Where's the cheapest place to get 4x6's with great quality???

I agree, and apologize for misunderstanding.

I only use Costco for some of my work. I do understand about daily variables in chemistry, substrates, etc. and I can tell in a second if the operator didn't profile the paper when they loaded the cassette.

Funny story though; I was inspecting some prints one day, and the Noritsu tech came over, saw the prints and said: "Oh you're THAT guy." I looked at him for a second and he added: "They were REALLY worried about getting your prints right!"

I guess sometimes it does pay to be a pain in the @$$.

lol, nice...
They called the tech in. Thats shows promise. I will have to give them a try. Not sure what kind of work I would send them. I am shooting a Christmas Party tonight, maybe that.

That wasn't my experience. What they said was, "I don't know why this one doesn't look like the one you made an hour ago, or the one from yesterday?"
As with Costco, results will differ, depending who's running the equipment. I hope the guys at my Costco never find a better job!

PhotosGuy wrote in post #6843241
That wasn't my experience. What they said was, "I don't know why this one doesn't look like the one you made an hour ago, or the one from yesterday?"
As with Costco, results will differ, depending who's running the equipment. I hope the guys at my Costco never find a better job!

Seems a very good time for the standard disclaimer "Your mileage may vary" -- since there are different lab techs in different stores. Some who have a job, some who love photography and are hoping to someday aspire to better than print-jockeying at the WMT (but love what they do in the meantime).

i use Adorama (http://www.adoramapix.​com/) in New York. 4x6 print quality is excellent, service is better. you can select gloss ($.15), matte ($.19), lustre ($.19) or metallic ($.29), shipping is a flat $3.95. you can select color correction or no, crop or border, etc. typical delivery is ~ 3-4 days after placing the order, and i live on the opposite side of the country! i've been using them for a couple of years for all my small-to-medium prints (i.e. 5x7 thru 12x18 ), and have always been pleased with the results. more importantly, so have my customers.

I've been very happy withwww.diversifiedlab.com They have a tiered service where the price of proofs drop with quantity. 1000+ is .17 per and you can get .19 per for 500-749 prints. The workflow is identical to WHCC and the quality of print is as well. They do print on Fuji archival paper, which is a bit thinner than the Kodak paper WHCC uses, but I'm finding it much easier to load up the proof album sleeves because of that... so I'm liking it. Color reproduction is very accurate as long as you embed either sRGB or aRGB profile.

I use colorinc for my big orders (they also print my company name on the back of the prints). If I need something done locally & fast it is Ritz or costco.

I appreciate all the info here. I should have mentioned that I'm located in the Mississippi Delta where there is nothing by cotton, soybeans, and catfish farms as far as the eye can see (no Costco, no adorama, etc.) I do have a walmart supercenter with a Fuji machine, but results can vary from day to day. These prints are for wedding clients and yes I know I should ONLY deal with pro-labs (I normally use WHCC solely), but if I can genuinely save $40 here and $20 there, while still getting pro results, then I will. Any other online labs you would like to toss at me? Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is what i am also looking for, only i need more than just 4x6's, but we have joshua trees and tumble weeds as far as the eye can see lol. I went and printed off some of my Christmas cards at the nearest walmart the other day (1 hrs drive one way) and i was not suprized to find that the girls working in the photo department there were dumber than a box of rocks. None of them knew how to work the machines there, i had a card that needed to be printed square, and none of them could figure out how to do it, or even if any of the machines could. I had to spend alot of time with a crying baby trying to figure it all out myself, and then when i finally did, the machine wasnt printing right, and none of them had a clue.............i was beyond irritated. I dont think a single one of them knew ANYTHING about working with pictures. Never will i use them ever again!

So anyways, to sum up my long rant lol, i need a place that does good quality prints online, as i am too far away from anywhere to go in store! Good thread! Oh, and i would really like to find somewhere that prints my info on the back as well, just seems more professional, and then they also have a easy way to remember who shot for them if thats all the have to remember me by!