JoBoSlow
TPF Noob!
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2012
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- United States
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My local photo lab of choice had shut their doors quite a while ago so since then I have been using an online lab called Finerworks. They have both inkjet on luster and regular digital prints on the Kodak Luster. I assumed the Fuji luster would be similar to but the prices for an 8x10 print from Costco were much more reasonable than (something like $1.50 for an 8x10) than what I would pay at Finerworks. A lot of the photographers in my Photo meetup talk about how great Costco's photo printing services are and how consistently accurate the prints are. I have always been a bit leery with going with a place like Costco as a place for my prints after having enough bad experiences with Sam's Wholesale Club but I figured why not since I have a Costco membership.
As a test I did two 8x10s I had done before at the online lab. The images used included a color and a black and white. 20 minutes later Costco had my prints ready.Needless to say I was highly impressed with the service and when I opened up the envelope I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. The prints looked great.
When I got home I compared them to my other two prints from the online lab. My earlier happiness with finding a cheaper alternative turned into disappointment. The comparison was like night and day. The Costco print seemed a bit on the cooler side tone-wise plus the colors more muted when compared to the print from Finerworks. As for the black and white. The Finerworks prints seemed like a true black and white while the Costco version had sort of a bluish cast to it. Both had the same sort of surface texture and glossyness but the costco prints seemed to be on cheaper lighter weight paper. The big difference other than that was the Finerwork prints were done inkjet while the Costco prints were regular digital prints.
So my question now is are my expectations too high with the costco prints or is it just that inkjet is the way to go now days? I have heard more and more photographers are switching to inkjet. Is this sort of scenario the reason why? My online lab also offers the Kodak luster so I may try that next but I am now starting to wonder if I need to seriously start thinking about inkjet. Color and tonal accuracy are very important to me. I work with a calibrated system but prefer to outsource my prints rather than print them myself since I never can get my dusty old Epson r1800 to give me the accuracy I am looking for, especially with black and whites. It's also much more pricey but I am wondering if it is more like you are simply getting what you pay for when you go with lower priced place like Costco, Sam's, Target, etc. versus inkjet.
As a test I did two 8x10s I had done before at the online lab. The images used included a color and a black and white. 20 minutes later Costco had my prints ready.Needless to say I was highly impressed with the service and when I opened up the envelope I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. The prints looked great.
When I got home I compared them to my other two prints from the online lab. My earlier happiness with finding a cheaper alternative turned into disappointment. The comparison was like night and day. The Costco print seemed a bit on the cooler side tone-wise plus the colors more muted when compared to the print from Finerworks. As for the black and white. The Finerworks prints seemed like a true black and white while the Costco version had sort of a bluish cast to it. Both had the same sort of surface texture and glossyness but the costco prints seemed to be on cheaper lighter weight paper. The big difference other than that was the Finerwork prints were done inkjet while the Costco prints were regular digital prints.
So my question now is are my expectations too high with the costco prints or is it just that inkjet is the way to go now days? I have heard more and more photographers are switching to inkjet. Is this sort of scenario the reason why? My online lab also offers the Kodak luster so I may try that next but I am now starting to wonder if I need to seriously start thinking about inkjet. Color and tonal accuracy are very important to me. I work with a calibrated system but prefer to outsource my prints rather than print them myself since I never can get my dusty old Epson r1800 to give me the accuracy I am looking for, especially with black and whites. It's also much more pricey but I am wondering if it is more like you are simply getting what you pay for when you go with lower priced place like Costco, Sam's, Target, etc. versus inkjet.