Just a quick little review and recommendation for Short Run Posters.com
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On Wednesday we received our third order from them - sideshow-style posters to hang at an upcoming performance for my wife's dance group. They're the culmination of weeks of prep, a two-day-long shoot, and hours upon hours of editing and processing. And I have to say they all look great hanging in the windows at the venue.
For the price ($3 for a 18x24 or $16 for a 24x36, with no minimum order) you pretty much can't go wrong.
The standard paper is thick and heavy (#46 or #80), with a matte texture - not rough by any means, but not quite as slick as office copy paper. It's a toner-based print, so the printed areas are similar in (non)gloss to the paper. They offer a glossy finish for a couple extra bucks, but I haven't ordered anything with that finish yet. They also offer some other options such as mounting to foamcore, but I haven't picked any of those options yet either.
Along with this order, I sent a test print (this one from Outback Print) to evaluate the colors and tones. Overall, it looked pretty nice. The colors are vibrant and saturated, and the tones and gradients all look nice. It looks like the white and black ranges start to clip at about 248 and 10 (i.e. no visible difference from surrounding solid tones) but I didn't find that objectionable at all - and if I had been using a test instrument other than my naked eye, I might have had a different observation. The only issue I found on the test print was that the green gradients were a little splotchy - all other colors looked great including the reds and oranges, and the skin tones.
Turnaround times have been average to good. I'm spoiled by our Amazon Prime membership, where things ship out the same day I place an order, and we receive it two days later. So, three to five days to print, and another two or three days to ship - to me it seems like a long time, but objectively, any reasonable and sane person would agree that it's not a bad turnaround at all. Packaging has been sturdy, and appropriate for the subject matter being shipped (tube for small orders, flat-pack for bigger orders).
Customer Service has been top-notch. On our previous order, we ordered in two parts and half of it got lost somewhere along they way, so they reprinted and expedited shipping at no cost to us - and we got our order just in time for our event. And on our most recent order, we changed our mind and called them to make a small tweak, and they were very helpful and able to accommodate us very readily.
The only drawback I've found with Short Run is the lack of full-bleed printing. There's going to be a minimum of 1/2" border on all edges of the print. But, that's just the nature of inexpensive printing, and I can't really fault them for it... and if you have a mat cutter (or a straight edge and a hobby knife) you can take off that edge for a full-bleed poster at 17x23 or 23x36. Or, you can order full-bleed prints from one of their sister/parent companies, Midtown Printing or Xeikonprints.com.
Cliffs: Cheap big posters on thick paper, great customer service, www.shortrunposters.com
P.S. I'm in no way affiliated with Short Run Posters, just a satisfied customer who likes to tell others about a positive experience.
