how do you use for prints??

[LotusLove]

I need to find a good lab in the USA to get prints from...who do you use???:er:

 

[KmH]

Check here: Let me google that for you

Some people use Mpix
Some use Bay Photo
Some use Adoramapix
Some use Clark color lab
Some use MpixPro
Some use ShutterFly
Some use Costco
Some use Snapfish
The list goes on and on.

 

[Markw]

I use Adoramapix.com. I really like them. Very reasonable prices, I believe, and they create beautiful prints.

Mark

 

[Steve01]

I need to find a good lab in the USA to get prints from...who do you use???:er:

I have not used them but I heard good things about White House Custom Colour.

They have a promotional for 5 free 8X10 prints.
https://newaccounts.whcc.com/landing/?source=ScottBourne&keywords=Blog

 

[Josh66]

8x10 and smaller, I do at home (Canon Pixma iP5200). Bigger than that, I use Mpix.

I sometimes use Mpix for smaller prints too, if I'm running low on ink or something...

Plus, I think they actually are cheaper than doing it at home.

 

[Robin Usagani]

How do they compare with stores like Target and Costco?

 

[Josh66]

I haven't had prints made at stores like that (from what I've heard, they're generally not bad though)...

I've been hapy with Mpix. As long as you supply them with a good file, the results will be good.

I've never had an issue on regular prints, but some of their other products (standouts, gallery wraps - stuff like that) have arrived with obvious errors... Some of them, I honestly don't know why they even bothered to ship it, the error was so obvious.

Anyway, all it took was a quick e-mail, and I had new (better) prints the next day - free of charge.

 

[LotusLove]

thanks everyone...i just noticed i wrote how instead of who-lol
anyway, while i'm at home- in kuwait i use our picture printer that does up size 16x20 or something but it does get expensive with all the ink...but when i go back to america i want to use a lab so i can actually save money.
i've tried the "drug store" processing and its not bad but they can get expensive too and they don't customize stuff for you...

 

[astroskeptic]

How do they compare with stores like Target and Costco?

Here's a rant about walmart (which I'll take to be an equivalent of the above):

I decided to try making a poster so I went with WM based on price. Now, I understand resolution perfectly well and I uploaded a file with more than adequate resolution for the target 24x36 print size. Nevertheless, I was given a "low resolution" warning! At this point, I know better than WM's dumb system so I go ahead with the order anyway. In the meantime, as a courtesy, I drop tech support an email informing them about a bug in their system. In short order I get a response back that makes it obvious to me that whoever read my email completely misunderstood it. They didn't get the concept that the problem was clearly on their side, not mine.

The poster arrives and guess what, the quality is in the toilet, massive compression artifacts. At this point I realize their uploader is not to be trusted and I give up on WM and look elsewhere. One place I looked was snapfish whose photo web app looks a heck of a lot like WM's. In fact, it has the exact same bug when you upload large files (low res warning). (It turns out that snapfish has some kind of business relationship with WM) Snapfish, however, has online chat, unlike WM, so I get a live human on the line and describe the problem. I'm then told to use some alternative uploader which apparently doesn't corrupt files the way the main one does (this distinction is of course completely un-advertised). But guess, what? That uploader simply can't handle large files at all (just fails without reporting an error).

I ended up getting the poster made elsewhere (can't remember where) and the results were very good.

So here you have a case of a company (WM and SF) with a product that they can't actually sell (large posters) since they don't provide working uploaders. You would think this situation would interest them, but apparently not based on their tech support responses (I had other interactions with WM on this issue).

 

[LotusLove]

i'm not suprised that you had a problem with WM or any other chain place- they hire people off the street to do stuff that they are not qualified to do...plus you don't get the choices of paper or finish with them like the other labs..i love the metallic finsihes :sillysmi: