Posted by Steve Foss on February 1, 2007 at 9:00 PM
Hey all:
I'm looking to find the best pro photo printing shop in the United States for taking digital files and making excellent fine art enlargements out of them. I know there are limitations, and that some images will take more enlargement than others before beginning to fall apart. But I'd like to hear about your experiences with various printing businesses and how big they were able to make enlargements (as well as what you gave them to start with) that suited your professional standards.
Posted by Walter Rowe on February 1, 2007 at 10:35 PM
There is a member of www.travelphotographers.net named Tom Guffey who does a lot of large printing. You might post your question over there too.
West Coast Imaging has a very good reputation, and although I havent had them make me any very large prints, everything they've done for me has been with utmost quality and professionalism. It's worth paying a little more to work with a lab that knows what they're doing. Many do not.
I'll second West Coast Imaging! You can either uplaod a preflighted digital file or send film to them for scanning and printing. The work they have done for me is of the latter type. You can get either Fuji Crystal Archive or inkjet prints.
The quality of thier work and customer service is superb, in my opinion. While they may be more expensive, the value is outstanding. It will be worth your time to explore the various options they present.
-PB
Posted by Kim Kaiser on February 2, 2007 at 6:47 PM
white house custom color in St Paul does good work as well,,, whcc.com
Posted by Steve Foss on February 2, 2007 at 9:11 PM
Thanks, everyone. I'll look into West Coast Imaging. I use WHCC right now for most of my work, but they only print in 8 bit color, and for really large work, I'd think 16-bit would hold together better.
I have had WCI make 16x20's on Fuji Crystal Archive that are from 8-bit files. They are drop-dead gorgeous! That said, I honestly don't know if 16-bit would by buy you that much.
-PB
Posted by Marshall Goff on February 3, 2007 at 4:01 PM
To my knowledge, no printer actually *uses* 16-bits of information, though there are a (very) few methods that will get 16-bits into the printer driver (e.g., ImagePrint's RIP, I think). The real benefit of 16-bit is in editing and prepping the files, and not yet in the output step.
I've sent pre-flighted files up to 20x30 (roughly) to Autumn Color (http://autumncolor.com) for Lightjet output and been VERY happy with them. West Coast Imaging, Colorfolio, and others provide reportedly excellent levels of service.
Discussion
7 repliesI'm looking to find the best pro photo printing shop in the United States for taking digital files and making excellent fine art enlargements out of them. I know there are limitations, and that some images will take more enlargement than others before beginning to fall apart. But I'd like to hear about your experiences with various printing businesses and how big they were able to make enlargements (as well as what you gave them to start with) that suited your professional standards.
The quality of thier work and customer service is superb, in my opinion. While they may be more expensive, the value is outstanding. It will be worth your time to explore the various options they present.
-PB
I have had WCI make 16x20's on Fuji Crystal Archive that are from 8-bit files. They are drop-dead gorgeous! That said, I honestly don't know if 16-bit would by buy you that much.
-PB
I've sent pre-flighted files up to 20x30 (roughly) to Autumn Color (http://autumncolor.com) for Lightjet output and been VERY happy with them. West Coast Imaging, Colorfolio, and others provide reportedly excellent levels of service.
- Marshall