UK Printing Companies?

**EDIT** check post 14 for a gleaming review of http://www.peak-imaging.com/

I'd previously used Mpix.com exclusively, being blown away by the quality of printing and service. Now that I live in the UK, I am saddened that they do not ship to Europe.

So, who do you use for online printing (specifically for large prints) here in the UK?

I've already tried Shutterfly and Snapfish; and was terribly disappointed with both. Desperately awaiting your suggestions, thanks in advance!

Try these

http://www.photobox.co​.uk/

I have used these for our site and had no problems shipping abroad.

Stu

I also use photobox. They're a good company.

Cheers, guys. £17.49 for a 30x20 doesn't seem bad at all. Will report back!

So far I'm not thrilled. I'm not finding any way by which they will allow me to upload TIFF files, only JPEGs.

Surely I'm missing something.

For printing, a high quality jpeg should be fine, There are some places that will take a tiff, some places may even prefer a tiff, but I'd say those places are few and their reasons are likely obscure.

A tiff has advantages in the processing stage and, if you are converting to a jpeg with a significant amount of compression then yes, it makes a difference, but using a high qulity (low compression) conversion once for a print is generally considered fine.

If you have tried having prints made both ways and are convinced that you get better results from a tiff, well, I guess you will need to continue your quest. Maybe you can find a small practice that can work with you. The idea is that a company would print directly from "photo-friendly" software, something like Photoshop, that can handle tiffs. I once talked to a shop who said they could happily take a Raw file into Photoshop and print from it.

Thanks for the help, Tony.

I'd prefer TIFF. But, I settled for JPEG (sRGB), and now Photobox isn't accepting my upload (120mb). They even state 10mb is strongly suggested as an upper limit. Which to me is absurd for printing posters - my image is 12,500 x 8,500 pixels and I'm not willing to reduce resolution.

Guess I'll look around locally for a shop (fat chance), unless any other UK people have any further suggestions??

Zenfolio will...but it is £150 per year.

Thanks Mike - unfortunately I don't print nearly enough to make that worthwhile.

Looks like I'm going with http://www.peak-imaging.com. They accept TIFF files, no maximum upload size, and they look serious about what they do.

If the order proceeds without issue I'll report back sometime next week when I receive it.

Ah yes, I've heard of them, please do report back

ken2000ac wrote in post #13035920
my image is 12,500 x 8,500 pixels and I'm not willing to reduce resolution.

IMO, unless the image is made up by stitching a few images, is a medium or large format film scan or a high Mp digital back, you could just as easily send your images in the native resolution of your 5D2, and let the printer do the upscaling. Should be no difference who makes up the extra pixels…

A 10Mb jpg should be plenty…

It is a stitch, of 4 images - and it is being printed 30x20.

Thankfully I don't have to settle for 10mb, after finally finding a printer who accepts larger.

http://www.dscolourlab​s.co.uk/

I haven't used them personally but I've heard very good things about them. £15.99 for a 30x20 isn't unreasonable (plus P & P) and they'll work with TIFFs (although seemingly they prefer JPEGs). May be worth considering in future...

WOW - I can't believe I'm giving feedback already. I uploaded the image at 7pm Thursday night and received it by basic (cheapest - £3.50) post this Saturday morning at 9am. It came rolled rather than flat packaging, but that's only a very minor concern of mine (and after all, it was a 30 x 20).

So I'm thrilled with the service, but it's the quality of the print that matters. And lemme tell you - wow. Quality paper, very sharp, high contrast, and no visible image degradation like I experienced with the other printers.

I absolutely will be making this my one-stop-shop for ALL my Euro printing needs. Very pleased, and very happy to recommend them. Give them a shot!

Only just read this but I would recommend, without a shadow of a doubt, Loxley. They're in Scotland and are superb. Regularly top the idependent reviews for image quality and their customer service is great.
Can't recommend highly enough.

David