My local photo printing service is fast, cheap, and generally pretty good. However, they are not always reliable. I have my monitor calibrated for accuracy, and I want prints which show what I see on my screen. I find that they usually print unprocessed shots fairly well, but once I hand them anything which has undergone a little post-processing it’s touch and go as to what I’ll get back. I’ve had good shots come back as prints which were washed out, clipped, overexposed, flat, or the wrong colour temperature.
Can anyone recommend a reliable high quality photo printing service, preferably not too far away from Neihu?
Try looking at DGphoto. The site’s all in Chinese, so you may need help navigating (you may not, I don’t know) but you should be able to find ads or advice there. If not, take a look at the gallery anyway, some amazing Taiwanese photographers on that site.
Thanks. I’ve been there a couple of times before, mainly to admire the photography, but I can’t navigate it at all (my reading is nowhere near that good). I might ask a friend to look around it for me.
My local photo developer is run by a guy who does studio photography too, and I think I’ve seen him doing post-processing himself on a large monitor, so he might have a clue about what you need – I don’t know, but if you can’t find anywhere else, I’d be happy to stop by there with you and help explain to him the level of quality you’re looking for (his English isn’t up to snuff), and we could see what he says and what kind of results he gives you.
For 8 by 12 or smaller, I print at home on an Epson Photo printer - although it seems to be broken at the moment. I don’t usually print larger than that for my own use.
Other than that, there’s a place i know in Taizhong that I go to, (I live in Zhanghua so it’s only a 15 min train ride). Although it’s a pretty rare event - whenever i go to Taizhong i seem to spend lots of money on things i don’t need, so i try to keep trips there to a minimum.
I’m actually looking at buying an Epson R1800 or R2400 which’ll allow me to print A3+, although I’m not sure if I like the $20-30K price tag, and the difficulties in finding quality ink in Taiwan.
If you take a look at the Dry Creek Photo website, it lists one lab in Taipei that has had a printer profile made for it, which should allow you to get accuracy all the time.
cfimages, how cost effective is your photo printer? I may look into that as well. I wouldn’t be printing more than 100 photos a month. Would you recommend any particular model? The Canon iP6700 looks good, as does the Canon Pixma Pro9000, which seems in another league entirely.
And thanks for the addresses, which I’ve just seen.
I’ve never really worked out the cost-effectiveness of my printer vs a lab. The best thing is the convenience - i can print whenever i want, and also print small test prints to check the color before printing the final, high quality print.
I think any of the Canon IP/Pixma range, or the Epson Photo Rxxx range are pretty good. It just depends on what you want to spend. Actually, these days, any of the major printer companies that produce photo printers (usually 6 ink or more) should be ok.
When I buy a new printer, I want it to print bigger than A4, which is why i was considering the R1800 or R2400. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo printer of that size from any other brand in Taiwan. (Office printers yes, but not photo printers).
Thanks a lot for that. Yes, the convenience, test prints, and the occasional large print is exactly what I have in mind, and it’s especially at the larger sizes that I really want to make sure everything is absolutely spot on.
Luckily for you I have their prices in a text file, here it is: (sorry btw, only got them for 4x6 and 8x10 but it’s an indication of what they have)
inches cm pixels(min) price
3 x 5 7.62 x 12.70 1050 x 1500
4 x 6 10.16 x 15.24 1200 x 1800 4 NT$
5 x 7 12.70 x 17.78 1500 x 2102
6 x 8 15.24 x 20.32 1797 x 2400
8 x 10 20.32 x 25.40 2398 x 3000 80 NT$
10 x 12 25.40 x 30.48 3000 x 3602
12 x 15 30.48 x 38.10 3000 x 4500
Okay, I know they are everywhere, but are some better than others and if so any recommendations? I have some photos from Tibet, Hainan Island and Qinghai I really want to print out cause they are so purty.
All modern minilabs are usually set to auto-everything when it comes to printing. There won’t be a lot of difference between different places, especially at small print sizes (A4 or less).
Not living in Taipei I can’t really recommend a good place although I have seen a graphic artist friends photos that were done in the big Kodak place in Jingmei that look good (this was a couple of years ago though).
I usually use Fuji places for no other reason than in my film shooting days I preferred the look of Fuji films. The newest minilab machines made by Fuji are the Frontier 590 and Frontier 500 - if you see a place with either of them, you should be ok. Older models may or may not be in need of a good clean - it depends on the store.