The real value is giving the memories you want to keep a form whose finish you're happy with — routing cashback for the online order is just a bonus on top

Q: How should I organize and back up photo data to make printing easier?

The trick to smooth printing is, after shooting, to organize by event in folders or albums and gather your print candidates as "favorites." You then do not have to hunt for photos at order time, and the pass-through reward on batch orders is easier to capture. Alongside, back up to the cloud or external storage against loss or failure of your device so you do not lose precious memories. Be sure to back up before a phone change especially. With things organized, the cycle of "batch net print plus pass-through every six months" runs more smoothly, improving both cost and rewards.

Q: What if I want to share photos with family or grandparents and also print them?

Sharing photos with family via a shared-album app lets grandparents order prints or a photobook themselves, and you can also order on their behalf as a gift. When ordering on their behalf, going through a point site right before the order earns a reward too (you can earn it even for a gift as long as you pay). When sharing, respect the privacy of people in the photos and keep the sharing scope narrow (family only) as a rule. For grandparents living apart, a photobook or photo calendar tends to be well received, and since photo gifts are higher-priced, the pass-through reward's impact is larger too.

Deep dives Published：2026-05-31 Updated：2026-06-21 16 min read

Photo printing is a category you choose by "what form you want your memories to take" — routing cashback from online orders is just a bonus you pick up along the way

The ways to turn photos stored on your phone into physical objects are now diverse. L-size/2L-size net prints (Shimauma Print, Kitamura Camera, etc.), photo books from Nohana or Photobook Kobo, New Year's card printing (from smartphone apps to specialist services), photo gifts like mugs, calendars and giclée prints, and for urgent needs the convenience-store (FamilyMart, Lawson, 7-Eleven) multifunction copier — all have completely different image quality, price ranges and delivery times. Because the finish and cost vary enormously depending on the service, choosing purely on "high cashback rate" is getting things backwards.

What genuinely matters in photo-printing point-earning is using the structure of "just routing orders you were already going to make — memory photos, New Year's cards — through a point site and letting cashback accumulate". Families with young children have ordering opportunities throughout the year: 7-5-3, school entry, birthdays, maternity — and routing New Year's card orders together lets annual cashback build. But a satisfying finish is the first priority. This guide organizes photo printing point-earning around the axes specific to this category: service-type selection, how to judge image quality/paper/correction, seasonal planning, the practical steps for routing via smartphone apps, and common pitfalls. For photo-studio sessions see the photo studio guide, for printing services broadly see the print services guide, and for New Year's cards see the New Year's card guide.

Choosing the right photo-printing service — select by what you want to keep and in what form

Photo printing is a category you choose according to "what form your memories should take." Because cost, image quality, delivery time and volume requirements differ, the baseline approach is to split services by purpose.

Service type	Best suited for	Features / watch-outs
Net print (L-size, 2L-size, etc.)	Bulk printing, album use, regular batch orders	Services like Shimauma Print get cheaper per print as volume grows. Likely to appear as routing offers. Compare routing rates on Pointnavi.
Photo books	Travel, growth records, gifts for grandparents	Binding method (perfect-bound, lay-flat, sewn hardcover) affects how well pages open and long-term durability. Image quality and design differ across Nohana, photoback, Photobook Kobo, etc. Confirm print quality before ordering for gifts.
New Year's cards / postcards	Annual New Year's cards, thank-you cards, change-of-address notices	Smartphone app services (Otayori Honpo, FujiColor, postcard apps, etc.) sometimes become routing offers. Routing rates can fluctuate during the New Year's card season (Oct–Dec). New Year's card guide.
Photo gifts (calendars, mugs, etc.)	Grandparents, Father's Day / Mother's Day, birthday presents	Photo calendars, mugs and phone cases carry higher unit prices than photo books. Routing through official stores or photo-gift services means larger cashback amounts. Gift & celebration guide.
Convenience-store print	Urgent needs, small quantities, pick up on the spot	FamilyMart, 7-Eleven and Lawson let you send from your phone and print immediately. Fastest delivery but higher per-print cost than net print. Stack with eligible payment + point card. Routing offers are virtually nonexistent.

For maternity and newborn commemorative photo creation see the maternity photo guide, and for high-quality wedding-photo albums see the photo-wedding guide.

If you are unsure which service to choose, first settle three things — how many, by when, and for what (everyday record, or keepsake / gift) — and your candidates narrow naturally. Turn everyday photos into an album in bulk via net print; keep travel, growth records, or gifts as a photobook; get a few prints right now in a hurry at a convenience store. The pass-through reward hits hardest on higher-priced photobooks and photo gifts, and seasonal deals like New Year's cards build up annual rewards when you batch them through a pass-through (New Year's card guide). Once the use is decided, the service narrows down, and once it narrows, the pass-through reward is easier to capture.

