Problem with RFF Book

[MichaelB]

I ordered the 2 RFF books a couple of days ago. There seems to be a problem with the first one (Rangefinder Photography). The second book arrived without a problem, but the printquality is not what I thought it would be. Coloured stains on some pages even the b/w ones. The mail I received may be of help to fix the first book.

from Lulu.com support:

Dear Michael,

I am sorry your other book in your order was not able to print, this is generally due to fonts or images not being embedded in the file correctly. The solution is to FULLY embed fonts in the PDF, and use Distiller if at all possible. I have refunded your order for the cost of this book for you.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.

 

[rover]

Hmmm, they have printed and sold over 300 copies of the first book. I wonder if this is a problem unique to the new European printer partner that Lulu has?

 

[RML]

Rover, I think it is. The print quality of the US Lulu prints is much better than the Spainish Lulu prints.

For the "shoot on equinox" we're considering a book as well, but I don't really want to use Lulu anymore. I fear, though, that there aren't many other options.

 

[taffer]

Rover, I think it is. The print quality of the US Lulu prints is much better than the Spainish Lulu prints.

Argh, pity since they serve orders on a proximity basis. This pretty much puts me out.

For the "shoot on equinox" we're considering a book as well, but I don't really want to use Lulu anymore. I fear, though, that there aren't many other options.

Remy, do you know about that "Rangefinder Perspectives" book ? Their print quality was IMO a lot better than even the first RFF one. You could try and find out who their publisher was.

Oscar

 

[BJ Bignell]

I think that are likely a lot of alternatives to Lulu, but perhaps none that are so universally available. I suspect that most larger cities around the world will have print shops that are set up to do smaller runs of independent books; likely the biggest problem would be distribution.

 

[RML]

I think that are likely a lot of alternatives to Lulu, but perhaps none that are so universally available. I suspect that most larger cities around the world will have print shops that are set up to do smaller runs of independent books; likely the biggest problem would be distribution.

And price. And print quality.

Either you get good printing done, at a high price. Or vice versa. But not either way (except high price, poor printing).

 

[RML]

Remy, do you know about that "Rangefinder Perspectives" book ? Their print quality was IMO a lot better than even the first RFF one. You could try and find out who their publisher was.

Oscar, I'm not familiar with that book. Can you tell a bit more about it? Who set it up? A website or forum like rff?

 

[RML]

Found it already. Google to the rescue. 🙂

http://www.fotogroepparkheverlea.be/

Anyone from the fotogroep who can shed some light?

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Bump. My faith in Lulu is nil, and their fingerpointing is automatic. I'm also curious about this.

 

[taffer]

Oscar, I'm not familiar with that book. Can you tell a bit more about it? Who set it up? A website or forum like rff?

---

Found it already. Google to the rescue.

http://www.fotogroepparkheverlea.be/

Anyone from the fotogroep who can shed some light?

Well googled ! I may have some saved correspondence with Philippe (one of the photographers and in fact he was (is) also a member here.

Time to browse the old emails box...

Oscar

 

[JoeFriday]

I talked to a local printer early this year to quote a reprint of the RFF2 book.. he said he could easily match our price, or even bring it down a bit.. the catch is that he requires an order of at least 100 units.. and of course distribution is up to you

but I know the quality would be 10 times better than Lulu.. and as Gabriel said, their QC is in the toilet, and their motto is "the customer is never right"

 

[peter_n]

I would pay up for a decent copy...

 

[Topdog1]

What are these RFF books we are talking about here?

/Ira

 

[RML]

What are these RFF books we are talking about here?

/Ira

See http://www.lulu.com/rff 🙂

 

[Kyle]

I talked to a local printer early this year to quote a reprint of the RFF2 book.. he said he could easily match our price, or even bring it down a bit.. the catch is that he requires an order of at least 100 units.. and of course distribution is up to you

but I know the quality would be 10 times better than Lulu.. and as Gabriel said, their QC is in the toilet, and their motto is "the customer is never right"

I'm not sure I'd want to purchase a second copy of the book. There is some awesome work in there, but to me the problems weren't so severe as to make me want to buy a second copy. Maybe I'm alone on that one, though.

Are there any plans for a third book? Maybe just go with them if another one does get started. Just an idea.

 

[JimG]

Members who are unhappy with their copies of the RFF book might be interested to know that they are now being advertised for sale online for $139.00. Wish I'd bought one. JimG

 

[rover]

Members who are unhappy with their copies of the RFF book might be interested to know that they are now being advertised for sale online for $139.00. Wish I'd bought one. JimG

No way!!!!

Where?

 

[goo0h]

I talked to a local printer early this year to quote a reprint of the RFF2 book.. he said he could easily match our price, or even bring it down a bit.. the catch is that he requires an order of at least 100 units.. and of course distribution is up to you but I know the quality would be 10 times better than Lulu.. and as Gabriel said, their QC is in the toilet, and their motto is "the customer is never right"

Perhaps RFF.com could sell copies directly? Perhaps Stephen could be enticed to handle up-front cost? I've already got both books and the print quality isn't so bad that I'm interested in buying additional copies, but I imagine there will be additional folks in the future that might be interested. Like those in this thread that never even knew about the books in the first place. Perhaps this site could also be a US distributor, if you will, for the "Rangefinder Perspectives" book. (I see the pdf for it, but not sure where it could be purchased.)

I know some tech guys (http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/) that got so tired of the sham of book publishing that they decided to become their own publisher. They've now got a little publishing company of contributing authors. Not sure how they're handling the printing, and of course they don't have to pay so much attention to print quality.

 

[rich815]

Members who are unhappy with their copies of the RFF book might be interested to know that they are now being advertised for sale online for $139.00. Wish I'd bought one. JimG

Where?

The first one I think was ok in terms of printing. The second awful.

 

[Tarzak]

I have tried to purchase the second RFF book from lulu (twice). As I am not in the US the printer for lulu for the rst of the world is in Spain. For some reason their system could not spool the file for the book. I got a refund. I recently contacted them to see if the problem was resolved. They said yes, no problem now, feel free to order it. The same problem occurred and they have refunded my money again.
I managed to get a person on their online chat helpline to eventually agree that if I order the book and change the delivery address to someone I know in the US then there will be no problem with the printing.
So, I look forward to hearing more about a second print run with Lulu not involved.