What Print Service do you use?

[p40whk]

Have a bunch of large digital images that I'm working on from my trip and would like to get some professional quality prints to frame. I searched the forums and the only reference I could find was to a company called westcoast imaging.

Do any of you out there use an online service or if you do you own, what method do you use?

[ibenick]

I really like Costco's printing service. Low cost and good quality.

[p40whk]

I've seen their canvas printing service but do they offer something that's printed large format on Archival paper with archival ink?

[asdf]

Typically Costco

Recently sent some images to snelsons (a local printer) and just have not had time to pick them up.
http://www.snelsonphotolab.com/

[CarpeyBiggs]

snelsons is by far the best local company.

costco uses the same "pro" printer every other lab uses, just usually printed on fuji crystal archive or epson paper. they typically use a large epson printer for the large prints. if you just want regular sizes, it's on a color laser printer, which prints phenomenal quality.

you can get costcos color profiles online too. i imagine most people can't tell the difference.

[jman]

Yea costco works good for me. Cheap too. I have over 20 20x28 (or is it 26) frames in my basement. Always is a fun intro when bringing ladies over. Besides, it goes well with my 7.1 onkyo, 46" LCD tv and makes it feel more cozy...hehe.

[asdf]

wait
you have how many ladies in your basement?

[jman]

wait
you have how many ladies in your basement?

...just two...unfortunately. :crazy:


But speaking of pics - what is the print quality at Walmart? I was just in there about an hour ago and it was about $5 cheaper for a gloss on poster.

[p40whk]

I'll have to give Costco a try, Just means I'll need to be a bit more careful in processing my images prior to having them print it. Do they handle just jpeg or can they handle a tiff image as well?

[ibenick]

I'll have to give Costco a try, Just means I'll need to be a bit more careful in processing my images prior to having them print it. Do they handle just jpeg or can they handle a tiff image as well?

One piece of advice. Costco does something called auto correction that is left on by default. You have the option of turning it off on the very last page before you actually click submit on Costco.com. I have had better luck with it off, I've had a few prints that for some reason print quite a bit different than you see them when it is left on so I always turn it off now and have been very happy with the results.



But speaking of pics - what is the print quality at Walmart? I was just in there about an hour ago and it was about $5 cheaper for a gloss on poster.

I can only guess by the general quality difference between costco and walmart but I'd bet it's worth the $5 to go to Costco. Love to hear otherwise though.

[CarpeyBiggs]

download the profiles, and make sure you convert it to a jpg with the proper profile. tiffs are worthless for printing. max quality jpg will be great.

[DWayne27]

Maybe it is something to do with color profiles, or color correction or something, I am certainly no expert... But I found that in some of my prints, I dont get nearly as good of a result with darker areas from Costco. I print online from Adorama. Not as convenient as being able to upload and then run over to pick them up, and in most cases I am sure there isnt much difference in quality. However, from the one experience I had that my Costco prints were just too dark, and I had the same image printed from Adorama and it turned out exactly how I wanted it, I almost always use Adorama. Although, pictures without darker areas have turned out fine, and again, it is very possibly user error...

[ibenick]

Maybe it is something to do with color profiles, or color correction or something, I am certainly no expert... But I found that in some of my prints, I dont get nearly as good of a result with darker areas from Costco. I print online from Adorama. Not as convenient as being able to upload and then run over to pick them up, and in most cases I am sure there isnt much difference in quality. However, from the one experience I had that my Costco prints were just too dark, and I had the same image printed from Adorama and it turned out exactly how I wanted it, I almost always use Adorama. Although, pictures without darker areas have turned out fine, and again, it is very possibly user error...

Try turning off the auto-correct feature with Costco. That's the problem I was having before I turned it off.

[Dr. Nebz]

For my prints, I use Nichols Photo Lab. Price is very good for the quality, which is superb. I can do anything from 35mm equivalent digital prints to my 120 and large format film there with incredibly fast turn around on any project I give them.

http://www.nicholsphotolab.com/

[tmartenst]

Per your original post, Westcoast imaging does great work. I typically use MPIX for quality and speed. They haven't let me down. Sounds like Costco is a good local cheap option.

[Sombeech]

I can only guess by the general quality difference between costco and walmart but I'd bet it's worth the $5 to go to Costco. Love to hear otherwise though.

Any opinions on this? Does Walmart do OK on the prints vs Costco?

[p40whk]

It seems Costco uses a company called Dry Creek Photo http://www.drycreekphoto.com/

They seem to do all of Costco's higher end printing. I took all of my pictures in RAW mode for my trip and have converted most to jpeg for printing. Dry Creek say's it will accept .tiff files but that it drastically reduces print speed for no real benefit.

I downloaded their print profiles but not sure how to get them set up and use them. Once I have this done and all images processed in Photoshop I'll give Costco a test series of photo's to print and report back.

[mjn_slc]

I've been using Bay Photo (http://www.bayphoto.com) out of California. They have great professional printing at reasonable prices. If you're shipping anywhere in the west (Utah) you'll get your order within a week. You'll need to download their ROES software to upload your order, but this is how all the pro labs work (it's a little more cumbersome than printing at Costco, etc. - but worth the quality and options.)