Prints - who does the best digital prints on the UK high street?

Here's a problem.

When I use a film camera (35mm and medium format) I take my films to
Jessops for prints. In my experience they do just about the best job on
the high street, I have found.

But 6 months ago I went digital with a Nikon D200. I've taken some
amazing pictures with it and feel I could never truly go back to film
now. Except when it comes to making prints.

I've taken my ditigal pictures to Jessops and found that the fine
detail and richness in the pictures just isn't turning up in a physical
print. They seem to have a colour-photocopier type feel to them.

Out of frustration I've tried most other high street options and even
the in-store services you get at supermarkets. Kodak shops do a
reasonable job but on the whole I've been very dissaponited.

Anyone know why? Anyone know who does a particulalry good job? Do I
have to go to a pro place and pay pro prices?

Personally - I recommend.. (I know these are not high street - but they may
still be useful)

http://www.photobox.co.uk/
this firm has an online upload and order service..

Or - even better in my experience, but a bit more hassle
http://www.proamimaging.com/pricelist.html
With this one you have to prep yuor images to their spec and send them on a
CD
They are however, dirt cheap - and excellent quality... (better than
photobox in my opinion)

Hope that helps..
Simon.
www.srsteel.co.uk
http://www.srsteel.co.uk/Panorama
http://www.srsteel.co.uk/landscape
http://www.srsteel.co.uk/Peru
wrote in message
oups.com...



Here's a problem.

When I use a film camera (35mm and medium format) I take my films to
Jessops for prints. In my experience they do just about the best job on
the high street, I have found.

But 6 months ago I went digital with a Nikon D200. I've taken some
amazing pictures with it and feel I could never truly go back to film
now. Except when it comes to making prints.

I've taken my ditigal pictures to Jessops and found that the fine
detail and richness in the pictures just isn't turning up in a physical
print. They seem to have a colour-photocopier type feel to them.

Out of frustration I've tried most other high street options and even
the in-store services you get at supermarkets. Kodak shops do a
reasonable job but on the whole I've been very dissaponited.

Anyone know why? Anyone know who does a particulalry good job? Do I
have to go to a pro place and pay pro prices?

simon wrote:
Personally - I recommend.. (I know these are not high street - but
they may still be useful)

http://www.photobox.co.uk/
this firm has an online upload and order service..

Seconded.

David

wrote:

I've taken my ditigal pictures to Jessops and found that the fine
detail and richness in the pictures just isn't turning up in a physical
print. They seem to have a colour-photocopier type feel to them.

Out of frustration I've tried most other high street options and even
the in-store services you get at supermarkets. Kodak shops do a
reasonable job but on the whole I've been very dissaponited.

Anyone know why? Anyone know who does a particulalry good job? Do I
have to go to a pro place and pay pro prices?


It could be that your monitor isn't calibrated properly so that what you
are seeing on-screen isn't what the images are really like. In this respect
you can't trust the LCD preview on a camera either, I often found I would
take a pic and on the preview it had vivid glowing colours, yet on my pc it
looked flat and unsaturated. But I know my monitor is set up fine, in the
end I realised my mistake was that I used auto white balance which sucked
the atmosphere out of the images by neutralising the colours -- sunsets
become ordinary dull daylight etc -- but the over-vivid LCD fooled me into
thinking the shots were ok.

If your monitor is set up quite dark the images will look more saturated
than they really are, also if it's an LCD it may have a similar effect I
think, they tend to make things look punchier as their colour rendition is
less subtle than a CRT.

You can download test images from online photo printing places like
photobox, get them to send you a print of the same test image and then
compare it to how their jpeg looks on onscreen, and if necessary adjust
your monitor until it matches the print.




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Ducharme's Axiom:
If you view your problem closely enough you
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