photobooks (UK)

[gheesom]

Hi I was just wondering who you guys use, recommend?
I've seen photobox books, and the quality is ok, I can't imagine they're the best although they are nice and cheap.
Thanks

[Anke]

There's a great article in this months Professional Photographer Magazine. Its all about Photobooks for Weddings. Go get a copy.

[Banbert]

We use Photobox's Photobook as part of our standard package (as well as quite a few other things including their cards), basically because we wanted to give something that was low costs to budget brides who couldnt afford the Graphistudio or Spicer Halfield albums we offer as an added extra.

As a photobook its not bad quality and many of our brides that are on a budget really like it, but having said that we are on the look out for something more substantial to swap it out of our package because were not totally happy its the best choice.

Will check out PPM as well now, thanks for the post Anke.

[Anke]

In case you can't wait to get to the shops to read the entire article, here are some of the links which the article lists.

Bob Books (http://www.bobbooks.co.uk)
Booked Images (http://www.bookedimages.com)
GraphiStudio (http://www.graphistudio.com)
My Publisher (http://www.mypublisher.com)
Photobox (http://www.photobox.co.uk)
Queensberry (http://www.queensberry.com) (My wife and I had these for our wedding, very expensive but beautiful)
Sim2000 (http://www.sim2000imaging.com)
SnapFish (http://www.snapfish.co.uk)
TreasureYourPix (http://www.treasureyourpix.com)
YoPhoto (http://www.yophoto.co.uk)

Pick one up before the 24th May because that's when the next issue arrives. Which incidently you also might want to purchase as its a Wedding Special.

[Banbert]

In case you can't wait to get to the shops to read the entire article, here are some of the links which the article lists.

Bob Books (http://www.bobbooks.co.uk)
Booked Images (http://www.bookedimages.com)
GraphiStudio (http://www.graphistudio.com)
My Publisher (http://www.mypublisher.com)
Photobox (http://www.photobox.co.uk)
Queensberry (http://www.queensberry.com) (My wife and I had these for our wedding, very expensive but beautiful)
Sim2000 (http://www.sim2000imaging.com)
SnapFish (http://www.snapfish.co.uk)
TreasureYourPix (http://www.treasureyourpix.com)
YoPhoto (http://www.yophoto.co.uk)

Pick one up before the 24th May because that's when the next issue arrives. Which incidently you also might want to purchase as its a Wedding Special.


Cheers matey, I used to buy 2 or 3 fairly regular but when you have been buying them for 12 months you start to see the same articles being coming back round just sligtly updated, so I only tend to buy them now if something catches my eye. I did actually buy a couple 2 weeks ago when I was away for the weekend, one I read most of the other I arent actually sure where I put it and that may actually be the PPM, if not I will buy it though.

We use Graphistudio for our premium book type albums and they are truelly stunning, weve not actually got one yet with our pics in just a sample (that they supplied FOC) from them but we have a meeting this weekend with a B&G to sort out the album for their wedding we have just shot, really looking forward to seeing out photos in a Graphi book and will deffo get a copy for ourselves as a sample to show potential clients.

Queensberry I hear everyone say are very nice but you needed to cough some cash up before they would deal with us so we went with spicer halfield instead for traditional albums and they also supply art leather which is actually the album me and my wife have from our own wedding.

Sim2000 - Looked at them at FOI this year and they looked about the same prices as Graphi but they did offer some cheaper books, we may revisit them in our search for a more budget based book.

Will check some of the others out now.

I want a budget book for our standard package, so under £100 ideally which I know is very cheap but for this year we have positioned ourself cheaply to start with as its our first year and we offer premium albums as an addition for B&G's who can afford them.

[tommy_london]

I'm in the process of getting a sample from Booked images - hopefully they'll be as good as they look in the brochures they send (infact I REALLY hope they are as i've already sold 2 of them). They do seem to get recommended a lot though.

I did contact Bob Books but they're yet to reply and their mac software release date keeps slipping. Not a good start.

[Anke]

I'm in the process of getting a sample from Booked images - hopefully they'll be as good as they look in the brochures they send (infact I REALLY hope they are as i've already sold 2 of them). They do seem to get recommended a lot though.

I did contact Bob Books but they're yet to reply and their mac software release date keeps slipping. Not a good start.

They say August for the mac version, I hope its sooner as I'd love to try them

[Banbert]

If the Booked Images books are a decent price they could be a good option because they do look very nice, many of the cheaper books look almost identical to the Photobox books.

[tommy_london]

They say August for the mac version, I hope its sooner as I'd love to try them

They said June up until a few weeks ago. Like you I'd love to try them as those wrap around covers looks quite nice.

