Print Quality of Photo Books - any recommendations

Jenka

I have a MacBookPro, and have used iPhoto and have received some Apple iBooks in the past. I believe the print quality from apple has improved in recent times and want to try out a few samples, but would value your opinion first.

I have done a search on the photography forums for photobooks etc and have come across a number of forums. Some are old threads referring to these sites below, if you have any recent opinions I would appreciate it.
I would ask board members to let me know if they have used any of the sites mentioned below for photobooks and if they can compare quality and price:

• blurb.com
• lulu.com
• photobook.be
• fotobook.co.uk
• digitalalbum.ie
• photobox.ie
• and Apple of course
• graphistudio - have to be a professional photographer to be allowed to use their service - have already contacted them in the past.

Can you tell me if it is possible to use Adobe format or do they only accept sRGB in the upload

Any advice on these or other sites would be very much appreciated

floydmoon1

i have used photobox.ie and thought the quality was very good with the print book.I dont have anything to compare it to though.

AnCatDubh

Hi Jenka,

From a previous post of mine in another thread - may be of interest;

I have done an albumfactory.co.uk photo book. You download their designer software - create the album offline, do your layouts, etc.. All ok to use and setup the book. Upload your 'book' to them - part with a few euros, actually for about 40 pages i think with delivery i paid about €80.

To be honest i was disappointed with the end result. It just left me uninspired about the photos i took. I think i was expecting a high gloss reproduction perhaps something of the quality of a glossy mag but with better quality paper. I didn't like the colouring they achieved. I was expecting the faux leather hard cover to be substantial but it was underwhelming to say the least.

To be fair, everyone that we showed the book to was blown away by it and really surprised that it only cost €80. Then again these comments came from non-photographers and they definitely were doing a C&C job on it.

I haven't done one since up to now but as it turns out i'm looking to do one at the moment. I can't vouch for it but i've found foto.com have such a facility. Their designer software is far better with what i think are far better layouts for the pages. No idea what the quality of the finished product is like (anyone else care to offer an opinion if they've used it). Cost wise - it was looking like about €40 for 54 pages, hard cover - i think post and packaging may be extra.

Regards.

rymus

the quality from lulu is very good!

Hugh_C

I've used Blurb on three occasions and have been very happy with the results. I used sRGB colour space

RCNPhotos

A lectuerer of mine uses blurb and swears by it. Saw a book he had done, seemed good to me.

snellers

FYI ALDI have started offering photo books too (fairly cheap solution for those on a budget) - I messed about with the software you download from their site and it is fairly comprehensive.
A colleague of mine ordered the hard cover product and I wasnt overwhelmed with the results....book he ordered had the minimum number of pages allowed for a hardcover and it looked a little flimsy - possibly would be improved with another 10 - 15 pages to bulk it out. Actual picture quality not bad at all though.

Jenka

Thanks so much for all the replies. This narrows it down, so I will look further into Blurb, Lulu, and Foto. I want to create some sample books that we can show to wedding clients, and I know it is not as good as the real thing with photos in a lovely album, but I think it is a great option for people to give parents, bridesmaids/groomsmen, and for perhaps that special aunty that made the cake, or designed the dress. I do one each year for my son's godparents, and have used Apple, and will try them again and then compare against the other companies. Again the quality is most important, with decent paper weight and gloss pictures would be perfection. Thanks also for the info on what not to use.

Jenka

hughchal wrote: »

I've used Blurb on three occasions and have been very happy with the results. I used sRGB colour space

Did it give you the option of using Adobe, or if you did use Adobe did it force you to convert to sRGB

ladgie353

I used photobook.be and I was disapointed with the quality, it is ok but not great.
I also used Cewe (fotoinsight.com) and the photo quality is much better. They also offer more layout options.

Jenka

Excellent, I will look at fotoinsight then and see how it works out. Can I use this on Mac?

ladgie353

Can I use this on Mac?

I just had a look on the website and I'm affraid it is a windows-olny editor.

Covey

Mypublisher produce great books, from the couple I've seen.

T.

http://www.mypublisher.eu.com/default.php

Muineach

snellers wrote: »

FYI ALDI have started offering photo books too (fairly cheap solution for those on a budget) .

Yea I got an ALDI hardback, quality was decent but saturation was lower than expected, family were impressed but the quality doesn't come close to a 8x12 print off pixmania.

