Commercial print vs. home printer

This is my first original post here, so I hope I'm doing this correctly!

I have just returned from Palau and took a bunch of digital pics with my S45... my first foray into underwater still photography. From what I can tell, my husband is jealous of the good to great

results! He lugged his NikonosV and I think he may want to change! (I can see a Canon 10D in our future!)

Anyway, I know there was a previous post about getting prints made at Costco. However, the terminology is new to me and can someone post the whys/wherefores and what do I do's? I don't relish the thought of printing out on my S800 or CP-100... I have an album to complete!

Thanks for any and all help!

K.

Bsktcase,

The process for developing digital pics at Cosco was very easy. There was a self-service machine on the counter where you insert the CD-rom. You then follow the menu to make your choices: glossy or not, size of pics, etc. The pictures appear on the screen and you enter how many copies of each you want. The machine then asks your name and phone number then spits out a receipt when done to be taken to the register. Pics are done in 24 hrs.

I don't know exactly what the ICC profiles are. For 19cents each, I would recommend submitting a practice run and check out the results. I can't imagine the general public shooting family stuff is worrying about ICC profiles. If they don't look right, you can look further.

I have a Canon S800. The pics from Cosco looked much better and without the work!

Hope this helps,

(I don't work for Cosco and I'm sure other companies are doing this)

John

Thanks John. I will check out the Costco and see if they have that machine.

Oh. Do you know if it will read DVDs as well?

Karen

Karen,

I too have had many photos done at Costco, .19 for 4x6 and $1.99 for 8x12. Our Costco has a Fuji Frontier huge machine and you simply give your CD to the operator with the same envelope you would use for regular photos and an hour or so later you have your images. You simply identify the files, if you don't want all of them printed. You can also use the self-service feature at some but not all Costco stores. Also only about half the stores have the Fuji machine. They print on Fuji archival paper, which is a very good medium.

There are many other places that do the same thing with either Fuji or Kodak machines, but I have been very satisfied with Costco. Good luck.

TedJ

Howdy, bsktcase - Welcome to Wetpixel!

Two comments:

1. About your husband's Nikonos V - I used the Nikonos V for 13+ years, and I did get some great shots (occasionally!), but the Nikonos has ancient technology, not to mention the film vs. digital issues. Housed digital is THE way to go today for serious U/W photography.

2. I have used HP printers at home for years, and they do a pretty good job on photos, but the prints fade real fast, especially if any sunlight hits them. I recently bought an Epson 1280, and I was blown away by the quality of the prints, and Epson says that they won't fade for at least 25 years. I'm sure that it would be cheaper to have Costco or another photo finisher print my photos, but it sure is nice to do it at home AND have total control over the output.

That's my two cents worth!

I recently bought an Epson 1280, and I was blown away by the quality of the prints, and Epson says that they won't fade for at least 25 years.  I'm sure that it would be cheaper to have Costco or another photo finisher print my photos, but it sure is nice to do it at home AND have total control over the output.

The no fading claim is contingent upon putting your photo behind UV-resistant glass/acrylic in "normal" indoor lighting, I believe. I use a Epson 2200 which is an "archival" pigment-ink printer, and my prints fade if I do not put them behind UV glass.

Thanks, Eric. One of the reasons I bought a new printer was to upgrade to a bigger carriage so that I could print 11x14. I've been really pleased with the results. I appreciate the comments about fading. The HP inks that I used did fade very fast in bright light. I have spoken with a couple of folks who have Epsons, and I get the feeling that they don't have quite as much problem with fading, but as you mentioned, they will fade.

I'll check into the UV-resistant materials.

Thanks!

Oh! One more question about the costco printing...

Do the images need to be in any particular format or size?

Bsktcase,

I don't think so.

I submitted both JPEGs and TiFF files. The TIFF pictures looked much better (better color saturation, etc) when compared to the same pics converted to the highest resolution JPEGs.

My recommendation would be to use TIFFs. But again, try a few of each as a test. I would not have expected there to be a noticable difference but there was in my case. I would be curious to see what results you get.

Good luck!

Don't spend too much at Cosco (I can't get out of there without spending $400)

John

I found an interesting article in Popular Photography titled "The Truth About Inkjet Prints." It pretty much verifies what Eric said about fading.

http://www.popphoto.com/assets/download/57...57200314937.pdf