Image quality, paper, colour correction, binding — the axes that determine the finish

Most cases of "the print turned out darker than I expected / colours look muddy" come from not checking the service's print method, paper type and correction settings in advance. The more important a memory is to preserve, the more important it is to understand these axes before ordering.

Print method: Photo-dedicated silver-halide (lab) printing and inkjet/laser differ in colour rendering and light-fastness. For long-term storage or album use, silver-halide services are the baseline choice. Convenience-store multifunction copiers are inkjet-based, trading speed for a different quality level.
Paper type: Glossy (vivid, eye-catching), semi-gloss (pearl/lustre), and matte (fingerprints less visible, understated finish) — choose by use. Glossy or semi-gloss is common for baby and children's photos going into albums.
Colour correction / AI correction: Many net-print services apply automatic correction by default. If you want a scene reproduced faithfully to your impression, choose a service with a "no correction" option or confirm whether correction is applied. Smartphone photos often come out brighter with correction on.
Photo-book binding: Perfect-bound (soft cover) is affordable and easy to handle. Lay-flat pages open fully, making spread photos look great. Sewn hardcover binding has high durability for long-term storage. For gifts or milestone occasions like 7-5-3 or coming-of-age ceremonies, lay-flat or above usually gives higher satisfaction.
Resolution and data quality: Enlarging a smartphone photo (A4 or bigger) can mean insufficient pixel count. L-size and 2L-size are generally fine, but for poster-size or framed prints, confirm the resolution of your data in advance.

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Use sample orders (a few prints or pages to try first) to check the actual finish, colour and paper feel before committing to a full order. Especially for important commemorative photos — 7-5-3, coming-of-age, weddings — check the service's sample or reviews first, then place the large or high-value order.

The finish is decided not only by the service's correction settings but by your source photo's data quality. No matter how good the print service, a photo that was dark, blurred, or low-resolution at capture will not come out better than that. For important scenes you want to keep, shoot a little brighter and take several frames from the capture stage, so you can pick the best one later. Set your phone's save format and image quality to high resolution (top quality), and even larger prints or photobooks are safe. Before ordering, look back at the source data and check whether the brightness, focus, and resolution are enough for the use, then choose whether to apply correction — this reduces failures.

7-5-3, school entry, New Year's cards — seasonal planning and delivery management

Photo printing tends to end up either "photos piling up on the phone untouched" or "rushing at the last minute and missing the deadline." Planning around seasonal events makes routing cashback easier to capture too.

Period / event	Print / output purpose	Planning tips
Oct–Dec (7-5-3, New Year's cards)	7-5-3 album / photo book, New Year's card printing	Mid-November to early December is a comfortable ordering window for New Year's cards. Order a 7-5-3 photo book right after the November shoot. 7-5-3 guide · New Year's card guide.
Mar–Apr (school entry, graduation)	Graduation / entry album / photo book	If you're putting together a photo book covering March graduation to April entry, allow 2–3 weeks after photos are gathered before ordering.
May–Jun (Mother's / Father's Day)	Photo calendar, photo book, mug	Photo gifts can take several days to a week to produce. To arrive in time for Mother's Day (second Sunday in May), ordering late April to early May is safe.
Year-round (birthdays, travel, everyday)	L-size / 2L-size prints, batch album orders	A cycle of "batch net-print every six months for accumulated phone photos" is the easiest way to keep routing cashback building continuously.

For truly urgent needs (needed tomorrow, needed today), convenience-store printing is realistic. However, the unit cost is high and routing offers are essentially nonexistent, so routing cashback is not available. Clearly splitting between those cases and online orders when time allows is the key point.

Practical steps for photo-printing point-earning via smartphone app / online order

① Decide first: what photos, what form, what deadlineDecide upfront what you want to preserve, by when, and in what form (L-size prints / photo book / New Year's cards / photo gift). Settling on purpose narrows down which service to use.
② Check image quality, binding and correction settingsConfirm silver-halide vs inkjet, binding method and whether colour correction is applied. For gifts or commemorative use, check samples or reviews to verify finish before placing a full order.
③ Compare routing offers and rates on PointnaviCheck whether the service you plan to use has a routing offer, and compare routing rates across multiple services. For seasonal orders like New Year's cards, check early — rates can shift during peak season.
④ Access the service only after routing through the point siteTap the routing link within Pointnavi → proceed directly to the service site. Switching to another app mid-session breaks the routing, so complete the order in a single session.
⑤ For in-store / convenience-store prints: payment cashback + point cardFor urgent in-store or convenience-store prints, stack an eligible touch payment or credit card with the store's loyalty card. Without a routing offer, maximise cashback through payment method and card presentation. Touch-payment guide.
⑥ Consolidate earned points and don't let them expireAvoid scattering cashback across services — designate a main economic zone and consolidate. Short-expiry service-specific points: use them promptly. Expiry-prevention guide.

