Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Photo Printing Services for Ireland

After doing a survey of Irish photo printing services for my own use I thought I'd share what I found with you. I can't comment based on usability or service, but I will link to the vendors' price sheets. To get some idea of price, I costed two jobs including delivery. The first is forty 6x4" prints, the second a single A3 poster (which is about 24x16" for those fixated on Imperial units). Of course the more you order at once the better the per unit cost, if only because you will optimise postage.

These vendors also tend to offer calendars, books, albums, greeting cards and various gift items. Though I'm not interested in these, I have noted those who provide canvas prints, since this might be a sign of a higher-end service. Most sites offer an incentive for first-time buyers, in order to induce you to go through the sign up process. I don't think this is very important but include the info for what it is worth.

What is important is that the services provide a colour profile so that your images can be matched to their specific printers for best quality. Attention to this is a sign of a professional vendor.

Finally, I have included what payment options are available, since you will be able to eliminate several from consideration if you do not have the correct credit card. For online vendors I find these restrictions to be simply bizarre!

So here they are, seven choices, placed in order of increasing price to aid your digestion. N. American visitors: please restrain your snickering as you calculate how many hundreds of prints you can get done for the same amount.

Bonusprint: €6.10 / NA. Finish: glossy or matte. Canvas prints available. Colour profile provided. Payment: Mastercard or Visa. Incentive: none.

photobox: €7.32 / €10.00. Finish: glossy or matte. Canvas prints available. Colour profile provided with excellent info. Payment: Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Maestro, Visa Electron and PayPal. Incentive: 30 free prints.

Pixum: €7.69 / €15.38. Finish: unknown. Canvas prints available. Payment: Visa or Eurocard only. Incentive: 25 free prints.

Snapfish: €8.55 / €11.94. Finish: glossy only. Payment: Mastercard, Visa, American Express. Incentive: 20 free prints. (This service is used by Costco in the USA.)

myPIX: €9.09 / NA but other poster sizes are. Finish: glossy or matte. Canvas prints available. Payment: Mastercard or Visa only. Incentive: 25 free prints. Based in France. Rather confusing site.

FOTO.com: €9.59 includes 50 free prints / €14.98. Finish: glossy or matte. Canvas prints available. Colour profile provided. Payment: Mastercard, Visa, ClickandBuy, Moneybookers and PayPal.

Fujipix: €13.99 / NA. Save €3.99 by collecting prints from store. Finish: unknown. Payment: credit or laser card. Incentive: 20 free prints.

I am sure there are other European alternatives, especially on the mainland, as most of these are based in the UK. If you have any recommendations please comment.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

thanx for sharing.

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