[gheesom]

We use Photobox's Photobook as part of our standard package (as well as quite a few other things including their cards), basically because we wanted to give something that was low costs to budget brides who couldnt afford the Graphistudio or Spicer Halfield albums we offer as an added extra.

As a photobook its not bad quality and many of our brides that are on a budget really like it, but having said that we are on the look out for something more substantial to swap it out of our package because were not totally happy its the best choice.

Will check out PPM as well now, thanks for the post Anke.

Can you get the photobox books without the logo on?

Many Thanks for the post Anke, I'll get looking for both issues.

[gheesom]

Do you have to be VAT registered to use Queensbury?

[tlc]

i would think twice about graphi - lately i have heard nothing but complaints about them. apparently, their quality control leaves a lot to be desired.

[Lisa1976]

I've just got a sample album back from a company called Everleaf and am very impressed with the digital photo book. The prices are reasonable, company is very easy to work with and the turnaround is about 3 weeks.

[gheesom]

have you got a web adress for them?

[tommy_london]

http://www.everleafpro.co.uk/

[jjmucker]

damn ,i didnt realise that photobox actually put thier own logo onto the photobooks. thats a bit of a pain :(

has anyone seen or heard of these guys
http://www.bobbooks.co.uk/

taking a wee look just now

[gheesom]

Its on the back cover, if I remember right.

[Anke]

damn ,i didnt realise that photobox actually put thier own logo onto the photobooks. thats a bit of a pain :(

has anyone seen or heard of these guys
http://www.bobbooks.co.uk/

taking a wee look just now


I saw a huge advertisment for them on the side of a London Bus yesterday!!

[jjmucker]

I saw a huge advertisment for them on the side of a London Bus yesterday!!

lol. have you used them before

[Banbert]

Never managed to get the magazine but looked at all the ones listed above and some more that I googled for and I am going to order a book from Everleaf pro to see what thats like and if its decent that will replace our budget photobox book for this year and we will suffer the cost difference. Most of our budget customers are happy with the Photobox book but I arent happy with it myself, particularly as we nudge our prices up atm.

We also need a company that will handle the book design for us as we just dont have time for it atm and will have even less as we go through this year.

[gheesom]

I got it, there wasn't alot to it, but I will definately get the wedding special one tomorrow.
BookedImages looked really nice. its gonna be the cost I reckon. let us know what you think of the everleaf pro book though

[Yella Fella]

sim2000images get my choice, need to get some examples out to fully appreciate it

[Banbert]

I saw Sim2000 at the FOI exhibition earlier this year, they are nice books but price wise not that different to Graphistudio on a like for like basis and Graphis print is supposedly better, they do offer quite a few different variations not offered by Graphi but none of them really jumped out at me at FOI.

[jjmucker]

tried looking up everleaf. i guess you have to send them confirmation that your a photographer in order to access thier site?


sorry, my mix up. it seemed i was on a different site just there. DOH

[Glyyde]

what would be the best budget photobook to use? prices below £50?

[gheesom]

I am currently looking at www.fotobook.co.uk their biggest book is about £50 plus postage. Looks really nice as well.

[jjmucker]

I am currently looking at www.fotobook.co.uk (http://www.fotobook.co.uk) their biggest book is about £50 plus postage. Looks really nice as well.

they seem pretty good.

i have one on order from bobbooks.co.uk.
im not sure how they will look quality wise. should recieve it within the next few days. i wish a lot of the suppliers could/would give out samples, as to go round each supplier and spend money on samples to see how they looked would cost a fortune

[flashtoby]

Im also trying out one of the budget books, I should have a wedding book delivered to my door at the start of next week from Mypublisher, the company which recieved top marks in digital photo pro last month, I will update you as to the quality when I recieve it.

In the past I have only used Graphi for storybooks and personally never had a problem, all the books have been top notch, It will be interesting to see the standard in the budget price range.

It would be interesting If everyone who tries these different books, posts back in this thread with a mini review so we can get an honest appraisal of the software and the quality of the book itself.

[jjmucker]

Im also trying out one of the budget books, I should have a wedding book delivered to my door at the start of next week from Mypublisher, the company which recieved top marks in digital photo pro last month, I will update you as to the quality when I recieve it.

In the past I have only used Graphi for storybooks and personally never had a problem, all the books have been top notch, It will be interesting to see the standard in the budget price range.

It would be interesting If everyone who tries these different books, posts back in this thread with a mini review so we can get an honest appraisal of the software and the quality of the book itself.


al certainly do that with the bobbooks album i recieve. :D
hopefully mon i should be expecting it

[Glyyde]

Waiting for the photobooks reviews... anyone?

