You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I like to find somewhere, online or local, that will do decent prints of photos, i.e. ones that look like the file they were printed from. We recently got some prints and cards from Truprint. The cards were ok but prints made from the same JPEG file are washed out in comparison. The other prints look washed out too. I could ask them to re-print them but doubt they will change.
I use Lightroom and while my monitor is uncalibrated, I check the images on other devices and side by side with other images (i.e. ones that aren't mine) and I'm happy they're ok and balanced. (A similar concept to checking the mix of your band's recording on your car stereo and any other sound system you can find).
I can see that the printer is doing different things with the same image file when I compare the prints and the cards side by side. (The front of the card is covered by the image)
Can anyone recommend a decent printer?
I can only say don't use boots kiosks. the quality is aweful
I can only say don’t use boots kiosks. the quality is aweful
Yes, I gave them a go
This was a recommendation from an art teacher who told me Glasgow school of art uses them. I'm happy with the stuff I've had too.
When I used to shoot weddings commercially I used Loxley a lot. They were spot on. There are a few other smaller, higher quality labs but I can't remember the names.
Commercial stuff locally is getting rarer I find, our (brilliant) local shop closed down recently, which is a real shame. But it might be worth chatting to your local camera club and seeing if anyone does it as a sideline - I know a few folk who have invested in some pretty hefty kit to print their own stuff that now do prints for others to make an extra few quid. If you find the right person (my guy only uses top quality archive paper / inks etc) then you're unlikely to get much better.
I use Photobox and have never had any complaints although IMO their postage charges are a bit steep.
just check lightroom is exporting (or printing to file) in srgb
If it's set to say Adobe RGB then nothing will match
I find photobox are fine
Loxeley are pretty god, Dad (pro-photographer, really should retire!) uses them for some stuff.
I use iFolor with pretty good results, but often significantly brighten the images before I send for printing (I'm used to what they produce)
However, I kinda think that the only way you are really going to get what you see on the screen is if you print yourself at home with a good printer that you can calibrate with your screen.
just check lightroom is exporting (or printing to file) in srgb
If it’s set to say Adobe RGB then nothing will match
I suspected there might be something like this to double check, thanks.
What big_scot_nanny says is probably true, I use three different printers and all three will produce dirrerent results from the same image, so adjustments have to be made to compensate for this.
Another option would be to find a good local independent printers and tell them exactly what you would like. You may have to pay a premium for this as there really isn’t mich profit in doing small prints and they take the same amount of time to get right.
Photobox have been acceptable in the past, they appear to sightly push the colours so they 'pop' more than a neutral print though. A decent printer will be able to tell you what profiles they use too, so you can soft-proof the printing in Lightroom (photobox have done this in the past when asked).
Another quick tip for you; most printers are calibrated to reproduce colour at a white point of 5500k although Canon printers are actually set to 5000k. If your monitor has the ability to adjust the colour temperature and you're not printing at home on Canon kit, then change the screen temp to 5000k. That will improve your colour balance without having to also calibrate it (for which you need a calibration device that will cost upwards of £100).
I have a fully calibrated system and a pro level printer and have toyed with the idea of doing prints for people as referenced above. I've done it once before and asked the person for a charity donation (it was on here) so if you wanted to do that I would be happy to help.
Photobox are decent but following recommendations from elsewhere I used DS Colour Labs for some larger prints and they were spot on
Very close to my (uncalibrated) monitor and decent value.
Thsnks for replies. Photobox have come up trumps. Will consider other suggests for the future though cheers
(I used sRGB on export it turns out)