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Where and how do you have your (digital) pictures printed?


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Now that you have taken the most beautiful (digital) pictures with your Leica, sometimes you might want to have them printed, I am thinking holiday photo albums and the odd picture for in a frame. Was wondering if you have any good/bad experiences with commercial printing services? Not sure it is allowed in this forum, but would be keen to receive some suggestions (in the Netherlands, Germany or Belgium). 

Many thanks and have a good weekend!

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2 hours ago, Peevee57 said:

Now that you have taken the most beautiful (digital) pictures with your Leica, sometimes you might want to have them printed, I am thinking holiday photo albums and the odd picture for in a frame. Was wondering if you have any good/bad experiences with commercial printing services? Not sure it is allowed in this forum, but would be keen to receive some suggestions (in the Netherlands, Germany or Belgium). 

Many thanks and have a good weekend!

Up to A2 I make my own prints.

You could try Whitewall in Germany for prints.  I recall some members here use them and think they’re good but my own experience with ordering prints for clients from Whitewall was not a happy one due to poor colour management and a framed print delaminating from the backing board after a few months.  No doubt others will counter that, but I personally wouldn’t use them again.

 

As for photo books, my eldest son uses Saal for his photo books.  Saal are a German company and the quality is pretty good.


 

 

 

Edited by Ouroboros
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Get a good A3 or A3+ printer find some tutorials and print yourself. It is a bit of a learning curve and not everything may turn out to your standard, but it is highly satisfactory to see the work of your hands. And after a while some prints will be pretty good. 

I find the Epson XP15000 pretty good and reasonably priced.

For  best quality use Foto Kiekie, the books from the Hema are quite nice, CameraExpress better.

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My only caution regarding Jaap's suggestion is that if you don't use the printer often the ink pod heads will gum-up and you'll need to replace those ink pods. (Unless things have gotten better since I experienced that)

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An A3 or A2 printer can be a significant investment if you only think you need photos printing from time to time. There are companies such as 

https://www.theprintspace.co.uk/

that can do fully professional jobs in digital printing. But just as with printing at home there is a learning curve, rubbish in with the wrong profiles equals rubbish out by the printer, but they have guides to lead you in the right direction. So I would recommend an A4 photo printer, Epson, Canon etc., and get the hang of things with that and contract out anything bigger.

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Learning to print will also improve your visual judgment and picture making. At least that’s been my experience going back decades in the darkroom, and much the same in digital days. There is also great satisfaction that comes from making a fine print of a worthy pic (and even more if doing your own matting and framing). 
 

Print machines, inks and papers have improved immensely since early days.  Paper options also are typically much broader than offered by contracting out. I recommend 17 inch printers from either Epson or Canon. Machines are frequently discounted (companies want to sell the inks), so a 17 inch machine can often be purchased for the list price of the 13 inch siblings.  
 

There are loads of discussion threads in this forum on this and related home printing  topics.

Jeff

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3 hours ago, 250swb said:

An A3 or A2 printer can be a significant investment if you only think you need photos printing from time to time. There are companies such as 

https://www.theprintspace.co.uk/

that can do fully professional jobs in digital printing. But just as with printing at home there is a learning curve, rubbish in with the wrong profiles equals rubbish out by the printer, but they have guides to lead you in the right direction. So I would recommend an A4 photo printer, Epson, Canon etc., and get the hang of things with that and contract out anything bigger.

Significant?  Well under 300 Euro…

https://www.cameranu.nl/nl/p2257475/epson-expression-photo-xp-15000-hd-printer?bgid=39435-DETRW647SP2BQ-2257475&msclkid=9b1cd3ab27ba1e962242b7a606ed2a68

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With Epson rebate (frequent) and dealer discount, my brand new P800 was $845.  This was an absolute bargain compared to the cost of my Leica camera and lens gear; the biggest bang for the buck for what I consider an essential part of the photographic process.  For online viewing, a phone camera can generally suffice. Ink and paper of course are ongoing expenses, but the results are worth it to me, and maybe to others after I’m gone, as opposed to files on my hard drives.

Jeff

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On 3/11/2023 at 9:15 PM, 250swb said:

An A3 or A2 printer can be a significant investment if you only think you need photos printing from time to time. There are companies such as 

https://www.theprintspace.co.uk/

that can do fully professional jobs in digital printing. But just as with printing at home there is a learning curve, rubbish in with the wrong profiles equals rubbish out by the printer, but they have guides to lead you in the right direction. So I would recommend an A4 photo printer, Epson, Canon etc., and get the hang of things with that and contract out anything bigger.

I have up home printing as I only used the printer once or twice a year and it just wasn’t worth it. I have used the print space and whitewall and had very good prints from both

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For anyone in London I have had good experience with http://econelab.co.uk

They are an old-school lab, aimed at professionals but members of the public can walk in if you can find them in their light industrial unit. It's worth the effort seeking them out because you will get very good advice and individual attention.

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  • 1 month later...

Anyone has any recommendations for big prints on canvas (think over 1 meter / 40 inches on one side) in the US?

I had an amazing experience printing on canvas when I lived in Germany, and still have some prints from my Q hanging around the house in the US. Every service I used in the US for canvas prints produced very subpar results, even when using photos from high resolution cameras like M11. Can’t even have them in the same room with prints from Germany, the difference is too obvious.

I am quite happy with prints on metal from Aluminyze, but with a small child in the house I’m not making big prints on metal :)

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