ProLab

[dont.care]

Wondering what pro-labs you guys use-and, any comparative analysis you may have over the span of maybe 5 years as a pro-photographer with different labs..

I personally use prodpi, but have used Bay.. I personally like prodpi; images seem more correct to my original image and sharper (plus they give you candy +5)

Basically, I’m looking for who’s and why’s and personal opinions and obviously if you print at walmart/walgreens/cvs/etc, then this thread isn’t for you..

[nairbynairb]

11 Online Print Labs Compared [Print Quality Test]

[dont.care]

You obviously failed to understand why I was asking here.. The voice of many trumps the voice of one.

[IHF]

Not a pro, and only 3 years of shooting under my belt, but…for what it’s worth I use WHCC.  I want to give prodpi a go though, and I may just send in my next batch to them, and try a few of their products.  This is not because I am dissatisfied with WHCC in any way.  I’m always pleased with my orders.  I had a horrible experience through MPix (NOTa pro lab, eventhough they market as such) and I don’t like their papers/products or customer service, which makes me want to forgo Millers all together.  Never tried nations or bay.

Eventually I want to print myself and be in complete control, and maybe find a local finisher to work with.  That’s my dream…sigh…complete color management from beginning to end 🙂 sometimes, I wish I was rich

[Loke]

I’ve been happy using Zenfolio/MPIX..I’ve never had quality issues..but I guess it depends for others…..I’m open to others, but so far I like the selection, quality of paper, options, etc. I think they charge too much though for their “cut”

[kbee]

Aw, c’mon dont.care! Why no Wal-Mart togs?

Funnily enough, here’s a tangent. A while ago I did cheap and dirty prints at Wal-Mart because family were begging for some prints of my work, but they never wanted to pay for them. They had absolutely no clue of the value of good prints and Grandma bitched for half an hour to me that my brother- and sister-in-law didn’t buy her professional prints when they had a pro shoot the kids last year. She overlooked the two young children and a house being built on a single income, as if they could throw hundreds of dollars around willy-nilly for prints for Grandma and her favorite family members. She only knows the cost of dropping her disposable cameras in at Wal-Mart and getting them back the next day so she had no idea that what she wanted would cost other people a pretty penny.

Aaanyway, since it was coming out my pocket in my case, it was Wal-Mart. I sent in the photos in high resolution and it was pixelated to hell and an awful sickly color. I came away laughing thinking of you guys here at YANAP. And I still gave them the prints. Oh well.

On topic, I have nothing else to really contribute. As an enthusiast on a budget making absolutely no money on this, I’ve done some prints and photo book gifts from Shutterfly since I’ve had discounts with them. Photo quality is not bad, and a damn sight better than Wally World. I’ve been looking for professional labs though, so this thread is a huge help. Thanks guys. 😀

[dont.care]

haha @ walmart pixleated goodness.. walmart could make a lego landscape look like shit

[fstopper89]

I did a little print test in the fall to illustrate to people the difference, and used 5 different images all printed on 5 different printers. I did Mpix (the consumer version), Snapfish, Walmart instant prints, Walgreens 1-hour, and Walgreens instant prints. Walgreens instant was the worst! All the photos are greenish and over-sharpened. Mpix out-performed all the others and I’ve used it a lot and have always been satisfied, plus they take care in packaging. Snapfish comes out a little under-saturated, and their packaging is not very good. Last year I used them for some “budget” prints (county fair entries) since I had over 50 images to print and they were just going to be glued to tagboard anyway. They all had trimming errors with a slim white edge. Walmart was not as bad as Walgreens but still bad. Didn’t notice any pixelation though.

I know this thread was to discuss high-quality pro labs, but I thought I’d add this as well. When I sell print releases to clients I suggest Mpix and warn people within my release that printing at budget labs will result in the color and contrast not being correct!

[stef]

Wondering what pro-labs you guys use-and, any comparative analysis you may have over the span of maybe 5 years as a pro-photographer with different labs..

