photo labs

[Anne12343]

Can anyone tell me what reviews say about the best pro labs for processing prints? I've looked at quite a number of them, but which ones have the best paper and overall look for prints? Adorama, SmugMug, Snapfish, White House...??? Thanks.

[mshockley]

I'm very pleased with MPix Pro

[SusanH1970]

Stay away from Snapfish. Miller's, WHCC (I've had good luck with them, I've heard complaints from others though), MPix Pro. I've heard Bay Photo's not bad either, but I haven't used them myself.

[ArmySoldier777]

+1 to Mpix Pro, great prints, and Adorama is great too. Those are the only ones I've used, but I've been happy with both.

Here's a great comparison site between the different main printing services. It's a few years old, so things may have changed. But it still seems pretty accurate with what I've seen.
http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00QnNl

[dakwegmo]

My favorite lab is myPhotopipe. The quality of their work is awesome, the colors are always exactly as I expect them, they're prices are great, their customer service is great, and they offer options that I haven't seen anywhere else. They also happen to be in my neighborhood, so I can pick up prints and don't have to pay for or wait on shipping. My favorite until I discovered them was white house custom color. They also have good prices, quality, and service. If they were also in Atlanta, I'd have a hard time choosing between the two.

I cannot recommend Mpix or Mpix pro. I have never gotten consistent color from them. Even in the same order, from the same file, on the same paper, different sized prints can have dramatically different results. YMMV, but I stopped using because the colors were so bad, I almost had to back out of a show two years ago because the prints I ordered from them turned out so badly, and their customer service was less than helpful in offering any sort of workable solution to getting the prints ready in time.

Edit: And since you seem to be getting conflicting personal accounts, I would contact each of them and see about getting a print sample from any that you are considering. Mpix Pro and WHCC both offer welcome kits where you can get a few test prints just for signing up. Any of the others should offer prints at low enough prices that you can order a few 5x7s or 8x10s to see which service you actually prefer.

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by dakwegmo

I cannot recommend Mpix or Mpix pro. I have never gotten consistent color from them. Even in the same order, from the same file, on the same paper, different sized prints can have dramatically different results. YMMV, but I stopped using because the colors were so bad, I almost had to back out of a show two years ago because the prints I ordered from them turned out so badly, and their customer service was less than helpful in offering any sort of workable solution to getting the prints ready in time.

That sucks, Marcus. I've never had one problem with either one (nor Miller's, the parent company). The color is always perfect for me with them. Try them again, maybe? You said you used them two years ago. I've used Mpix for 3 years; the others for 2.

[dakwegmo]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

That sucks, Marcus. I've never had one problem with either one (nor Miller's, the parent company). The color is always perfect for me with them. Try them again, maybe? You said you used them two years ago. I've used Mpix for 3 years; the others for 2.

Yeah, I was not happy. Fortunately, I found myPhotoPipe and couldn't be more pleased.

[tld316]

Just wondering if I should look elsewhere with using these guys? I have not had a problem at all but never used anoter printer to compare to either. I need to keep prices low since I am jsut starting and very worried about price. My work is done cheap for now ( hope to get good enough to increase that some ) , feel free to look at some of my work and please let me know if I am being ripped off by adorama, BAy and Nations seems so hard to get the pictures loaded and work with. Thanks