I used to use West Coast Imaging exclusively for all my prints, and was really happy with them. Now, they've introduced a minimum $250 order for prints, which is 4x more than I usually spend on a single 24 x 36" print. I'm looking for viable alternatives. Their sister site Aspen Creek photos seems to use only .jpgs, which is weird considering they advise using wide gamut spaces! I need a place that provides quality comparable to WCI - one that prints 16-bit TIFFs in Adobe RGB or wider gamut spaces. Any suggestions based on experience would be much appreciated. Thanks,
where are you getting the minimum order amount of $250 from? Their Print Lab Prices look the same. Are you talking about custom prints? I just ordered a 20x30 via the Print Lab about a month or two ago and didn't have any minimum order price requirement. I sure hope this isn't the case!!
Wow, they must be pretty busy to turn away business like that. They are the only lab I have dealt with. These days, I mostly print my own or source the big prints out to buddies.
I saw this, as well. It's not surprising that they would do this. Large orders are more efficient to print, package, and ship, and thus more cosst effective for them. I suppose it would be pretty easy to rack up a $250 order these days, though. The minimum order policy is for preflighted files you upload. Their Exhibition Prints and scan services have no minimum order.
wow, not sure how you guys found that web page. I looked all over and couldn't come across it on my own. Fortunately I can make my own prints for the most part but was out sourcing to them for larger ones. Looks like I'll be looking else where for large prints when an order is less than their minimum.
If you read Shutterbug, Outdoor Photographer, or any of those rags, you'll fine many ads for printing houses. And, Google too. If I need to print larger than I can do at home, I am fortunate to have Samy's Camera print shop and Specialty Color Services locally here. Look them up in Santa Barbara. Ask for Troy at Samy's, he's the manager, top printer, and my friend.
no doubt there are plenty of ads in the mags and google. I asked here mainly to get actual user feedback compared to WCI, which has been the fav of most landscape photographers. Thanks for the tip on Samy's.
Your requirements are unique (Adobe RGB) I don't know of many labs that print in that color space. Pretty sure most digital printers print in sRGB. I use Bay Photo and am happy with them.
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8 repliesI used to use West Coast Imaging exclusively for all my prints, and was really happy with them. Now, they've introduced a minimum $250 order for prints, which is 4x more than I usually spend on a single 24 x 36" print. I'm looking for viable alternatives. Their sister site Aspen Creek photos seems to use only .jpgs, which is weird considering they advise using wide gamut spaces! I need a place that provides quality comparable to WCI - one that prints 16-bit TIFFs in Adobe RGB or wider gamut spaces. Any suggestions based on experience would be much appreciated. Thanks,
Kartik
--P
no doubt there are plenty of ads in the mags and google. I asked here mainly to get actual user feedback compared to WCI, which has been the fav of most landscape photographers. Thanks for the tip on Samy's.