Online printing services and related questions

[Participant]

Hi all

I'm about to place an order for my wedding photos with http://www.dscolourlabs.co.uk and have a few questions.

- Has anyone here used these guys before and how did you find them? I've been told they are ok, but would like to hear some more views due to the importance of them being high quality.

- What type of paper would you recommend I go for - gloss, matt, or lustre?

- Regarding resizing and cropping images before uploading them for printing, I'm confused. I want 7.5" x 5" prints and the help section is telling me to resize the prints to a certain resolution first (lower than they currently are). Is this just for the sake of their servers, or will it actually enhance the quality of the prints?

- If the aspect ratio of one of the pictures is not exactly right, will the machine create small white borders, adjust the aspect ratio to fit, or crop to fit? I presume that since 7.5 / 5 = 1.5 and the resolution of these photos is 4256 x 2832, I'll be ok just to upload 'as is' and the system will do the rest?

Thanks.

 

[Slime101]

I would personally go with a professional company like peak imaging, youll not regret the quality and service you recieve.

Paper type, lustre/satin finish is so much nicer than the alternatives.

As for your other questions only the printers will be able to answer if they border or more likely crop wrong aspect ratio pics, and why they want them downsized - seems daft to me!

 

[Participant]

Ok thanks. I placed the order anyway after a while as the response took ages (no offence). They have come today and are apparently at home and look very nice. I ordered lustre late on Saturday and 130 shots have been delivered today, so I'd call that very good service bearing in mind it was bank holiday on Monday.

Not sure what you mean by 'I would personally go with a professional company like peak imaging' - dscolourlabs are a professional company hence I'm paying them? Anyway I'll feedback more about the quality of the prints when I get home tonight.

Cheers.

 

[Amp34]

I wa going to post that I personally would just use photobox/an ok name for 7x5's which will probably just be looked at twice, once as they go into the book and a second time in 40 years, when you are dead...

For hanging prints on the other hand expense is worth it. (Hense why I use my local kodak shop for 7x5's and Loxley for bigger print). Having said that if they were reasonably cheap then alls fine. And yeah, lustre is probably the best for normal prints, and is what I use for all mine.

 

[mcwildcard]

How handy, I was just coming in here to ask a similar question, now I don't have to create a new thread!
I'm after getting a single A3 print done for framing and hanging, it's a gift for a mate, so I don't mind forking out a bit for quality.
Any suggestions for just a single print?

 

[zeon_5*]

We got the high res images of our wedding photography and used photobox for 7x5's, 10x8's and a couple larger ones think they were 16x14 or some similar size. The quality of the paper used was really good and they had them to us within a couple of days of ordering them. We went for the gloss look then got the framed at a local framers

Photobox gets a thumbs up from me

 

[Amp34]

Loxley is the best IMO, cheaper for prints above 12x8 as well (compared to photobox), and I (and lots of others) have had issues with larger sizes from photobox in the past. Having said that, for a single print Photobox may work out cheaper, as their postage is cheaper, and you dont have to faf about downloading the (good) software and setting up an account for loxley.

If you want to frame a print behind glass the best coating to go for is either matt or lustre, gloss can cause problems with reflections apparently.