Common photo-printing mistakes and how to avoid them

Repeated convenience-store trips add up to higher costs: Using convenience-store printing repeatedly when there's no real urgency costs more per print than net printing. Developing the habit of "batch net-print + route when not urgent" improves both cost and cashback at once.
Placing a large order without checking quality, correction or binding: Particularly with photo books and commemorative prints, ordering in volume without checking a service's output quality can lead to disappointment with colour or binding. Always verify with a sample or small order first when trying a service.
Ordering at the last minute before 7-5-3, school entry, etc. and missing the deadline: Photo books and New Year's cards can have extended delivery times during busy periods. Build the habit of ordering 1–2 weeks before the event, working backward from when you need it.
Forgetting to route the online order: Opening the service directly from a smartphone app means no routing. Always access the service after routing through the point site before ordering. Setting a bookmark to the routing page within the point site helps.
Printing large without noticing the smartphone photo lacks enough resolution: L-size and 2L-size are generally fine, but A4-and-above or framed prints can fall short on a smartphone photo's pixel count. Confirm the service's recommended resolution beforehand.
Hesitating between a New Year's card "discount code" and routing cashback: Some New Year's card services offer discount codes when ordering directly from the app, but these may not stack with a routing offer. Calculate whether order amount × routing rate or the discount code amount is larger, then choose accordingly.

What these failures share is ordering without confirming the finish, without margin on the deadline, and without going through the pass-through. Put the other way: (1) for a first-time service or a keepsake use, confirm the finish with a sample or reviews, (2) work back from the event and order with time to spare, and (3) go through the pass-through right before the order form — keep these three and most regrets over color and binding, late deliveries, and forgotten pass-throughs are prevented. Consolidate earned points into your main economic zone, and spend service-specific short-term points early (Expiry-prevention guide).

Mini glossary — key terms for photo printing and point-earning

Knowing the terminology for service types and image quality lets you prioritise finish while not missing cashback from routing your orders. Routing rates and offers change with the season (New Year's card period, etc.), so always check Pointnavi before ordering.

Term	Meaning	Watch-out
Net print / photo book / convenience-store print	Bulk & archive / bound keepsake / urgent on-the-spot	Choose by purpose
Silver-halide (lab) / inkjet	Photo-dedicated printing / general print method	Silver-halide is the baseline for long-term storage
Binding method	Perfect-bound / lay-flat / sewn hardcover	Lay-flat or above for commemorative and gift use
Colour correction / no correction	Whether automatic correction is applied	Consider "no correction" for faithful reproduction
Seasonal offers (New Year's cards, etc.)	Routing offers during peak-demand periods such as Oct–Dec	Rates fluctuate — check early
Discount code vs. routing — pick one	Example of in-app discount and routing cashback being incompatible	Compare amounts and choose whichever is larger

Routing rates and offers change over time. Check the latest on each service and on Pointnavi. For studio sessions see the photo studio guide, for printing services broadly see the print services guide, for New Year's cards see the New Year's card guide, and for gifts see the gift & celebration guide.

Frequently asked questions

Which is better value — Shimauma Print or convenience-store printing?

For larger quantities with no urgency, net-print services like Shimauma Print offer lower per-print costs and the option to earn cashback via routing — making them more advantageous. Convenience-store printing has higher unit costs and almost no routing offers, but for "right now, small quantity" situations you can stack an eligible payment + point card. The key is to split based on whether you're actually in a hurry.

How do I choose a photo-book service?

The axis for choosing changes by purpose. For important uses like gifts for grandparents or 7-5-3 commemorations, choosing a service with lay-flat binding or above and silver-halide printing tends to give higher satisfaction. For everyday photo documentation, affordable perfect-bound products are usually more than adequate. Always verify finish with a sample or small order the first time you use a service before placing a large order.

How do I choose between routing cashback and a discount code for New Year's cards?

