Where do you get your photo's printed?

[Gilldiver]

Here is something to think about, I deal with a lot of library archivists (Yale, NY Public Library, National Archives, etc.) and the preservation problems with digital media and the new laser and spray dot printers has them all worried. A CD, RW-CD, DVD, etc. that you burn at home has a life of about 5 years and then it is unreadable. They call it hitting the brick wall in that the CD will be readable and then one day it just is not. Add to that the way that the technology changes and you have a real mess (seen any 5" flopy drives around lately?).

The only medium that we know lasts over 50 years is Black & White film on real acid free photo paper. Unfortunately, as many of you know, none of the places that have been mentioned use real photo paper, they just use a version of standard ink jet printers.

The archivists and my own computer IT people tell me that they only way that they have right now is to use a remote hard drive once a month to back up your files and then to unplug it. This is so the drive is not getting any wear on the spindle. The alternative is to use one of the digital media storage services that keep your stuff on 5 to 10 different storage systems that are independent of each other.

This problem is even worse for Hollywood as almost all films and TV shows are now shot on digital and they are having problems with shows that are only 5 to 10 years old. What they are doing is having the digital show processed onto traditional film and then storing the film.

 

[mstevens]

How about people who spend big money for "giclee" prints, since that's simply laser printing? I've got paintings over a century old that look good as new. I suspect giclee prints are going to be disappearing in a quarter to half that time.

 

[Coralcop]

Does Costco print all formats? ie:jpg,psd, etc?

 

[PapaBob]

For various reasons I have been away from this site for a while. Please note the change in forum name courtesy of my granddaughter.

CoralCop: My local Costco only handles Jpg files in sRGB color space.

All: I recently had a very good experience with MPix B&W enlargements. Also a friend asked me to collaborate on a PhotoBook she produced at MyPublisher.com. The software is basic, easy to use and the result was very good for the price.

It has been a while since there has been any activity in this thread. Anyone had recent experience with an on line print house, especially with gallery wraps?

---Bob

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

OK, based on the information provided here. I wanted to get a couple prints done in 24x30 and 20x24.

I just sent them off to myPhotopipe : Home : The online print lab for serious digital photographers nationwide.

I sure hope they come out as good as I am hoping!

I'll let you know

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

OK, here goes...

I used their Java software (downloaded from their site... ROES), which allows me to choose all options from gloss to mat, print to canvas to etc... in any dimension and set my images as I want them to appear... They even offered framing at additional pricing... AND... white label if you are a business producing these images and framing for your customer

I enter my information and set my credit card#, then I send them off to the printers...

1st Note: Be sure there are no sub-levels in your folders when you select images to process (Example: I have some images in "edit" folders under their main folders for posting to the Internet [with the same image information as the original. other than size]... polished and reduced in size for better Internet distribution... Those images are also processed for the Java software without giving you the size of the image, or the sub-folder information... nor do they indicate the image is reduced in any way...)

One of my pictures was too small and pixelated for printing in a large format (Formatted for Internet posting, etc...)... Luckily, they informed me of my mistake (in a very professional way) and asked if I had a better version of the image, or if I wanted to cancel it, and proceed with the other image...

I understood almost immediately what happened, and tried to send the "larger" format image through email (12MB)... I alerted them that I probably couldn't email an image that large through my email provider... They gave me an easy way to upload the image through their Java software and gave me the information to add so I wasn't charged for adding an image to the current purchase...

I was notified, almost immediately, that the new image was in perfect condition for printing to the larger format...

Two hours later I was informed by email that the two images I sent were being shopped via UPS ground (2-5 days), and provided a tracking#...

I live in Fl. and they have a center in Atlanta. They sent the package on Thursday, and I received it on Friday... Certainly more than I expected!

UPS delivered on Friday, and the package was damaged. Their delivery driver noted the box damage when he delivered the package. I opened it immediately and noted the puncture went through the box and through my prints

The images I sent to them were the exact images they sent back, enlarged to my specifications, and were presented on archival print paper ready for framing without image loss due to enlargement! (Yes, the images sent were 5MB or larger)

I alerted Myphotopipe.com of the issue and requested assistance for the next step via email...

