Online Printing?

[pauly99]

Ok, I usually take my images over to Meijer and they've always done a fantastic job for me. They individually look at each picture and do slight adjustments if I ask. Well, it seems that through some recent hires and management changes, those days are over. Whatever you give them, they print. The few times that I've used Wolf Camera, the colours were not as vivid (using the same image and cd I took over to Meijer) and the cost is double that of Meijer. Due to software problems at my local Meijer, I tried having prints done at a Walmart. Blue colours came out purple. I have a lousy printer at home and have told my wife (subconciously while she is sleeping of course) that I need to pick up an Epson 2200 or a Canon 9900. In the meantime, can anyone recommed a good online printing source that is both quick and accurate in colour renditions? This pic came out purple at my local Walmart (on the bottom left hand side ), even though the gradient that I chose in PS CS was orange to blue.

[S_Leeper]

About a year ago the Wall Street Journal did a review of several online printers... Walmart was the worst of the four, Ofoto.com was the best.

I just sent my first order to Walmart as my wife was supposed to be able to pick them up today, but the website was wrong, grrr, & I'm not too concerned about the quality of that set. (It was a friend's 80th birthday & as long as we can recognize the people & they are not purple the color should be close enough.)

I have the epson 1280 (several years old) & am very happy with it, but if buying new I would get the 2200.

[Swampy]

I'll Vouch for LindaG's place of employment. :) Those colors I get from there are past excellent. Don't know what it would cost to do regular prints there though, probably too much? Dunno. I will definitely use her for all of my large printing needs though, all the way to 8x10 if I want it spectacular, even though I have a P440 printer. Something about the prints I've got from her in the past just make the print pop right out.

[pauly99]

Sam, thanks for your reply. I wasn't too happy with the result of my print at Walmart but had a feeling of accomplishment (good for my ego) when I was told that they would not print my image because it was a professional image. I told them that... well I must be a professional because I took those pictures and used PS CS to create a collage. They did print my pic but made me sign a copyright form. LOL. I'm just looking for a good (read fantastic) online printing place with a quick turnaround time that can print 4x6's as well as 16x20's if need be. I'll give Ofoto a look at.

Thank You,

[S_Leeper]

I see your & Swampy's messages hit at almost the same time... don't you hate that...

I was thinking of the 4 x 6's which most places will print for about $0.25, whereas they charge almost $1.00 for a 5 x 7....
It costs me $0.50 ± 0.10 to print a 4 x 6, but I can print a 5 x 7 for about $0.80...

Thanks for the tip (or rather the needed club) to remind me about Linda's place. While my need for something larger than the 13 x 19 is rare, I do occassionally make a photo that I want larger.

[Linda G]

Thanks for the testimonial, Swampman! Yeah, I still have those large ones in the roll, ready to send to the post office with my trusty dusty errand boy, Mel. THIS WEEK.

The lab would pack them and send them same day but these are from me. :)

I do not know all our prices off the top of my head but know many complain about the higher price of a prolab but all the images are looked at and corrected by one of three people (I'm not one of them!) who know our program and our customer's individual preferences whether it be the cheaper proof prices ( I know those are 50cents for 3.5 x 5 or 4x5s) or large prints of a regular order. We also work to make images in an order similar if they were taken to be delivered to the same person.

THAT can be challenging with different lighting and white balance variations but you just can't have a person have different skin tones in images that may be displayed together.

I also know there are times when someone sends something in with a color profile attached that will make the print a different color when printed in the srgb color space our printer converts it to. That's why you've seen me get on my :soapbox: by stressing you should talk to the person who is going to be doing the printing to see what's needed. An inkjet print will never match either another inkjet printer or an image printed with true photographic chemicals, we can only get close. Choices then must be made to either make the facial tones look close or as good as we can or get the background to match. Color is a lot more difficult than you'd ever realize and communication with your printer/lab is very important to get what you want and know what you CAN get.

Ah! I've done it again! I need to throw that :soapbox: away!

Thanks for listening!