Some New Year's card services cannot stack a direct-app discount code with routing cashback. The rational approach is to compare order amount × routing rate vs the discount code value and pick the larger one. The higher the quantity or unit price, the larger routing cashback's absolute amount tends to be. See also the New Year's card guide.

Can photo gifts (calendars, mugs) be routed too?

Photo gifts generally carry higher unit prices than regular net prints, so when they appear as routing offers the cashback amount is larger. When ordering photo calendars, mugs or phone cases via official sites, always check Pointnavi for an offer before routing. During periods with many Mother's Day / Father's Day / birthday orders, routing rates can fluctuate.

What's the most commonly missed opportunity in photo-printing point-earning?

"Forgetting to route" — opening the service directly from a smartphone app — is by far the most common. Build the habit of always accessing the service only after routing through the point site before ordering. Seasonal orders like New Year's cards and 7-5-3 also see routing-rate changes, so always confirm the latest offer and routing conditions on Pointnavi before ordering.

How do I choose a photo book for a commemorative occasion without making mistakes?

For once-in-a-lifetime commemorations — 7-5-3, coming-of-age, wedding photos — prioritise finish over price. Choosing purely on "high cashback rate" gets things backwards. The three things to check are: ① print method (silver-halide for long-term storage and accurate colour rendering), ② binding method (lay-flat or above for keeping spread photos beautiful; sewn hardcover if durability is paramount), and ③ whether a "no correction" option exists (if you want the scene reproduced faithfully to your impression). With any service you haven't used before, don't jump straight into a large, expensive order — try a sample order of a few pages first, check the actual colour, paper feel and binding, then proceed to the main order. Once you're happy with the finish, routing that order through a point site for cashback is the right sequence. For help choosing the shoot itself, see the photo studio guide.

Will my smartphone photos look grainy if I print them large?

It depends on the size. L-size and 2L-size prints from smartphone photos are normally fine, but enlarging to A4 or bigger — poster size or framed prints — can mean the pixel count (resolution) falls short, making the image look rough. The three countermeasures are: ① check the "recommended resolution" the service displays before ordering, ② shoot at the highest resolution setting from the start, ③ choose a size that doesn't over-enlarge the image. Most net-print services show a warning when resolution is insufficient — if that warning appears, scale down the print size or choose a different photo. High-value large-format prints are exactly the type where confirming data quality before ordering prevents a "disappointed on delivery" outcome. Large-format and framed print orders often qualify for routing cashback too, so after confirming quality, route via Pointnavi.

How do I print my accumulated phone photos efficiently while earning cashback?

Creating a cycle of "batch net-print every six months" is the most efficient approach for both cost and cashback. L-size and 2L-size net prints get cheaper per print as volume grows, so batching your accumulated photos into a single periodic order is cheaper than repeated convenience-store trips. What's more, routing each batch order through a point site lets cashback accumulate continuously. Families with young children have ordering opportunities throughout the year — 7-5-3, school entry, birthdays, travel — so fixing a schedule like "one batch order each spring and autumn" makes it easy to remember and lets you catch timing when routing rates peak (such as during the New Year's card season). For photos that aren't urgent, avoid drip-feeding them to a convenience-store printer and send them to a net-print batch order instead — this one habit alone improves both your annual print cost and your cashback. Before ordering, compare routing rates across services on Pointnavi.

How should I organize and back up photo data to make printing easier?

The trick to smooth printing is, after shooting, to organize by event in folders or albums and gather your print candidates as "favorites." You then do not have to hunt for photos at order time, and the pass-through reward on batch orders is easier to capture. Alongside, back up to the cloud or external storage against loss or failure of your device so you do not lose precious memories. Be sure to back up before a phone change especially. With things organized, the cycle of "batch net print plus pass-through every six months" runs more smoothly, improving both cost and rewards.

What if I want to share photos with family or grandparents and also print them?

Sharing photos with family via a shared-album app lets grandparents order prints or a photobook themselves, and you can also order on their behalf as a gift. When ordering on their behalf, going through a point site right before the order earns a reward too (you can earn it even for a gift as long as you pay). When sharing, respect the privacy of people in the photos and keep the sharing scope narrow (family only) as a rule. For grandparents living apart, a photobook or photo calendar tends to be well received, and since photo gifts are higher-priced, the pass-through reward's impact is larger too.

Compare photo print / photo book routing offers → New Year's card point-earning guide

This article was written from publicly available information on each point site as of 2026-06-21. Cashback rates, campaign terms, and redemption rules can change without notice — always check each site's official page for the latest. This site uses each point site's referral program, but going through a referral link never changes the rate you receive.