Need an Online Print Service Other than Snapfish. Any Recommendations?

[Steve M.]

I normally print on an enlarger w/ my 120 negs, but don't like to fool w/ the smaller 35mm ones. I don't need large print sizes either. So as a test I uploaded some B&W files to Snapfish just to see how they would work.

The prints came back on matte paper and they look very good. I can live w/ them quite easily. But there were 2 problems.

1 - Even though I had formatted the files in PS to 6.75x10 (or thereabouts) to keep my 35mm ratio, Snapfish resized them to 8x10's. A call to them confirmed that there was no way to get them w/ crops at the top and bottom.

2 - I had sent them 3 different versions of one image, each one darker than the other, because I wasn't sure how their prints would relate to my home monitor. Well, all three versions look pretty much the same! Apparently their machine auto corrects things and that's that.

So I need another company for prints. Someone had suggested Costco, and nothing personal in this, but I want to deal w/ someone that actually knows what's going on if I need to call them. That wouldn't be Costco, Walgreens, Walmart, etc. Does anyone have experience w/ an online photo company that would do what I (and probably what most people on the forum here) need? I don't need the prints on real B&W paper or anything, just good quality prints I can stick on the wall instead of having to view them on my monitor, which has gotten pretty old I tell you. It's hard to feel like you're a photographer w/o prints.

 

[newsjeff]

Try Winkflash

Try Winkflash

Hello, I have been using Winkflash.com for several years and always get good results. Right now their shipping is only .99 no matter how big your order is. You can specify if you want them to automatically enhance the photos or not. I have many of my photos on their site, as I use them for an online backup. I highly recommend them! You can also email photos from a cell phone or use their "transporter" software to upload from your computer. The 4 x6 prints are just 8c each.

 

[rbiemer]

Steve,
I use MPIX for on line printing. They do pretty well and are not too expensive, I think.
But they also restrict the sizes a bit. What I have done about this for images that aren't natively 8 x 10 is to put the image on a background layer that is 8 x 10. Flatten the two layers, get a print of that and discard or matt to the final size I want when I get the prints back. In other words, the image I send them is 8 x 10 but the photo is 6.75 x 10.
Rob

 

[thegman]

I use Kodak in the UK, I expect they do it in the USA too. I find BW shots come out pretty good, my experience with colour has been a bit more mixed, but still great for the money.

 

[Steve M.]

Great ideas! Thanks guys. I'll look at all of them. I especially like the pricing of Winkflash, and thanks very much for the tip on how to get a 6.75x10 image out of an 8x10 print. Woo Woo! This is sure going to beat sitting in front of an inkjet printer watching it eat paper and ink. I'm looking at A&I's site now too, but they're pretty pricey, even for machine prints. Still, everything I have ever sent them for developing has returned perfectly, so maybe it's worth it. Others have recommended MPIX, and I am sure Kodak will do a good job. Thanks again

 

[bolohead]

+1 for MPIX.

I believe their professional outfit is Millers Lab. If you show them proof of business, you get access to their pro services. There is some sort of middle platform called MPIX Pro, where if you show them that you know what you are doing, you'll get access to more products and services (and maybe better/faster service).

 

[ramosa]

this year, i have used nations photo lab a few times. the results are somewhat mixed. some great results--and a couple that i needed to redo.

 

[majid]

Don't dismiss Costco out of hand. They provide ICC profiles for their printers in partnership with Dry Creek Photo, unlike most so-called pro labs. Costco offers its employees great benefits, unlike most retail outfits, and has correspondingly low turnover. The guys running the printer at mine (in San Francisco) have been there since I joined in 2001, and they know their machines very well.

 

[Steve M.]

Your 'frisco Costco is not my Las Cruces Costco. That's great that you have some knowledgeable folks over there, but in this cow town (hey, it's cheap and the light is to die for) things are a few steps down on the evolutionary level w/ services.

I went over to Winkflash and their site was very easy to understand and my photos were uploaded in a jiffy. I nearly fell out of the chair when I saw the bill....$6.00 and change including shipping for five 8x10 B&W prints that I was easily able to crop w/ their software to 6.75x10. Wow. The MPIX site certainly has more options, and you can get some better papers and even luster coatings, but their prices go up proportionally too.

What I liked about the Winkflash website is that it's intuitive and easy to grasp the first time around. I also liked that it was super easy to turn off the auto corrections for my photos, and you can do that for individual files or the whole order. If I remember correctly, they even gave me an option to have one print on glossy and another on matte on the same order. That is so common sense, unlike A&I's site that told me I couldn't even have any spaces in my file names or it would crash their printer. Folks! you do great work there in L.A., but get someone that can program your stuff.

Well, the proof will be the prints, but it looks good so far, and REALLY beats sitting in front of an inkjet printer watching it eat paper and ink. Always fun taking the inkjet prints over to different lighting conditions and watching them turn blue or red too.

 

[semilog]

I've heard good things about Bay Photo, too.

 

[Mcary]

I've always gotten excellent results from http://www.adoramapix.com/products/prints

 

[Particular]

I've always gotten excellent results from http://www.adoramapix.com/products/prints

I second that. Good range of papers, including an ilford rc matt paper, and flexible formatting options. You can switch off auto corrections and use their color profiles. I've been getting prints that are pretty close to what I see on screen.

 

[david.elliott]

I use adorama too 🙂

 

[Steve M.]

I got my prints back from Winkflash today and I'm a happy camera. Thanks newsjeff for the recommendation. Their prices are incredible, and the fastest shipping I've ever seen. Prints look great, especially the ones in Glossy. If only they did bigger sizes, but for 8x12 these will work perfectly. Good stuff.