i just received 5 calendars i ordered from lulu.com, based on  nsoroma79 recommendation in this thread.
i ordered the standard calendars that are 11x17, with the spiral in the middle. the images i uploaded were 300dpi 8.5x11 saved as jpg-12. in the preview screen, they showed up proportionately downsized, leaving what looked to be about a half-inch white border all the way around. my order was placed dec 28 and wasn't sure when i would receive them because 1) there was a holiday coming, and 2) i didn't want to pay more to expedite the order.
they came today, which is acceptable turnaround. for the most part, i'm happy with what i received; but, there are a few issues. the images were printed essentially as full bleeds, except for a 3/8" white stripe across the top and a 1/4" stripe at the bottom; that makes the image exactly 7 7/8 x 11. thankfully, i had allowed a bit of room around the edges of the image, just to be safe (you never really know what type of cropping you're going to get when you send something out to be printed).
as for print quality, it's pretty decent, especially for the price. the only images i'm not thrilled with are ones that turned out the way i expected them to...that is, the images that i shot vertically, then cropped horizontally to fit the calendar format, then upsized to 11" wide. they're not bad, especially from a distance, but, not great. all the same, the images that were shot horizontally and cropped minimally came out fantastic. the key is "garbage in, garbage out." lulu is not going to make a bad photo better.
the only really weird thing i have to deal with is that on one calendar, one page was not bound. it was in the right spot, and the hole-punches are not torn, but it isn't in the spiral. unfortunately, i don't think i can fix it myself without messing the page up. i'll just wait until monday to check out their customer service.
at this point, i'm pretty sure i'll use them again. however, i'm only going to use images that will make excellent horizontal prints to begin with.
oh, btw, the reason for this? i'm making calendars for my best clients, using images i shot for them, just to help keep myself visible during the year. |