I received email almost instantaneously that my pictures were being re-processed and that they would be processed exactly as before and would be expedited to me immediately!

I expect to hear from them, or UPS in the future due to the damage from UPS...

BUT, I have nothing but praise for MyPhotoPipe.com... They exceeded my expectations for my first order through their web interface!
===

There is only one difference I might make to images in the future, and that would be to print images exactly as sent ($1.00 additional). I have a 1gig video card and can see a multitude of colors through that video... I will probably not add color correction to future orders.

In total: MyphotoPipe.com was extremely professional and I have 20 additional photos I am going to submit for enlargement (At this time, Micheal's has 50% off frames!)

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Here is the update to above:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/digital-darkroom/257601-praise-myphotopipe-com-pro-images.html

 

[MarkH]

I'm presently trying to print a bunch of digital images using walk-in store kind of places, but I'm realizing that it's impossible to get a photo printed without any corrections. You can ask that they make no adjustments or corrections, but it's not actually possible for them to do this anymore. Most of the image software automatically makes "improvements" during the printing process. I've been to about 6 local labs, given them a digital file and asked them to print it just as it is without any tinkering. The images that I get back from the labs all look completely different. Some of them have exposure differences by as much as 2 stops. One of them had the blue sky as a bright red (ok, that one was Wal Mart). Some of their machines increase the contrast so much that alot of detail is lost (obvious even in a 4x6 print). I noticed that alot of the expensive "professional" labs have exactly the same machines and printers as the cheaper drugstore photofinishers (they charge more because they use more stable paper). I've brought the same digital file to the same place, but on a different day and the results looked like different pictures. If I was only printing one or two pictures I could just bring it back a few times and ask them to print it "a bit brighter" or whatever until it came out close to the image's histogram. Unfortunately, I've got a few hundred to print so I've given up and am going to buy a printer to do it myself. I guess the point of all this venting is that I'm astounded that there's no calibration standard for photo lab image printing. I can understand subtle differences because of different paper or whatever, but such massive differences between photo labs leave me wondering who professional photographers go to now for prints. Since you can see the images you took on a calibrated monitor and see the levels in detail in histograms and RGB info, you'd think that the photofinishing industry would be pressured to accurately reproduce the image as it was taken. Gone are the days when I'd bring in my 35mm print film, get the prints back and assume that the print was underexposed because I underexposed the negative.

 

[Charlie99]

.... I've been to about 6 local labs, given them a digital file and asked them to print it just as it is without any tinkering. The images that I get back from the labs all look completely different. Some of them have exposure differences by as much as 2 stops. One of them had the blue sky as a bright red (ok, that one was Wal Mart). Some of their machines increase the contrast so much that alot of detail is lost (obvious even in a 4x6 print). .....
.... I guess the point of all this venting is that I'm astounded that there's no calibration standard for photo lab image printing. I can understand subtle differences because of different paper or whatever, but such massive differences between photo labs leave me wondering who professional photographers go to now for prints.

My experience is quite different.

I've taken standard sRBG files, including both photos and test files such as MacBeth color charts, and had them printed at a variety of 1 hour shops that use Fuji 350/370 machines. They came back nearly identical.

You may have gotten exactly what you asked for ".. asked them to print it just as it is without any tinkering." may have resulted in them turning off their correction and calibration settings.

They run periodic tests (daily at most drugstores) on their printers to calibrate them, but if you insist, they will indeed print your file without any of that "tinkering". Unfortunately, that "tinkering" is what keeps the output constant.

What happens if you just give them an sRGB file and let them process it normally?

--------------

Some shops will do some "enhancement", such as increasing the dynamic range on washed out photos. If you include some white and some black right on the border, that should keep any enhancements from being applied to your photos. Most printers are set for about 2% overscan, so you can have a 1/8" border on a 4x6" photo and it will never appear.

 

[Papa_Bear]

The problem with sRGB files are they have less information in them! You should always print from a TIFF file for true color and max information in the non-compressed file! I have a number of my own Photo Printers including an Epson 3800.....! The "s" BTW stands for small as in small file!