Photobook Canada

[C at Carol's Photography]

Hi There
Have any of you Canadian photographers ever used Photo Book Canada.
I usually use Graphi Studio but some of my clients want cheaper books. I'd like to know if you ever tried them and if they are good or do they have any problems as in... falling apart......what do the pages look like in print...anything that would be useful in making a decision as to buy one or not?
Thanks
Carol

[corporallouis]

http://boards.weddingbells.ca/showthreaded.php?Number=3276778 Have a look through here. Nothing on FM site yet. Not many Canadians on there to answer questions on Canadian products . . .

[C at Carol's Photography]

Thanks a bunch!! Some good reading

[picturecrazy]

Never tried them, but please report back if you try them out and give us your review. It looks a lot like Asukabook quality. I haven't been very impressed with the image quality of press printed books but I'm always curious to see if someone has improved it.

[whitesell]

Photobook Canada now has a pro division. I signed up for it but didn't hear back from them. I phoned two weeks later and spoke to someone in their Toronto office - she 'claimed' my account had been approved but I never got a confirmation email from them. Another one came from them while I was still on the phone with her.

After looking at the pro offerings, I decided to try ordering the custom sample box which they print with a photo of yours and your logo - and they charge for this. There are no specs for the photo or any way to pay online, so I sent a support email asking how to order. It has now been two weeks and absolutely no reply to the support ticket. I caught someone on live help a few days ago who was in Australia and she said she'd pass along my info so they would respond to my ticket, but still no reply.

These people seem pretty flaky and I don't think they'll get my business any time soon - if they can't even answer a simple question about a product, how will they treat (or mistreat) a real order??

I'm still looking for a Canadian supplier for press printed books...

Regards,
Jim

[ralliart_04]

try lifesongphotography.ca. i have seen its products and i like them. they may or may not be pricey for anyone however, there is no harm in asking for a quote.

i forgot to add that the company is based in winnipeg, manitoba, canada.

[ryyback]

I am Canadian and have used the book service of Photobook Canada. While I wasn't to happy with the first book back in 2007, the rest since then have been great really. They are priced just under Embassy Books which is also in Canada and for Pro's only.
The CS at Photobook Canada has been known to be spotty in regards to emails, which is also a bad thing in my books, but if you call them they usually are pretty quick.
Hope this helps others looking for a Canadian service for books.
Oh yes, other note. I used to use Kodak Canada-never again.

[corporallouis]

I had several of the small softcover books done and a larger hardcover one done. I was quite pleased with the results. I was invited to take part in the Pro version of Photobook Canada and have tried their software. Seems as good as some of the VERY high priced suppliers out there . . . and I've tried most of them. I had "one" of the small books contain an error where one page was inserted backwards . .easily done in production. One e-mail and they made it right with several follow up e-mails just to be sure all was okay and I was satisfied. That was a clincher for me. I even had a call from their business development director discussing their Pro line. So far so good with me anyway.

[ryyback]

Yes I am using the Pro version now also. Just getting the prices ready for clients now.
I have talked with Amanda from Photobook Canada a few times and she seems rather nice and knowledgeable.

[corporallouis]

Yes . . she was a great help. If they keep up the great support and keep updating their software, they should be a real competitor in the Canadian market for sure.

[ryyback]

If they were to add their services like say prints and cancvas they would be up there with Mpix with out the huge shipping and customs costs.
Opps, did I say all that out loud?-:)

[mgriff]

I did like their product but have given up in frustration. I have done 5 hardcover books - 3 of them arrived with what appeared to be printing errors. The first had a horizontal white line across a number of the pages, in the second one, half of a photo failed to print (it was white) and in the third, part of the photo printed darker and was not aligned with the rest of the photo (it was not like that in the proof file). I will say, they were pretty good about offering compensation but I have lost confidence so will try something else. Curious if anyone else has had these sort of problems though.

