Ease of Use - Ordering Process:  

The process of uploading and ordering photos from this service was extremely easy. You were able to view the images stored on your computer, or just “drag and drop” images that are on your desktop.

Quality of Prints:  

To test for quality, we sent the same digital photos to all of the online photo developers we reviewed. CVS’ prints experienced many of the same pitfalls that Kodak EasyShare did.

• Sunset: CVS’ sunset photo was among the best we received. They balanced the right amount of yellow and red without making our models look too dark or fake. It is probably their best photograph. Take a look at our comparative shots from CVS.

• Black and White: The black and white obviously had way too much blue. This was especially apparent in the lake behind our model. Take a look at our comparative shots from CVS.

• Aerial: Although our aerial photo came out nicely with regard to color, but it was obviously cropped way too much at the top and bottom. Take a look at our comparative shots from CVS.

Note: To check quality, we took each set of prints received from the online photo developer and laid them down side-by-side for comparison.

Service and Site Features:  

CVS offers an adequate selection of photo gifts including toys, apparel, housewares and more. They include all the services you’d expect to see offered on a typical photo printing service, including online storage, album sharing, basic photo editing tools and one year inactive account expiration. However, you have to access your account, but not necessarily buy anything, once a year to remain an “active user.”

CVS encourages you to order prints online and pick them up at a local CVS store in one hour. The price for this service is $.19, significantly larger than the home delivery service. When ordering our prints we were slightly confused when the page indicated that the prints were far more expensive than we expected. Don’t worry, in the next step you are presented with the option to pick-up your prints or have them delivered. If you choose to have them delivered they are much cheaper.

We were disappointed to find that although CVS offers the standard print sizes, they do not include a large selection of print sizes for those looking for more customized photographs.

Our prints came in a standard cardboard photo folder packaged in a light-weight cardboard shipping sleeve.

We gave each photo developing service anywhere from 1 to 6 business days to send us our completed prints. Our prints from CVS Photo arrived in 4 days.

Technical Support:  

The CVS Photo Center help page offers all the standard support features but it lacks a live chat option. A large FAQ database is available, though it does not offer a search function. Even though it may lack a few features, it is very condensed and easy to use.

Although we weren’t terribly impressed with CVS Pharmacy's photos, we weren’t that disappointed with them either. While it doesn't provide the same quality prints as some of the other digital photo printing services, CVS Pharmacy is a very easy to use service.