Cheap Digital Print place in Austin,Tx

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

05/30/2003 04:54:55 PM · #1

For anyone in Austin,TX area:

Do you know if Costco is the cheapest print place around?

(They charge 0.19 cents per 4x6, and 8x12 cost about $1.99, cheaper than any internet printing places i have found).

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

05/30/2003 05:18:17 PM · #2

The Costco in Concord, CA had 4x6's at $0.14 a couple of weeks ago, and 5x7's for $0.69. I think they're using Fuji printers/paper, but I wasn't too impressed with the color calibration on the couple of images I tested -- might have to be prepared to argue with management or pay more if color-matching is critical...

My guess is that they are intended for "snapshot" printing. I myself have occasions where extra-cheap "1-hour quality" is perfectly adequate...

05/31/2003 12:57:46 AM · #3

You can download the color profile for most of these i think. The person behind the counter gave me the profile to download for the printer. We'll see how it goes. I'm only going to do this for snapshots anyway :) but i still would convert it to the proper profile before i send it in. Most of the time the photos i print usually prints fine because the contrast is just normal (i.e. not a lot of post adjustment), so it rarely goes out of Gamut, and if you just convert to sRGB space, it almost certainly would work fine. For more "real" printing work, i'd send it to Precision Camera store in Austin (real expensive but they do it right..... $7 for 8x10)

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

06/02/2003 10:29:49 AM · #4

You can get colour profiles for costco from //www.drycreekphoto.com/
The latest ones they have are dated May 9th so should be okay. I usually just use precision anyway, 53c for a 4x6 is okay and I like the internet upload/ pick up at the store option. Colour match has been perfect, though the gamut is a lot narrower than an inkjet which is annoying for some of these supersaturated flower shots I've been taking recently. Haven't found a good way to get these shots into a printable format for their machines.

06/02/2003 10:41:31 AM · #5

I just got them, it looks good. Actually a very good place to print! And it's cheap, well worth the $45 Costco membership fee.

Where do you print yours (not counting snapshots.. which is what i use Costco for)? Precision?

Originally posted by Gordon:

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

06/02/2003 10:56:02 AM · #6

Originally posted by paganini:

Mix of Precision and an Epson 780 printer with colorlife paper and a roto cutter

Depends how much I'm doing. Also use //www.ezprints.com for larger prints, beyond 8x10. Precision prices aren't too bad (with the discount card) compared to quality places on line and I like that you can pick them up (no shipping costs) and upload on line (only one trip - using their fotowire service). I go to central market once a week or so, so it isn't a big deal to do the pick up.

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

06/02/2003 11:00:24 AM · #7

The way I worked it out, Costco is cheaper if you do over 100 4x6 prints per year, otherwise Precision works out cheaper.

This doesn't take into account things like buying stuff at Costco or buying other stuff at Precision, but I doubt I'll get more than about 50 prints per year so I prefer Precision - just depends on the volume/ quality trade-off.