Online Printers and Large Prints

RoRoCo

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Sorry if this is a repeat question (I could not find an answer in the forums) and I hope this is the right forum to ask in.


I ordered 8x10 prints of the three B&Ws in my blog below. I love the overall quality of the pics and the price was right, but there is one problem. I had to compress the files to upload so much that I can see individual pixels in the final print on sharp angular lines.


Now at a couple feet of distance you cannot tell the difference, but these are super sharp picture (shot in 10M JPEG) and I would hate to lose some of the detail by softening the images before printing.


Have you guys experienced this? Is there another print house than allows me to send larger files?


Your thoughts are much appreciated.
 
Last year I had to print out 20x30inch movie posters I had made for someone. I used Shutterfly (and have been ever since). They were b&w, made in both Photoshop and Illustrator, and the uploaded file I ended up using was about a 1.4mb jpeg, 2698x3823 resolution, and the posters came out perfect. I was worried that there would be pixelation at that printed size, but there were no problems. I started out with an obscene file size, but was able to reduce it so that a) my PShop would stop crashing when I saved it and b) to reduce the upload time - see note below about file size). They even packaged them in such a way that there was no danger of damage, unless run over by a truck. :)

I'm not sure if this answers your question, but I've had no problems using Shutterfly, except once with a mug, and they made good by issuing a replacement right away. Here's some of what you'll find in their Help section for "file size"...

***************************
From the shutterfly.com site:
Shutterfly currently only accepts JPG or JPEG file formats. We do not accept .tif or .tiff, .bmp, .gif, .psd or any other file formats. Additionally, we strongly recommend that you use high-resolution images, as low-resolution images will not print well at standard sizes.

If you are using an image editor such as Adobe Photoshop (or any other image editing program) to adjust your images.

Please check the following settings when saving your images.
- Images should be in the RGB colorspace and not the CMYK colorspace
- When saving images in Photoshop, make sure the images are saved as Baseline Standard. Images saved as Progressive or Baseline Optimized will fail at upload.

Shutterfly does not currently have a maximum file size limit. We do encourage customers to keep image file sizes to within reason (usually under 10 megs, as their is no added benefit in terms of our printing with larger sizes).
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Mpix.com. :thumbup:

You can even upload Tiff files if you want to.
 
danalec99 said:
Mpix.com. :thumbup:

You can even upload Tiff files if you want to.

I take it since they allow TIFF files that they do not restrict file sizes. Is this true?

Their prices seem reasonable... I guess I can try them out...


I am just surprised that companies like Snapfish would allow pixelated pictures to go out like this. I know that 95% of their business must be 4x8"s, but the few people that order larger prints shold be able to be accomodated as well...
 
RoRoCo said:
I take it since they allow TIFF files that they do not restrict file sizes. Is this true?
True.

Mpix is mainly used by the pros. Their main competitor is WHCC.
If you have any preference for the papers, Mpix uses Kodak and WHCC (the last time I checked) uses Fuji.

Order your free paper sample kit from Mpix here.

Snapfish, I think, mainly caters to the snapshooters.
 
I just got back the two pics I ordered from mpix.com.

10x13 of "the Light"
8x10 of Widow's Watch"
Pics in my blog below

The quality is absolutely absurd. Even in the larger 10x13, there is not a pixel to be seen no matter how close you look. The 8x10 was the same pic I ordered from Snapfish and the quality side by side is no contest. The mpix shot is smooth even at the highest contrast angular lines. It really helped to be able to send the entire 10mp pics.

The colors are briliant and true to my eyes at least...

The packaging is very timely and profesional. My order came in a box with the pictures indiviually wrapped with cardboard in indivulual sleeves.

To top all that the prices are nearly identical as Snapfish's...


I sound like a commercial...but I will not go anywhere else for larger pics. they hooked my business.

Just thought I would share...
 

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