Reply To: High quality photo printing service

[chakalakasp]

Yeah, inkjet prints don’t last for crap. Typical fade life of less than ten years, unless you buy archival inks and paper, something most people haven’t even heard of.

For online prints, I use MPIX.com. Their metallic paper is incredible — it’s like the old Fujichrome. I’ve used it to make prints for hangings and they’ve always come out great. I work for a newspaper, and the editor here thought the paper looked so good, he switched to them for all customer reprints. Hell, I’ve even had someone try to steal one of the photos that was hung in a bar — they do a great job with printing.

Only drawback with metallic paper is that, IMO, they don’t look great with skin tones. The metallic paper makes EVERYTHING look incredibly vibrant, and you usually want skin tones to be subtle.

Bonus is that shipping is flatrate and they’ll overnight Fedex you any sized order for $6.

Another good place to print is Adorama.com. I’ve had good luck with them, too; I’ve run wedding photos through them, and all the customers were really pleased.

I’d avoid Sam’s Club online photoprinting — pretty bad color on cheap paper. Others have said that they’re pretty good, but I definately disagree.

Go with MPIX metallic paper. Heck, if you don’t believe me, run five 8X10s through them. It’ll be like $14 after shipping. You’ll never print anywhere else. 🙂