[jjmucker]

still waiting on mine buddy from bobbooks.co.uk but i think ive just wasted the money because now im not sure if i will be using them. though i will still let you guys know how they are, i may be pretty surprised myself but they have their dreaded logo on the back of their books. im not too fond of that.

hope/should recieve it tomorrow

[flashtoby]

Hi, sorry I've not posted before now but its been a busy week.
I recieved my book on tuesday from Mypublisher, turnaround time from ordering less than a week so pretty impressive.
The cover i chose was the black leather with the picture window.
Personally I wasn't that happy with it as the material around the spine area wasn't brilliantly finished litle bumpy is the only way i can describe it.
The pages within the book are of a thickness I would expect with a book at this price range, but some of the images on close inspection could have been sharper and there was a general lack of contrast to the pages.
The overall appearance of the book to most people would be fairly pleasing given the very reasonable price, and i did order the product with a possible view to including it with my lowest wedding package.

I was curious as to the quality of these budget price books and wanted to be able to see for myself the quality, the only books i've ordered in the past have been from Graphistudios, and they have been excellant, a big price difference I know.

I wont be offering the mypublisher books as I wouldn't be comfortable handing them over to clients or the fact that they could then be showed as my work to other potential clients.

My decison is to only offer top quality products to clients as I will then be happy that only my best work will be circulating and not something I am not fully comfortable with, perhaps someone else has tried a book in this price bracket they feel happy giving to clients, if so let me know please.

[Glyyde]

jjmucker, hows bobbooks?

[jjmucker]

yeah sorry i havent replied to this. i actually forgot all about this thread. they are actually not too bad considering. pages are basically just glossy paper and the front and back covers are hardback with a glossy surface. they have their dreaded logo on the back of the book which IMO is a no no if giving this book to a couple.
i would certainly use them for maybe a baby book or for landcapse photos for personal use but wouldnt use them for weddings.

saturation seems a little off but not too noticable. i guess you get what you pay for eh.
im sure this company isnt advertising for photographers to use them for professional wedding use rather for personal use like i suggested above.

take a look at the thread i just created. theres a lab i use here in Glasgow and thier products are outstanding. pricey though

John

[tlc]

you really should try booked images, they are outstanding and very affordable, their 'extra's are very nice as well.

[Banbert]

you really should try booked images, they are outstanding and very affordable, their 'extra's are very nice as well.

Just set off for some info from them, cheers matey

Weve submitted our first Everleafpro book (our own layout, the books are same as Asuka printed in Japan) this week and also our first Graphistudio book (their design, printed in Italy) and I am really looking forward to receiving both of them.

Everleaf were very helpful with our first order and pointed out a few "schoolboy errors" we had made with our Fotofusion layouts and how to correct them and I think the second one we do will be much much easier!

Always on the lookout for another cost effective quality alternative to the Photobox books we have sold people on this year, weve booked nearly 40 weddings with that as part of our standard package but we just dont feel its good enough quality to actually supply people now so were gonna take the hit ourseleves even for the very first few bookings we took this year at low low rates and give them one of the everleaf or equivelant books.

[tlc]

Just set off for some info from them, cheers matey

Weve submitted our first Everleafpro book (our own layout, the books are same as Asuka printed in Japan) this week and also our first Graphistudio book (their design, printed in Italy) and I am really looking forward to receiving both of them.

Everleaf were very helpful with our first order and pointed out a few "schoolboy errors" we had made with our Fotofusion layouts and how to correct them and I think the second one we do will be much much easier!

Always on the lookout for another cost effective quality alternative to the Photobox books we have sold people on this year, weve booked nearly 40 weddings with that as part of our standard package but we just dont feel its good enough quality to actually supply people now so were gonna take the hit ourseleves even for the very first few bookings we took this year at low low rates and give them one of the everleaf or equivelant books.


i just got my samples back from booked and they kick ass! talk about quality - the basic book is top notch and the elegance edition is, well, i am speechless, i got the matching box as well.

[Banbert]

Sounds good matey, although they still havent responded to my enquiry, unless they have sent some stuff out via the post, I will find time to give them a ring next week I think.

Was just about to leave work for the drive home and our first Graphistudio album layout arrived via PDF !!! Very pleased with it, theres no way we would have come up with what they have without spending a lot more time learning album design. I will post some pics when I get home later.

[timmaher]

Hi Guys,

Anyone had any experience with Photovalue books? Do they have a logo on the back? Print quality ok?

Thanks

Tim