbook. Its book and calendar software is good, albeit with some inconveniences not plant in Mixbook or Printique, and nosotros found Shutterfly's photograph books, cards, and calendars to be generally attractive. But Shutterfly's Achilles heel is its worst-in-grade card creation software.
Ultimately, Shutterfly is a good, but not great, culling to Printique and Mixbook. Since the prices among the three are generally similar, it's worth looking at Printique and Mixbook first, which offering amend software and cute printed books, calendars and cards.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/shutterfly
Posted by: strongrestroulner1941.blogspot.com
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