Prints ???

[nickcowen]

I'm looking for a site that dose good quality prints from raw files. Any suggestions ?

[kman]

You would not ever print straight from raw files but convert to an image file first e.g. jpeg or tiff etc. Raw files are unprocessed (no sharpening, no colour space etc).

Once you have converted, I would recommend DS Colour Labs for high quality prints at reasonable prices (http://www.dscolourlabs.co.uk/)

[nickcowen]

Thank you and i just realised my error. Is there any difference in quality between jpeg and tiff?

[Nick Grant]

nickcowen said:

Thank you and i just realised my error. Is there any difference in quality between jpeg and tiff?

JPEG is a compressed format (of which there are many levels of compression) TIFF is not compressed.

In the real world a high quality JPEG is used for most purposes and once printed you can't tell the difference, unless you are printing in meters and not centimeters. All the magazine work I do only requires JPEGs.

[Nick Grant]

Just to add you will ideally want 300dpi and should specify a colour space such as sRGB.

[nickcowen]

thank you for the help

[RobDickinson]

DPI depends on print size, your not going to view a poster from 3 inches away.

Find out what colour space they want, or even if they look at it (use sRGB if not).

jpg is ok but best to find somewhere that will deal with a proper 16bit lossless file.

[Dogsey]

Agree with all that's been said but would add that unless you're doing prints for exhibition use then Photobox is probably as good as you'll need. Most of us them regularly and I've never heard a bad story about them.

[mcflurry]

kman said:

Once you have converted, I would recommend DS Colour Labs for high quality prints at reasonable prices (http://www.dscolourlabs.co.uk/)

DS Colour labs will do your first 50 6x4s for p&p only
The code is dscljp50

I found that they were excellent for my photochopped images, as you could either select your colour / light / sizing settings or get them to tweak them.
When recently playing with some cross processing, curves and filters (thanks Deviant Art.com) the printed results come out perfectly as planned

[JJM]

Dogsey said:

Agree with all that's been said but would add that unless you're doing prints for exhibition use then Photobox is probably as good as you'll need. Most of us them regularly and I've never heard a bad story about them.

I have just used Photobox for a dozen or so A4 prints and the quality and service was superb, I would certainly recommend them.

They also offer 40 free 4 x 6 prints on your first order.