Prints?

I want to get some prints made and was looking for suggestions of who does the best work? I'm only interested in 8x10 down to 4x5. I do like good quality, but I like good pricing, too. Years ago I used an internet company that is no longer around (I think they were taken over by Kodak??).

Have you checked locally at a camera shop? My local camera shop does it and it's cheaper than online or the same with no wait our risk of damage. Additionally, if I have a problem with a print I can talk to them.

I did try nations, but the paper was thinner than local, took a while to get the print, and the mail mangled my photo. Wrote it off as a $25 lesson to use local first.

Moab Man said:

Have you checked locally at a camera shop? My local camera shop does it and it's cheaper than online or the same with no wait our risk of damage. Additionally, if I have a problem with a print I can talk to them.

Click to expand...

My problem is that I'm not close to any camera shops. That's the reason for the internet/mail option. I can always go to a WalMart or CVS, but I can imagine the quality of those prints.

Wal-Mart can produce a good image if you have someone that knows what they are doing. Most of their people don't know how to shut down the auto correcting of their equipment. Consequently you can end up with goofy things. However, for general purpose photos you're probably ok if you don't have a crazy range of colors going on like when I shot the milky way.

The reality is, CVS, Walmart, Sam's, and Costco are all using the same machines and software systems as Nations or the other internet vendors... They all have clerks that know how to run the machine, and folks that don't... The only big difference between your local vendor and the internet guys might be the selection of different paper... Glossy, Luster, and Matt... They all run paper on rolls... If the vendor has multiple machines, they'll run different paper in each...

A friend has had good success with Nations Photo Lab. I signed up there, but plan to try a local graphics supplier very soon. I'd much rather go local personally.

I've used nations, and was pleased... although, the one or two times something didn't work, the turn around time was a killer...

In the smaller sizes... 8X10 and under, I can pull as good a print as any with my Epson 730

Usually with smaller prints like those mentioned, I would just go local if you didn't already have your own printer. If not you can usually score a BNIB *anon pixma pro 100 printer off CL. There was a deal where you purchase X camera and printer and you got a full rebate on the printer *free* so people sell off the freebee printer for approx $100-200 USD.

Knowing where your location was would be a great start, as we are all over the world and its not point on saying Harvey Normans when Walmart is more applicable.

I've been using nations photo lab, but I was buying backed prints and that costs more by quite a bit! But I might be doing some more printing once I get my Nikon D800e with it's high MPs! Lol