I use my Epson RX500 which makes satisfactory prints up to 8.5x11
Please comment briefly on your experiences with a kiosk, lab or online print service.
- Log in or register to post comments
I use Shutterfly for most of my personal prints and a local pro lab for portrait work. Shutterfly has excellent quality and great turnaround most of the year. I receive most of my orders in about 4 days after the upload. Not bad considering they are in CA and I am in MA! However, do not expect the same level of service in the month of December. In fact it can take 3 weeks for the saem order and they will NOT respond to email querries during this time and they do not have a toll-free number.
I only use a lab for processing. Since I have set up a digital darkroom, I want and prefer to use it; I have control then. When shopping I do see a lot of people(probably snapshooters) using the kiosk in the store so I would guess that is used the most by the snapshooter.
I do all of My printing. Nobody else seems to really care about what they put out. I think that most of the labs hire machine jockys and don't care about Quality printing. I would like to find a lab that can do the same quality I can do at home.
I have used "custom" labs, as well as nationwide photo labs and labs at non-photo stores. I have found the labs as a whole do an OK job, so if I am printing a bunch of images (for example, an entire roll of 35mm color prints) I have a lab do it. Most of my film images, however, are chromes, which I print selectively after scanning them. The quality is pretty consistent among the 1-hour labs, though I get better quality at the pro/custom lab (even if it takes a little longer.)
Printing at home is ok for one or two images, but when I have fifty or a hundred to print, I use a local mini-lab that I can send the files to via the internet, pay by credit card, and pick up the finished prints the next day; without ever having to load paper or change an ink cartridge.