Tragically, I Can Use a Lab

Last week, my studio owner and printing/framing guru and good friend, Peter English of GrandStyle Framing in Honesdale, PA passed away in his sleep. He is survived by two young children and a lovely wife.

It was a horrific shock on many levels, one of them of course being professionally--as my collaborator is no longer 15 minutes away, but deceased.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I do quite a lot of prints both framed and on canvas for just being in a small area, and not a true professional photog.

1--I have enough online resources and one local to fill the canvas void. It's become one of my favorite ways of showing my work, and depending on the photo, I like selling it to clients.

2--This is where I am looking for help--while there are some local printers I have used, I'm really not comfortable with any of them--either because of price, location or quality.

Soooo, I'm wondering if any of you can suggest online print labs that I would use for jobs from sizes 11 x 14 all the way up to 40 x 60.

Currently, I have three big orders: one of 10 framed or canvas photos, another of eight photos, and another of 10 (40 x 60). Plus several smaller orders.

I'm a bit overwhelmed without my studio available!!!

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I live in Northeastern PA, and again am looking for high-quality paper prints--matte, glossy, metallic, etc. at the "right" price.

Thank you in advance, this has been a major blow when things were heating up again. And thank you in advance for your condolences.

Best,

Bill Maile

Bill,
I use Bay Photo http://www.bayphoto.com and am very pleased with the service as well as the on line ordering format.
Mike

I'm sorry for your loss, Bill. Must be terrible for the man's wife and children too. I mostly use Adoramapix for my printing and have never been disappointed. Also, as a Zenfolio user I've ordered a few prints from MPix and they, too, do excellent work. They also have their MPixPro division for top-quality pro work, but it entails downloading something called Roes software, and in doing this I keep getting warnings from the computer about it not being all that safe, so I'm not quite sure what to think.

Bill, a very sad situation for Peter's entire family and his close friends such as yourself. There are of course many labs to turn to, however, the personal touch and support from your friend will surely be missed.

I too lost my local support in both film processing and print enlargements a couple years ago as a very good friend of mine had to sell his business with overall failing eyesight.

With that said I asked folks from the CANP group who could I try for film processing as well as prints. Although I had to split the service between two vendors I'm very pleased with the outcome from both services. Film processing went to Samy's in Santa Barbara.
For prints overwhelmingly the CANP group recommended Aspen Creek Photo.

Aspen Creek Photo

Their quality is exceptional. You can download their ROES and give it a test try before any large orders being placed.

Thank you so far everyone!! I will check them all out. Yes, he was a great asset to the arts community in our region. His family, God bless them. It's still a shock.

Nancy, I agree on the Roes system. I'm trying to avoid that, Simply Color Lab which does very good canvas uses it. And unfortunately I usually avoid them so I don't have to deal with it. Maybe it's just me being lazy, or a technical idiot.

Bill - as far as canvas goes I can highly recommend Artistic Photo Canvas, and can somewhat recommend Canvas on Demand. I just recently tried COD based on a friends recommendation and have only ordered three canvases from them so far. Two were nicely done but one canvas from there didn't come up to standards. They were quick to make it good though.

West Coast Imaging. None better.

I've used West Coast Imaging for years, and like Phillip says, "None better".

Any questions I've posed have always been answered in an accurate and timely manner, and the prints are gorgeous.

--P

I have used Adoramapix, Bayphoto, and Simply Color/Simply Canvas. Of the three Adoramapix is the cheapest. I never had an issue with their prints, until I ordered from Bayphoto and realized how much better they can be. I tried Simply Color after a friend suggested them and they had a nice coupon. They are probably on par with Bayphoto but their prices are not as good and their print selection is not as extensive as Bayphoto. I get almost all my prints from Bayphoto. Both Bayphoto and Simply Color use a version of the roes software. It's not bad, but it can be a bit confusing at times. I think I would prefer to just use my web browser, but they don't offer that option.

Here's a comparison of 11 online photo labs that you may find helpful.
In the few months since I first read this, I've used and have been extremely pleased with Pro DPI.

I have mentioned this business once before and from the looks of it I am the only one on NPN that has even heard of them. This print business was recommended a few years ago by Dewitt Jones in one of his articles in Outdoor Photographer. I am telling you it is the best I have used, and I have used most all that have been previously mentioned. There are a few mentioned here that I will not do business with for various reasons.
Perfect Posters

Thanks Brad, John, and all. I'll check them out. one example, locally a VERY well respected printer in the area wants $60 for an 18x24 print. I guess it's what you pay for, but my previous cost was about $30+. I'll check em out.

Giving ProDPI the first crack for now. Just trying to figure my way around the ROES system and get some samples. Price and selection look great, I've got a boat load of ordering to do, so I hope it all works out. Thanks John M. and anyone else I've missed here!

Hey Bill,

First, let me offer my congratulations on your orders. It seems as if you are doing pretty well!

I have used Mpix, My Photo Pipe, Bay Photo, West Coast Imaging/Aspen Creek. My first choice would be West Coast Imaging. They are a top notch professional print shop, and the results are very good. Admittedly a bit higher priced, and they have a minimum order of $200.00! I have been using their other shop "Aspen Creek" for a while now. Still give very nice results, but the prices are lower and no minimum. I think a 20x30 on Fuji gloss/matt is about $28.00. They have fairly regular sales offering them at $19.00.

Chris