Self-published calendars - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS II USM Lens

11/10/2008 12:52:02 PM · #1

So I'm thinking of publishing a calendar for family for Christmas presents. Nothing fancy, just a calendar. I know some folks use LuLu, so I checked them out. I tried to find out what resolutions are needed, etc, and the FAQ doesn't have those answers. So I browsed the forums, did a search. I got search results, but when I tried to go to those results, it just took me back to the front page of the forums. Not quite what I wanted. I asked the online help how to get to those threads from the search results, and was told I needed to use Mozilla as my browser to get that function to work.... That's a first.

Anyway, for those of you who have used LuLu for calendars, what is the photo size/resolution needed? And are there other calendar printing places to recommend? I wish blurb offered calendars, but they only do books.

Elaine

Canon EOS R5

11/10/2008 01:00:36 PM · #2

Deb, mpix does calendars. I've never used them, but a friend shot a wedding last year and had an album done there. It was good quality and she had a fast turnaround. (She tied for photographer of the year in the camera club last year, so while she is not a professional she could be)

posthumous

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

11/10/2008 01:00:39 PM · #3

I have book experience with lulu, not calendar. For books, they need an image for the cover and PDF for the pages. For the cover, they are explicit about width and height. For the PDF, it's up to you to put in a picture of sufficient resolution to show up well.

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

11/10/2008 01:04:37 PM · #4

I guess I can do the figuring myself, as far as what size jpeg and such for the calendar pics. I was just a bit taken aback by the fact that to find the answers to my questions, I had to download and install a different browser. Not exactly user friendly, that.

The mpix one seems to be a single page thing, but I appreciate the link, Elaine - thanks!

Message edited by author 2008-11-10 13:06:29.

freakin_hilarious

Canon EOS-550D Rebel T2i

11/10/2008 01:23:38 PM · #5

If you want something relatively cheap and mediocre quality you can use Costco. One cool thing they let you do is put a photo on each individual day, and you could have a different photo on every day of the year if you wanted. We (the wife and I) did this the past two years for the family and put a photo of each family member on his/her birthday. We were definitely disappointed in the quality of the large monthly image (slightly wonky colors sometimes, low dpi count), especially last year, but everyone in the family still seemed impressed. Just let me know if you want more info.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS II USM Lens

11/10/2008 01:26:50 PM · #6

Costco would be cool but it's a VERY long drive with a large ocean involved. :-)

I think a local camera place in Wiesbaden will do calendars - I'll check there tomorrow. Probably not at Costco prices, however. And I also found zazzle, which looks pretty cool and gives you sizes for the pictures right off the bat. I'm checking them out now....

Elaine

Canon EOS R5

11/10/2008 01:31:11 PM · #7

Originally posted by chaimelle:

I looked there a week or two ago and thought I saw regular calendars. Either they changed their website or I need new glasses...

Pentax DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6ED AL [IF] WR DC

11/10/2008 01:38:26 PM · #8

Originally posted by chaimelle:

Originally posted by chaimelle:
Deb, mpix does calendars. I've never used them, but a friend shot a wedding last year and had an album done there. It was good quality and she had a fast turnaround. (She tied for photographer of the year in the camera club last year, so while she is not a professional she could be)

I looked there a week or two ago and thought I saw regular calendars. Either they changed their website or I need new glasses...

LOL! Or I just didn't look in the right place, which is a definite possibility. I'm still meandering the web to see what's there. I will check back at that one.

tnun

Ricoh GR III

11/10/2008 01:50:56 PM · #9

Last year my cousin-in-law sent me a calendar - each page about 10 X 8, and it says KodakGallery.com on the back. Not archival, but very nice. Oh, but it also has a Martha Stewart logo on the back. Oh, and on the calendar itself there are no phases of the moon. ( All very peculiar: my cousin is an astronomer and his wife loves Martha Stewart jokes).

Ann

Olympus OM-D E-M1

Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro

11/10/2008 02:02:27 PM · #10

I used mpix for calendars last year. Not especially cheap, but the quality was good, and they were fast. I ordered the day after Thanksgiving, and received the calendars within a week. Their customer service is excellent, too.

They were regular calendars, not single page things. Look in the mpix press section.

I'll be using them again this year.

11/10/2008 02:09:57 PM · #11

Found the regular calendars on mpix. I just wasn't looking in the right place - and thanks for the recommendations!

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

11/10/2008 03:25:23 PM · #12

I'm playing with the mpix downloadable software - it's quite nice. One very nice advantage of this (the others I've tried are all online apps) is you can print your calendar at home if you're so inclined.

Jedusi

11/10/2008 04:00:41 PM · #13

Photobox has been recommended to me

//www.photobox.co.uk/studio/index.html?category=29&c_product=1482&ulstatic=unlogged13pagecal

And I have previously used KodakGallery

The Kodak calendars were nicely produced (as you might expect) but when you failed to show up the Customer Service was rubbish. Eventually got the issue solved though.

eta - Nice thing about the Kodak one is that you can put a few words on each page if you want - so it does help personalise it.

Message edited by author 2008-11-10 16:02:10.

freakin_hilarious

Canon EOS-550D Rebel T2i

11/10/2008 04:04:33 PM · #14

Originally posted by Melethia:

Costco would be cool but it's a VERY long drive with a large ocean involved. :-)

It's all online. No need to set foot in an actual store! I'm not sure where they will ship, however.

aKiwi

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

11/10/2008 04:28:36 PM · #15

Hi Deb, last year I got a bunch of calenders made here in Germany. I used www.posterxxl.de. I was pretty happy with the results. Last year I paid only â�¬10 per calendar. Actually it was â�¬9 as I got 10 of them. I just looked now and they are now â�¬15.00 so inflation got to them. Maybe they will do a Christmas special.

If you need more details, don't hesitate to ask.

aKiwi

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

11/10/2008 04:28:59 PM · #16

Double post

Message edited by author 2008-11-10 16:29:14.

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

11/10/2008 04:37:05 PM · #17

The place Steve linked to, Photobox, has a really nice desktop calendar with a week per page - it would be great for those of you with families and such, or with more good pics for a calendar. Also has a nice very large calendar on black.

Peter, I'll take a look at the German site as well - thanks!

freakin_hilarious

Canon EOS-550D Rebel T2i

11/10/2008 05:12:46 PM · #18

Anybody ever used MyPublisher for anything? Looks like a good deal to me. //www.mypublisher.com/calendars.php

snaffles

Nikon D7100

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

11/10/2008 06:26:44 PM · #19

Today I dropped off my second calendar on CD at a printshop, which gave me 12 copies of spiral-bound calendar with monthly images, on glossy stock, for $155 CDN (not including taxes). Last year however I was unable to proof the calendar before it went to press so many pics turned out very dark; not making that mistake again this year! So, including some shipping and Xmas cards I got 95% of my Xmas stuff done for $200 or so, total. I'm so cheap! :-)

zeuszen

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II