So you got one of those nifty digital cameras for Christmas. You learned how to take pictures and save them on you computer. Now what? Print them out on regular paper on your ink jet printer?

Last week, Langley’s Knox Photo got the equipment needed to turn those digital photos into honest-to-goodness, glossy 3x5, 4x6 and 5x6 prints. With a new photo processing machine and a computer extension called the E-Box, the business can now download digital photos from eight different types of electronic storage media and print them optically, just like pictures printed off standard negatives.

Knox manager Meme Knox said the new system can make photos off Zip disks, floppies, CDs, Memory Sticks, multimedia cards, Smart Media cards, PCMCIAs and Compact Flash cards. Printed at a resolution of 240 dots per square inch, the photos are clearer than those done on home printers and will not run if they get wet.

The prints also come at a lower price than those charged by the competition, Knox said. One of two photo processors on Whidbey Island who can print digital files, Knox’s 5x6’s, which cost $1.89 each, are less expensive than a standard 5x7 and about half the cost charged in Oak Harbor. The prints are also fast, taking about 5 minutes to process.

Knox Photo will continue to process film and print standard pictures. New with the equipment changeover, photo customers will receive free index prints with every roll of film they process. That service used to cost $2.

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