Lab Prints Question

[Bascule]

I'm new to digital but learning fast. Thank largely to this forum.

It seems to be the general consensus that the best quality prints come from the labs rather than from a home printer.

I've just bought a G3 and have got some great prints from my HP PCS 2115 all-in-one printer but I will agree that they are not up to the standard of the prints I get back from the developers from my old Canon AE1. I have always ordered 5x7 matte finish and have always been very happy with the quality of prints from the old AE1.

I'm hoping that at that size I should be able to match the quality using the G3 (wishful thinking? that old devil called softness? what do you think?) but I'm not sure what sort of files I should send to the developer and what (if any) post-processing I should do. Do the developers apply some sharpening themselves? I'm not a sharpness freak but I'd love to match the crispness of the AE1 one)

Any advice gratefully received. And thanks again everyone for a VERY useful forum.

[Laziferous]

I have a G2, and have had 8x10's printed at Ritz.... and they look beautiful. As a matter of fact... I'm about to drop some images off there tomorrow, to get some 10x13's done. My wife gave me the ok to decorate our walls with some of my shots... so I am :)

As for sharpening... I either use the Unsharp Mask, or High Pass filter in Photoshop (Elements actually). Either one works well, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. I'm sure there are other methods of sharpening also, but of the ones I know... those two give you the most control. I'm a bit of a newb myself :D

[John_T]

Don't want to make anybody unhappy, but you can make prints at home, even better than most labs. Buy a Canon BJC i950 or i9100 injet printer. (no, I don't work for Canon!)

Doing it at home with such a printer gives you complete control and a lot of fun experimenting to get what you want, and further, to see what your camera is capable of! Nothing like fast feedback.

You'll be surprised!.

[xuxu1]

I have experienced bad quality developement so often that i am realy feed up with all those labs.

About two weeks ago i bought a Canon Powershot G5 and must say i am extremly pleased with the results.

To give it a try i sent (via internet) 20 pictures of mine to a (in my country) well know lab for developing.

Half of the photos were made with my Canon SLR using Kodak Gold print film, Fuji Superia print film, Fuji Sensia slide film and Fuji Provia professional slide film. The other half (digital) were made with my new G5.

Looking at the result of development was more than disguisting. All of the developed photos have a green/yellow tan. A quality for the waste basket!

Now i am thinking of buying a Canon CP-200 or CP-300 Card Photo Printer.

Any of you have one of those? What is your experience?

Looking forward for your response.

Regards

[msvirick]

John_T wrote:
Don't want to make anybody unhappy, but you can make prints at home, even better than most labs. Buy a Canon BJC i950 or i9100 injet printer. (no, I don't work for Canon!)


You'll be surprised!.

My impression was ink sublimination printers were superior to inj jet for output
Are i959 and i9100 inkjet or ink sumlimination printers?

[John_T]

As far as I can see, nothing will touch the i950 or i9100. There are lots of arguments to and fro, but in the end it's a personal matter. Here is a link from an earlier discussion:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14108