I have a cheap digital camera. I would love a better one, but for now, the cheapie will have to do. I use the digital cam to take long shots and if I have something where I need to show detail I either lay it in the scanner (works okay for some stuff) or take a regular snapshot of it. However film and developing costs make the second option less attractive.
I recently found a good solution to this developing expense. There is a company called Snapfish (www.snapfish.com). You send them your film (they provide a postage paid mailer) and they develop the film. For under 2 dollars a roll they send you the hard copies & negatives of the photos and ALSO scan your pictures and put them into an "online photo book". From this online photo book you can download to a disc and upload to auctionwatch, and from there to eBay!! For someone who has no digital camera (or even no scanner!) this is a great solution. I have developed 3 rolls so far and been completely satisfied.
Here are the catches:
--the online photo book has advertising and you have to view the photo book at least once per roll to get the cheap developing rate. But if you are using it as a source of scanned photos then you are going to view it anyway. If you don't view your photo book you still receive hard copies but you are charged 3.99 a roll. (that's still okay for photo developing in my neck of the woods, but I always view the scanned pics anyway.)
--maximum number of rolls per year is 25. I will certainly take more than that in a year but when I hit 25 I will just start taking them to the local developer again.
--lag time is obviously a bit slower than taking them to the corner store and getting them in 2 days, but personally I find it worth it since I hate the tedious process of scanning each pic. I can still modify the scanned photos in my Picture It! photo program.
--you have to put a credit or debit card on file for them to bill the 1 dollar and something cents to (cant remember exact amount) for each roll.
