Where to get photos printed

[thewallychamp]

Hey yooo,
Just been using my first DSLR, a Pentax Kx for about 5 months now.. and I'd like to get some stuff printed in nice high quality.

I tried Snapfish.com because they offered 75 free prints, but they were awful.. pixelated, blurry, and just not what I expected (8x10 and 6x4 I think I got)

So what are some suggestions for nice prints?
Online and shipped to my house would be the best method..

 

[macuser3of5]

http://www.westcoastimaging.com/ not exactly cheap but you get what you pay for.

 

[johnny_flapjack]

Costco

 

[NorCal]

Originally Posted by johnny_flapjack

Costco

yup.

 

[Avocat]

Firstly, congratulations on your Pentax and welcome to the wonderful world of DSLR photography. I trust that you're enjoying it!! If it's high quality you want, see: Adorama http://www.adorama.com/ It's where the pros and serious amateurs go, and have for years (depending on what you want to spend of course). If you're like most starting out, you're likely capturing a ton of images, which adds up in printing costs (I hear you). If so and don't want to spend a lot of money on proofs (basic prints), then Costco is a really good option for you, I agree. Then, once you have your results, can decide what you want to do in terms of any enlargements, using Adorama for those. Just a thought for you, and enjoy your DSLR!

 

[thewallychamp]

cool gonna look into costco.. i definitely don't want high prices for printing right now, hopefully i won't have to sign up for membership or anything though.. might just have to raid them on a free trial or something

 

[thewallychamp]

Originally Posted by Avocat

Firstly, congratulations on your Pentax and welcome to the wonderful world of DSLR photography. I trust that you're enjoying it!!

and i'm definitely loving it

 

[milosz]

Costco, mpix.com, WHCC, westcoastimaging

If you want to print large, some Costcos offer a 'poster' option, 18x24 or 20x30, for less than $10 bucks - it's really an Epson 7800 print on photo paper, so it's a great deal.

re: pixellated and blurry, make sure it's not an issue on your end. Are you uploading JPGs sized appropriately for prints?

 

[rjakapeanut]

find a good sam's club. most professional photographers just develop at sam's/costco, especially if you find one where the manager of the lab is knowledgeable/takes pride in their ****.

 

[Avocat]

Originally Posted by milosz

re: pixellated and blurry, make sure it's not an issue on your end. Are you uploading JPGs sized appropriately for prints?
DSLR sensors are absolutely wonderful for most purposes. Pentax K-x's 12.4 megapixel APS-C-format CMOS sensor (total pixels: 12.9 million) is sufficient for rendering 20x30 posters from an arm's length view, depending on the glass (lens), although the quality starts to drop (Note: it's not a FX or a medium-format, but a DX, right?). I assumed by "blurry" Wallychamp meant softness, but could be wrong. Many labs don't have a good RIP to resample ("upres-ing") to produce a quality print, and those that do it wrong lose information. Ah, but your point is well taken, Milosz. (Let's assume Wallychamp's focus and exposure are correct, and that he's not upsampling and resampling in a program like CS 5 Pro for e.g. I know, he said he’s new to DSLRs, but doesn’t mean he’s new to photography, but could be, this is true). As to JPEG, it’s great for digital use (website use and photo sharing, like Flickr, etc.), and also basic prints; however, if moving into larger territory-like 11x14 up-shoot in RAW (more info/flexibility). JPEG’s easy to work with, true, but doesn’t resample for a quality image of that size no matter what program you use …

Originally Posted by thewallychamp

and i'm definitely loving it
Wonderful to hear! By all means, do share with us some of your images if you want. Would love to see.

 

[JustinW]

iPhoto/Aperture is good - basically Kodak labs on prints (another lab I can't recall the name of for the books and stuff) but with Apple support in case you stuff something up. Only downside is they won't ship USPS on small orders, making shipping a little pricey (for small orders I go to Costco or print them myself).

Full disclosure: I worked for iPhoto/Aperture for a few years.