I personally use prodpi, but have used Bay.. I personally like prodpi; images seem more correct to my original image and sharper (plus they give you candy +5)

Basically, I’m looking for who’s and why’s and personal opinions and obviously if you print at walmart/walgreens/cvs/etc, then this thread isn’t for you..

 

I use Bay and Costco (with ICC profiles). Different costcos have different printers and some printers are better than others. You can go to their site and see the types of printers they have, and download the profiles.

For the important stuff, I print through Bay. The contrast and blacks are very good.

 

In the past, I’ve heard good things about walmart mail order, which was all printed by one of their properties. I’d be wary of the local stores, though.

[pgbrown0517]

I just want to drop a plug for the lab right down the street from me, Canvas Press of Round Rock, Texas. They specialize in canvases and aluminum, but they also do a great job on a variety of papers. They are not bursting with products like the bigger labs, but my work printed there is always spot-on to my calibrated display, density and clarity are incredible, and they are great to work with. I love the 100 percent cotton rag fine-art paper they use. I do not work for them but am just a very satisfied customer. Plus, since I’m in the area, I’m supporting a great local business.

[dont.care]

So, I registered with mpixpro and have received my ‘calibration prints’; Well, I like their packaging (initial content, sample stuff etc) better.. However, I don’t care that they stamped “calibration print” on the sample photos, none of the others did.. I really think after looking through a loupe –prodpi and bayphoto are better choices.. Both seem sharper, better contrast, and better color.. which is technically true for prodpi vs bayphoto as prodpi seems to have better color, contrast, sharpness than bay..

I do like the fact that MpixPro has sent me a physical price/product guide — this is useful when talking to clients about their prints as I don’t mark up the price for having prints made through a prolab (I require a check from the client in the amount of the photos they want printed, deposit in bank and order what they select).. So, that’s useful.. ProDPI has an online PDF you can print… But, printing a PDF on a consumer grade 100 dollar printer does not make a professional presentation.. Which price guides should literally be bundled within the initial welcome package

[FauxFighters]

Thanks for posting this.  I have been looking to send off for some high quality prints, and I think after reading through this I am going to check out ProDPI.  The photographer I mentored under always talked about loving the work he got from Bay as well, so I may toss a couple at them and compare them for myself.  I have finally gotten a few shots I want to do on canvas, so has anybody done canvas from any of these groups?  I see a lot of them do it, but most of the comments have been really only about prints, so I didn’t know if the quality holds for canvas prints as well.

[Sarah]

My family has been in the printing business forever (Used to be commercial but now we print for small businesses) so I use them. They print my books (My step mom does the hard binding with her family’s binding business) and prints up to 24″x36″. The only thing we do not have the material for (yet) is canvas. We also can not print on metal so I order those things from Mpix/Ivoke/Zenfolio. The printing company also has a account with carlson craft so that draws the engagement/wedding clients in with my x amount off of save the dates and/or invitations deals.

[dont.care]

well, keep in mind fauxfighter that prodpi gives you 5 free sample 8×10’s for proof of quality vs. calibration.. With that in mind, they also don’t stamp the photo and make it unusable.. They also give you the option through ICC profile to integrate with photoshop to do soft proofing to show you exactly how your photo will look before you ever purchase it (mpixpro doesn’t, haven’t used bay for awhile) mpixpro essentially sends your test photos, after that pray for the best after the “Educated adjustments” you would be required to take after you’ve received your test images..

And they send you candy (prodpi) one piece, but hell, some of us can get fat from all the photos we order. 😀

 

Sarah, that’s awesome, I wish I had a way to do my own prints.. Ink is ridiculously expensive and most pro printers use what, 6-8 cartridges? at 100-400 a cartridge? That could sink a ship quickly if you didn’t raise your photography prices exponentially.. So, that’s a no go for me.. But having a built in printer in the family is sweet =P

[dont.care]

Side note: they give you an ICC profile — but keep in mind which you already know your monitor has to be calibrated (really a side note for anyone who doesn’t know about color correction)

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