Jenka

I am downloading myplublisher as I type. Will check on paper weight used for the different varieties of books. The delux book costs 1.99 for each additional page where the softcover costs 0.39 for each additional page, my assumption is that there is an improvement in paper quality as it costs extra. Will probably do one on apple for convenience and comparison also.
The only thing missing now is time.....time to do all this

Jenka

The answer I had back from them on paper quality was:

Thank you for your interest in the printing method and type of paper that we use to publish MyPublisher books, for both PC and Mac BookMaker users!

We're very proud of the quality and professional look and feel that MyPublisher books express. This is the outcome of years of experimentation and steady improvements in both materials, technology and in workmanship.

We print our books using a four color digital printing process, on the following types of equipment, and on the paper products listed below.

PRINTING EQUIPMENT:
Hewlett Packard 3050 Digital Offset Press

PAPER TYPE:
Deluxe Hardcover Book: Acid-free, 80# archival, acid-free, glossy cover stock Classic Hardcover Book: Acid-free, 115# archival, acid-free, glossy text stock Paperback PocketBook: Acid-free, 115# archival, acid-free, glossy text stock

BOOK JACKETS:
The outside of the jacket is laminated and is moisture resistant. The laminate is 1 mil and the paper print stock is 7 mil. High resolution images are printed on a wide format Canon printer.

Covey

I've seen a couple of these and they look really good.

About to order myself.

pippatee

Covey wrote: »

Mypublisher produce great books, from the couple I've seen.

T.

http://www.mypublisher.eu.com/default.php

+1

I use these all of the time, software is easy to use and the quality of the books is outstanding ... they offer all sorts of cover finishes, including an amazing leather ....

padocon

+1 for blurb, was very happy with the quality of mine. And now they allow PDF!

AnCatDubh

The latest boards book on what i believe is a premium paper option (for a few euro more) is excellent in my humble opinion.

This years production is really cracking good.

qwertz

Is there a reason why this site is priced in dollars?

CabanSail

DerekMoy wrote: »

New Irish Photobook website available, mostly geared to Irish themed photobooks ... but software is easy to use: http://www.irishphotobooks.com. Got Irish Calendars aswell.

I too am curious about it being in $ and it is strange as a first post.

tullie

has anyone used blurb.com lately? I hear good things but just wondering if there's a second opinion out there?

AnCatDubh

Yeah, the boards photography yearbook was done through blurb. oscarBravo who was our designer used a premium paper and it is really excellent. It costs just a few bob more too. Well worth it. I'm sure oscarBravo would give you the details if you are interested.

tullie

Cheers, planning on using them, to get a few copies of my photothesis printed. Good to hear the quality is up to scratch

AnCatDubh

might be worth a quick pm to oscarBravo to check his experience of them. By all accounts i think it was positive. But with your purpose having a particular focus ie. a photothesis (thus college or something the like???) i'd guess just be sure.

tullie

oh sorry to confuse, know already got the official one done in dublin, all done graduated and all, just want to get a few copies for a few people, and twould be handy for portfolio purposes. but I'll send oscarbravo a pm. thanks for the help.

youcancallmeal

I'm a total amateur when it comes to this so was hoping somebody could give me some advice. I have around €100 to spend and I want to have around 60-80 pages. Say if I was to use blurb.com what would be the best combination of size, style, paper etc to get value for money. Also how long do these take to arrive after you have finalized and paid for your order, hoping to get one made and delivered in time for christmas.

Curran

My mates father used blurb recently, to print out a 40 page book of photo's of his grandchild and was well impressed with them!!
Got his book delivered and on one of the pages the ink had run slightly - nothing major but annoying all the same - so he emailed them to let them know, replied the next day asking for a scan of the bad page, which he did and they sent him a brand new copy! Now he has two copies of it - one for his coffee table and his daughter got one for her house too!
So them seem really professional and great to deal with!

smelltheglove

youcancallme>al wrote: »

I'm a total amateur when it comes to this so was hoping somebody could give me some advice. I have around €100 to spend and I want to have around 60-80 pages. Say if I was to use blurb.com what would be the best combination of size, style, paper etc to get value for money. Also how long do these take to arrive after you have finalized and paid for your order, hoping to get one made and delivered in time for christmas.

I'd highly recommend www.shakespearephotobooks.com I was using blurb for a while but I changed to these as I'd rather keep my money in the country and well impressed with quality and service.

Captain Flaps

I'm doing a BA in photography and all of our lecturers recommended blurb for the book segments of our final submissions. I ran one off just to see what the quality was like, and was blown away. I did the design myself but you can use one of their templates to pretty great effect. I'd have no problem recommending them.