Digital Printing Services - Advice Requested

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david.elliott

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Hello All,

Now that I am finally employed (temporary position, but better than nothing right? :)), I'd like to have some of my photos printed and framed for hanging up in the office.

I have been using adorama for my prints and have been pleased with their service. However, I keep hearing about how great, and how much better, real black and white prints from a darkroom are compared to regular ole "printer-prints". Unfortunately, putting together a darkroom is just not a viable option for me. I know that Ilford offers a nice printing service at http://www.ilfordlab.com/ but unfortunately I cannot take advantage of it as I am not in the UK.

In one thread, I saw this company mentioned: http://digitalsilverimaging.com/

Anybody have experience with this company? Recommendations as to which of their services to use? Recommendations as to other companies?

Thanks!

-David
 
Congratulations on your new job.

I have no experience w/ that particular company, but have had very good results w/ Snapfish, Winkflash and MPIX. MPIX will print on real B&W paper if you wish. The prices are very reasonable, and it's been great to get away from the inkjet printers and clogging inks.
 
Steve M. said:
Congratulations on your new job.

I have no experience w/ that particular company, but have had very good results w/ Snapfish, Winkflash and MPIX. MPIX will print on real B&W paper if you wish. The prices are very reasonable, and it's been great to get away from the inkjet printers and clogging inks.
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve. I'll check out MPIX.

Oh, and remind me to send you my popovers recipe later. :)
 
Adorama used to use B&W paper on request, I tried it and compared it with the same photo on color paper. Different, not better.
 
david.elliott said:
In one thread, I saw this company mentioned: http://digitalsilverimaging.com/

Anybody have experience with this company?
Click to expand...

I haven't actually used them, but I have been in their shop, talked to the people, saw their process and some of their results. Output from digital files is on genuine B&W paper, like we use in the darkroom, processed in wet chemicals.

The prints I saw in process and in their small gallery display looked superb. I'm going to give them a try.
 
Adorama uses BW paper I think. Of course you have to specify it. I've gotten some lovely BW prints from them.

However, Adorama's color prints have left me blah. The colors are wan, washed out, contrast is low. Blah. Pics on my monitor are so much punchier. Does anyone share this experience?
 
NLewis said:
Adorama uses BW paper I think. Of course you have to specify it. I've gotten some lovely BW prints from them.

However, Adorama's color prints have left me blah. The colors are wan, washed out, contrast is low. Blah. Pics on my monitor are so much punchier. Does anyone share this experience?
Click to expand...

My adorama color prints have always been spot on. Have you soft proofed using the profiles they have available for downloading?
 
RichardKarash said:
I haven't actually used them, but I have been in their shop, talked to the people, saw their process and some of their results. Output from digital files is on genuine B&W paper, like we use in the darkroom, processed in wet chemicals.

The prints I saw in process and in their small gallery display looked superb. I'm going to give them a try.
Click to expand...

Thanks Richard. I think I will definitely have to try them as well. Cant hurt to try a few prints. :) Have to figure out which of their services to use though.
 
Can someone explain the differences between the B&W papers used? I looked up the tech info on their most expensive paper and all it said was that it was best not to use it with the Theta 51, the printer that they use. Perhaps, they wash the print after it is processed through the Theta.


Anyway, it has been 45 years since I used a darkroom, so I have no idea how these papers look.
 
I am looking for something more than just a regular print process on black and white paper, which, I think, is what the company I linked to offers.
 
Just a quick update...

Received some sample prints of one of my files from the company. Very, very nice. I plan to use them for all my black and white prints in future.
 
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