First Asuka Book arrived..

Just wanted to share my impressions on my first Asuka book as i know many photographers are just ordering their first as well. It is a mixed reaction i have with my order which is no fault of Asuka or the company it was ordered through.

I cannot fault the book in any way.. the colours are gorgeous and the printing looks wonderful. I'm very pleased i decided to go with gloss pages too. I deliberated over gloss or lustre pages for a while before ordering and decided that glossy pages was what drew me to the Asuka book i saw on display so i went with it. Some people commented in another thread about fingerprints...well i havent gotten any fingerprints on my book yet, whereas another coffeetable book i have in the laminate finish does show all the marks..so for me i wont hesitate again to order gloss pages. Overall very impressed with the book.

The flip side is that i received a damaged book. I am so dissapointed! I was really getting excited to see my book in print only to have all that good feeling ruined by what i can only say is a careless courier. My son found my Asuka book delivered this morning... in the backyard with my dog, who had decided to open my package.. The bubblewrap, outer wrapping ect are littering my yard.. and as for the book itself, luckily it had a small amount of bubblewrap still on it.. but it also has doggie saliva and a nice twin set of claw marks on the outer cover of the EX version book Needless to say i was not a happy girl when i saw my book.

I've phoned the printing company that are the Asuka agents and they are looking into the courier company and finding out why this has happened.. they are not at all happy with this either. I am waiting on a return call to see if anything can be done ...
The book is fine, just the outer cover is damaged so fingers crossed i can get a new cover.
Anyways.. just thought i'd share my mixed reaction to what should have been a very satisfying delivery from Asuka.
Nic

Thanks for the review Nic!

This is promising as I am hoping to be ordering my first Asuka album soon as well. Too bad about your dog issue though, seems like carelessness on the courier's part. I'd demand they pay for a new one.

I did my first a few months ago, and I was pleased...

I am waiting on my secong now, I used Fotofusion this time and I am expecting better results as far as picture placement and such.

What is the real life wait time on an asuka book to the US or Canada....anybody?

xmacvicar wrote in post #3599344
What is the real life wait time on an asuka book to the US or Canada....anybody?

About 4 weeks.

I too also just ordered my first Asukabook about a week ago. I designed a guestbook with engagement photos for a couple who's wedding I am shooting in August. Because of the time line, I did pay extra to have a rush order done, which brings down the delivery to 3 weeks (to Canada that is).

So far, I must admit their customer service is amazing. The girl (Jen) who I spoke with on the phone a number of times was extremely helpful and made every attempt to help me out with the shipping. I did order two books just to be on the safe side, but also have one for my own portfolio. Should hopefully be here first week of August.

Brian - make sure you use asukabook.com.au not .com

Gujustud - i've read reports of people using an asuka as a guest book, but the writing smudging. Do some careful research into what type of pens to use to write on it.

Tim - why .au and not .com?

If you're in Australia or NZ you have to order from .com.au as the .com place in the US won't accept them. My first couple were from .com and my 2nd couple from .com.au they're exactly the same.

Oh ok. I'm actually from Canada, so all is well. Thanks Tim

bcap wrote in post #3599977
Oh ok. I'm actually from Canada, so all is well. Thanks Tim

Sorry thought you were in aussie for some reason!

tim wrote in post #3599490
Gujustud - i've read reports of people using an asuka as a guest book, but the writing smudging. Do some careful research into what type of pens to use to write on it.

Thanks Tim! Yeah I made the first mistake of letting the B&G pick what book they wanted, which ended up being a soft cover. Later once I uploaded the order and spoke with Asuka, the lady there mentioned that using a Stitchbound would be better as they stay open easier. She also mentioned a few pens to use which seem to work well on their books (have it written down at home) but she said that generally any type of scrap-book pen that you can pick up works well. I bought two books, just so I can actually test on one of them!

Please report back what you find, i'd be interested to have that information around in case I need it