Have You Compared Photo Labs?

Thunder Mountain wrote:
Interesting thread. Not trying to hijack the OP, but I have additional questions for respondents. I would like to print a number of 125 year old B&W images that are in public domain that were scanned from the glass plates. I would like to get copies that are as true to what original prints would have looked like. I've got some original prints from the negatives. Some are a matte finish on a fiber paper and some are matte on heavy non-fiber paper. Would like to print them no bigger than 8x10 for commercial sale in a shop. So, reasonable price is a consideration.

Go to White House Photo's site -
https://www.whcc.com/

OR

Millers -
http://www.millerslab.com/

White House was a little more reasonable than Millers - more so on the shipping side of the cost. But either way you are not talking a lot on the cost per print.

They both have many different print options. You may see what you are looking for there. They are for professional photographers and will give you high quality prints - of course, what goes in is what comes out so your scans have to be exceptional to get exceptional prints. Keep in mind that if you are starting with a print smaller than 8 x 10" when increased to 8 x 10 any small deficiencies in the original will grow with the increase in size.


Of course, do a test run with one print and see the results before you commit to multiples of 125 prints.

mikeleblanc413 wrote:
Whitehouse and MPIX were new names to me. I've spent some time at the websites and they each appear to have their act together. THANKS so much for the info.

There are several professionals on the Nikon forums who use both these companies, and are pleased with the results.

Interesting thread. Not trying to hijack the OP, but I have additional questions for respondents. I would like to print a number of 125 year old B&W images that are in public domain that were scanned from the glass plates. I would like to get copies that are as true to what original prints would have looked like. I've got some original prints from the negatives. Some are a matte finish on a fiber paper and some are matte on heavy non-fiber paper. Would like to print them no bigger than 8x10 for commercial sale in a shop. So, reasonable price is a consideration.

Thank you so much for your comments! From 1979-2000 I earned my keep by making portraits of families and children. In 2000 I closed the studio when I accepted a teaching position overseeing the art program of a large elementary school. I dropped from the scene for a number of years and reentered to the exciting world of digital photography. I have been making RAW exposures since 2007 and this link will take you to my newest work and some images that I have revisited. I hope that you enjoy.

P.S. I retired from teaching in 2010, am currently certified to teach in Texas, and have done a long term teaching position in Houston, traveled with a circus and their educator and most recently spent the summer in St. Mary, Montana at the East Gate of Glacier National Park.

If you are looking to do professional work and not home photos and you like MPIX go to Millers and not MPIX - MPIX is a division of Millers intended for non-professional use/home market. For a pro you will get features from Millers that will not be offered in their MPIX division.

And as I stated earlier - Whitehouse did a nicer job than Millers. (Millers was OK - Whitehouse was better.)

For standard prints that are 8x10 or smaller I use Costco. For larger prints I use White House (www.whcc.com) and they provide a range of materials and will do the matting. With a large print having them pre-mat it protects it until it can be framed and they charge less than a framing shop.

I also use a HP Laserjet 200 color printer. No problems with clogged head and the cartridges are cheaper than the ink cartridges for an inkjet printer and it works with any type of paper.

Injet printers are more economical for prints that are 14 x 22 and larger in size. For smaller sizes the color labs are less expensive. The labs also use photo paper and the surface is more stable than inkjet prints. The inkjet people tout the UV life but UV is not the problem but chemical and mechanical abrasion. A whole wing at the Met in New York had inkjet prints damaged when the floor maintenance people switched to a new type of floor wax. Mechanical abrasion is a more common problem than you would think and the larger the print the more of a problem it is to keep the glass from flexing and hitting the surface of the print - big problem with inkjet prints in particular.

I have never been able to get a good color match with Costco's inkjet printers that they use for the larger print sizes. No such problems with WHCC that nails it 100% of the time.

When someone want a print of one of my images I will often send the file to Costco and specify a store near them for printing. They can pick up the prints an hour later at the store and do not need to be members. WHCC will also drop ship to another address any print orders as well.

We have been using Shutterfly for a long time (has to be close to 10 years now), never had any problems. MPIX sounds interesting, need to take a look at that!

Whitehouse and MPIX were new names to me. I've spent some time at the websites and they each appear to have their act together. THANKS so much for the info.

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond. Some familiar names and some new names with food for thought. Happy New Year.

downtheroad wrote:
I use Costco for my photo printing.
Always high quality. Lots of options. For professionals, you can even set your their print set up to match your computer monitor. Thus, what you see is what you get.

X2 on Costco