[Svetlana]

I have used them for sample sign in books. The quality is good but not as good as some high end albums of course..:) The arrived within 2 weeks, no problems with printing. I'll for sure use them again. I think it's good value for $$.

[ryyback]

www.embassyprobooks.com is another that is CDN.
I haven't tried them yet, but will this year at some point I hope.

[cloose]

I've used Photobook Canada for Wedding books and they were quite nice. Certainly not top of the line, but good value for the money and at/above the clients expectations.

Recently accepted to their pro division, however have not had cause to use it just yet.

[sf1]

I haven't used Photobook Canada, but I have seen GTA Imaging http://www.gtaimaging.com/ I have a 50% off coupon from a workshop I just attended.

I have also heard of Willow Paper Works - a Canadian company http://www.willowpaperworks.com/main.php

I have also used the Tuscany collection from Black River Imaging. There service is lightning fast, usually back to Canada within 10 days after initial upload. Great products and great prices. http://www.blackriverimaging.com/wedding_album.asp

[drisley]

If they were to add their services like say prints and cancvas they would be up there with Mpix with out the huge shipping and customs costs.
Opps, did I say all that out loud?-:)
I'm glad you said it. I have an MPIX account and was about to order some items, the cost seemed very fair... but then the shipping costs to Canada were added. NO WAY!

So I too am looking for something similar to MPIX but in Canada.

[ryyback]

This place below is in Toronto and highly recomemded. Pretty much just like Mpix only in Canada.
I haven't put in an order yet but I will be sometime in the next week or so.
http://www.silvanoimaging.com/index.html

[ralliart_04]

I'm glad you said it. I have an MPIX account and was about to order some items, the cost seemed very fair... but then the shipping costs to Canada were added. NO WAY!

So I too am looking for something similar to MPIX but in Canada.


Let me know how the prices are. I might shift from Photobook Canada to another supplier if the prices are good.

[ryyback]

I've had a slight delay but will report back on everything soon-:)

[drisley]

Let me know how the prices are. I might shift from Photobook Canada to another supplier if the prices are good.

Prices are very good, like say their Accordian Minis are around $10, but shipping to Canada is $30.

[ralliart_04]

Prices are very good, like say their Accordian Minis are around $10, but shipping to Canada is $30.

so which supplier is this again? Sorry I lost track.

[ryyback]

I'm talking about trying Silvano''s in Toronto and Dris is talking about MPIX-:)

[ryyback]

Hey all,

I just got my first order back from Silvano's in Toronto and I LOVE it.
Great job on the prints and gallery wraps.
Mpix of the North???
16 x 20"s and gallery wraps, 8x 10's and more all came out great.
We did a side by side with the same identical print-1 from Silvano's and 1 from Kodak--hands down to Silvano's.
$400+ order came with a $18 shipping charge-not bad in my books.
3 day turn around as well-:)
Hope this helps

[drisley]

Oh great news!

[frodonus]

I ordered a book from Photobook Canada. I meticulously followed their instructions and checked two times the proof before dowloading my photos. When I received the book, 2 photos were missing. I asked for help and the answer was: Unfortunately, we are unable to fix this problem as this is how the file was received. I will never order again from them.

[drisley]

Wow, now that is the kind of customer service that causes places to go out of business.

[ryyback]

Wow, now that is the kind of customer service that causes places to go out of business.


I got the same line from Kodak regarding my son's camera, so I told the lady "Thanks, but now I will go get him a Canon" and hung up.

[Kinzin]

My name is Ruby and I'm a social media marketer for Kinzin (http://www.kinzin.com).

Currently we're offering an easy-to-use photo book publishing option that includes 20 pages. For professional photographers like you guys on this forum, it's a quick way to create photo books for your clients. You can design your own page templates according to 9 different sections you can use for image or text. Add space for design aesthetic or add captions to describe the photos. What makes us unique is that you can privately share photos with other people. Say you and your photography team want to share photos, you can give them access to use your photos for publishing. Check us out!

Ruby
Kinzin.com (http://www.kinzin.com)