[Swampy]

I was wondering about those prints just yesterday. Thought I might have them by now. :P I've been bragging you up around my office and people are waiting to see them now.

50 cents per print isn't all that bad if it's the same chemical based prints you've done for me in larger size before. The Eagle and fire pics you did for me are just spectacular and leave most people speachless.

[S_Leeper]

Your comments about color are one of several reasons why I won't even consider doing photos for money.*

As an ex-printer I know difficult it can be to get the color right!!!

An what is accurate & what the customer thinks is accurate are often two different colors. Then the customer's opinion of what they think is accurate keeps changing everytime they review the color under different light sources...

[S_Leeper]

Just an update on my first online order... Walmart dropped the ball & while I had an order confirmation, apparently Walmart never got it... so two wasted trips to the Walmart & a big delay.

Fortunately, I had also uploaded the set to ofoto.com while at work the other day, so we'll see how they do. If it wasn't 120 shots I would have printed it myself... I will be printing a few of the shots at 8 x 10 & one large group shot.

[pauly99]

Sam, thanks for the update. I'm checking out several sites including MPIX, Ofoto, and elcocolor.com based on some recommendations from fellow sports photographers. Let me know how your Ofoto order goes through. I'm planning on sending a variety of images to the 3 different places above and choose based on #1 quality, #2 price, and #3 turnaround time.

[Tom V]

When getting prints done locally, I look for new stores with new equipment.

I have a client in Oswego I do photography for. Last week, I delivered images on disk, but needed to give them 4x6 prints as well. I stopped at the new looking Walgreens at 34 and Wolf Crossing. They did the 40 prints in about 12 minutes, and they looked good.

I did notice that their machine (and other Kodak machines at other Walgreens) couldn't print files with an apostrophe (’) in the name. I had to rename the files for them to print.

My wife worked in a 1-hour lab at a brand new Sam's Wholesalee Club. The Fuji machine was brand new, the staff (my wife and one other) spent a week in Texas being trained to run it, and the machine produced stunning images. After a few months, the machine's output got duller. Nothing the staff could do would fix it. Soon, there was new hires, and the staff became "untrained." Within a year, the output was crap. It was before digital, and I think the optical filters inside were fading, and/or the chemical replenishment pumps were failing.

Lesson learned: When it comes to mass-market, walk-in franchises, new machines with trained staff make better pictures. I always look for new, clean looking stores with new, clean looking machines.

(Before my wife worked at Sam's photo lab, she worked in an in-studio E-6 (transparency film) lab <== ANCIENT HISTORY MATERIAL)

[pauly99]

Tom, I've been told by a buddy that used to work at Wegmans (Pennsylvania based)
to look for Noritsu machines. I was lucky enough that the local Meijer used one... including the recommended software. All was going well with my prints and they were making more than a few bucks off my services. I had some gorgeous prints of a wedding collage (on an ice rink of course) and other sports related events. Every image that I turned in was looked at and corrected if I asked. After a couple of years of this luxury, it all came to an end when new hires were brought in that set everything on auto. More recently, software problems have cause the loss of pictures loaded into their system. Maybe they'll get the software problems straightened out and if I return during appropriate hours, I can bypass the "we put it on auto" people. Otherwise, I'm searching this forum for recommendations of where to send images over the internet... although, I'd still rather have that personal touch.

[S_Leeper]

... Let me know how your Ofoto order goes through.
I got the pics in Saturday's mail. There was no postmark on the label to ascertain where printed... did order late Thur night, (I assume) printed & mailed Friday, received Sat.
While Ofoto is a part of Kodak, I suspect that they have local labs printing... instead of printing in Rochested.
Pic's looked good, but seemed to be a little hotter than the prints I get at home... at home I usually print on matte & my order was for glossy...

[Mike Roe]

I use White house custom colour for all my studio and wedding work. They are awesome. I can ftp a wedding proof order to them by noon monday and the order is delivered to me by wednesday afternoon. They are in Minnesota and I'm near Cleveland. Whcc.com