Best Place for Prints?

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

It's rare, but occasionally I do need to print. I've tried walgreens/walmart and not been satisfied with the color, snapfish seems a little better but limited on the print sizes. What places are y'all using for prints? Also, I have some panorama's I might like to print too so need a place for odd sized prints.

Any lightroom export settings I should be aware of when printing images?

 

[PhotoDave219]

I always have used AdoramaPix.com (out of New York) for all my printing. Great Customer service, great quality.

As for exporting? I always resizing and toning the photos for that specific print size - Always at the highest resolution possible, trying to keep it at 200dpi/ppi or higher without having to interpolate. Then I've uploaded the photos and went with the "Dont let the lab enhance anything" option (or whatever they actually call it).

Plus every six weeks, they seem to have 16x20 for $5.

I'd highly recommend and please do check them out.

 

[sporadic]

If you have a Costco near you, they're worth checking out. I've been really impressed with them for the prices. Also, they provide printer profiles if you have a calibrated setup and soft-proof - http://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/

Price data as of 2015.04.28:

1-99 Prints 100+ Prints
4x6 prints 17¢ 14¢
5x5 prints 39¢ 34¢
5x7 & wallet prints 59¢ 54¢
8x8, 8x10, 8x12 enlargements $1.79 $1.59
11x14, 12x18 enlargements $3.99 $3.49
16x20 enlargements $6.99 $6.49
20x30 enlargements $9.99 $9.49

 

[ptaylor]

I've had good results from MPIX.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Costco is good but I'm sticking with my original assessment.

You do get what you pay for.

 

[sporadic]

Costco is good but I'm sticking with my original assessment.

You do get what you pay for.

I'll have to give them a shot. Do you use the Kodak Endura Luster? Ever done any canvas prints with them?

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

What about panoramas?

 

[ddbowdoin]

Digital Silver Imaging... one neat thing they do is create digital negatives from your images and make you a REAL silver gelatin print.

 

[thomas998]

Depends on the size... if its 4x6 I use walgreens, trick to getting decent color from them is to use the same walgreens so you can adjust your photo before you print it.

Larger prints I will do at home or if I want some specialty papers I use adorama... trick with adorama is to buy up some prints when they are on sale that you can use as you need them later... or if you don't want to buy in advance then save your photos to be printed until they run a sale on the size you need... but then that's just because I'm cheap... which is also why I use walgreens for the smaller photos, its usually cheaper to have them print the 4X6 than it is for me to do it.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'll have to give them a shot. Do you use the Kodak Endura Luster? Ever done any canvas prints with them?

Luster is my go to. Havent tried canvas yet.

Now I have used costco, not saying they're a bad place at all. They do decent work, they're just not a commercial photo lab. Great for a print for Grandma but not some place I'd recommend a client if you follow.....

What about panoramas?

Panoramas.....

Well I'm sometimes a cheap aka "A Photographer on a Budget"....

What I've done before is take a Panorama and resize them to 20 or 30 inches long (depending on 16x20/20x30 sales and what frame I'm using) and put 2 of them together stacked in photoshop to basically create a really big photo.

Then I'll cut them apart when I get them or cut them to the desired size. I'd really like to NOT spend more than 15-20 on a print but sometimes it happens.

 

[mouse in my house]

I've had good results from MPIX.

I also use MPIX. They have many odd size options and several papers and boards. Sometimes they will email coupons after you buy. I use Snapfish for stuff that is less important as they are cheaper, but not as reliable with print quality.

 

[Lyman]

Your printer

 

[donsullivan]

I don't do a whole lot of printing, but for larger stuff I've become a big fan of Bay Photo. I've done a lot of paper prints with them over the years and never once been disappointed with the results. They re certainly not the least expensive on the market but the quality and consistency is really good.

I started doing some metal prints with them a couple of years ago and I'm extremely happy with the results on those. I initially freaked at the price vs paper but when I started adding up what it costs for framing and mounting of that paper print, especially for larger sizes it ends up not being that much more. And for the right image it can really bring some amazing richness to the color of the image.

 

[britdaw]

Always use MPix.com!! It's professional quality printing at consumer prices. It's where I tell all my photography clients to go for their prints when they purchase digital files from me.

 

[thomas998]

Your printer

Canon PIXMA Pro - 100... used to use an HP but Canon seemed a bit cheaper on the consumables.