hjkarten Loc: San Diego, California

I am one of many photographers searching for a suitable replacement for COSTCO. COSTCO provided good service with helpful suggestions about corrections and moderate prices.
In the course of searching for suitable replacement for Costco printing services, I recently started to use a local CVS printing facility in Del Mar, California. To date I have printed the total of about 40 digital images at CVS. I have printed Mainly pictures of birds in flight.
Images taken with either a Sony A1 or SONY A7R4, mainly using a Sony 100 to 400 GM or the Sony 200 to 600 G. images all originally captured as ARW (raw) files and processed with Adobe Lightroom classic. Processed on a Microsoft laptop with high end screen. Results of images we're compared to those viewed on a professional workstation with a calibrated BenQ 32” monitor; Modifications were limited to simple cropping, adjustment of color temperature minimal changes to exposure and other basic modifications of light balance, saturation, etc. Original exposures were generally found to be satisfactory with ISOauto ( from 100-3400)., in Manual Mode (usually shutter speed of 1/1600, f stop of f 6.3 to 8.0, White Balance of camera adjusted relative to conditions when shooting. (i.e., cloudy, sunny, etc.)

My general procedure is to export a high resolution JPEG file from Lightroom (as sRGB). I then print a copy of the same file at three sizes: 4x6 (glossy and matte). 8x12 (glossy and matte), 16 by 20 Matte finish poster size. The CVS printing facility is a Kodak commercial throughput system with different printers for each of these three major sizes. This allows me to compare the results of the exact same data file and Matt vs glossy, and different size output machines.

The results have been most disappointing. despite my best efforts to provide suitable digital files well within the gamut range with the printer saturation of the Blues and the Reds and the spectrum differing drastically with each size printer. The technicians running these printers at CVS explained that they have minimal training in modifying the resulting prints. In notable contrast to this, the technicians at Costco carefully matched the color coding in each output size. In general the 4x6 was satisfactory, and the goal was then to adjust the 8x10 and 20x 30 to matchd those those results. This allowed me to confirm that the color values in different parts of the final photo of the 4x6 closely matched that of the 20 x 30. The COSTCO technicians I was fortunate to work with we're committed to high quality results. Unfortunately I don't recall which brand of printer they were using. I vaguely recall that it may have been a Fuji printer. but they clearly knew what they were doing. In fairness to the technicians at CVS, they made every effort to try to improve things, that explained that they had not been trained in any aspects of the machines other than restocking the paper and replacing the dyes. They indicated that they ran a routine test every morning when turning on the machine, but that was the limit of their knowledge of what was going on inside the box.
in general the four by six prints provided the best results. when printing pictures of a large white egret against the blue sky on a 8 by 12 the blue sky often presented as a purple sky!
the CVS Prints were listed at the same price as the Costco, though on occasion CVS would have a reduced price sale if ordered on the Internet. But they were all printed on the same machine as the regular production item.
I would hope that other UHH people will share their experiences with CVS, COSTCO, Shutterbug (?) or other companies.
BTW, I also spoke with the photo desk at a different branch of CVS and was informed that they had the same limited training.
Many thanks
Harvey

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Costco, CVS, Walgreens, etc. aim at the low end. Consider Nations Photo, Bay Photo, etc. if you need high end quality. Or, you need an Epson of Canon photo printer.

User ID

CVS seems his most appropriate provider for this type of service. $10,000 worth of FF Sony gear tells us where hes really at. Operating a handy in-home printer would be "inappropriate" at best, or worst. Read between his lines. CVS all the way.

niteman3d Loc: South Central Pennsylvania, USA

AzPicLady posted this in another thread on a similar subject. I found it helpful and noticed that CVS was on the expensive side compared to others:

https://snaphappymom.com/cheapest-place-to-print-photos/#0-cheapest-place-to-print-photos-4x6

Dannj

The CVS system is designed for the casual photographer looking to print a few vacation or family event photos and won’t be subjected to a critical eye. The folks who operate the machines, as you said, aren’t editors, they’re operators. They can instruct users on how to use the machines basic functions but that’s it; and the machines produce suitable results for probably 90% of their customers.

Sidwalkastronomy Loc: New Jersey Shore

I use Meridian pro and have never had issues, I print 16 x 20 o. Metallic paper and have them placed on double thickness mounting board

DRM Loc: NC

To those suggestions I would add White House Custom Color, Minneapolis. Quality prints, reasonable pricing, two-day free shipping via FedEx. Minimum order is, I think, $16.

pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Yes quantity not quality. I did have some goodluck a few years back with my local Sam's Club.They had high end printers. Then they suddenly stopped printing in the store and farmed it out to some place and the quality sucked. I complained they did not care. Any help corresponds to their hourly pay. I have a high end local print shop and also use Bay photo. Both excellent.

tomc601 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

Costco photo labs were an anomaly. A low price lab with outstanding quality and service. As mentioned, unlike CVS and Walgreens, Costco lab personnel were well trained and versed in photo printing. You rarely saw a photo lab employee doing a different task in a Costco warehouse. Sadly, because of the downfall in consumer printing Costco found other more profitable uses for the lab square footage. It seems you are serious about your photography and the prints that you receive from the lab.
Fortunately you live in a city that has several options for quality prints. (Not to mention the plethora of online providers available at just a click.) There's Nelson's Photo, George's Camera, Safelight Labs and Chrome Digital to name a few. Yes, they are more expensive than CVS, et.al., but with the absence of Costco, may be the only alternative you have for getting quality prints from your images.
When Costco got out of the lab business I opted for printing my own. I have a Canon Pro 100 printer and can print up to 13x18 prints. I control the quality and the cost. I have many different textures of paper available to me and I use ink produced by Precision Color to refill my cartridges. It brings the cost of a cartridge down from $16 per to just over $1 per cartridge. Not sure what the per cost is per print but the paper costs more than the ink. Yet, I can produce a 13x19 print for under $2. You should look into it. It's not that hard. Good luck.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

I am also struggling to find a replacement for Costco printing. I called the lab they used in CA, and their prices are pretty high. I have a friend who does an art show ever weekend and always low balls her prices. She sells her stuff at the same price I'd pay to most of the quality printer. Since she's my main competition, it's hard to raise my prices and sell anything. She's using Walgreen for 4x6 prints. I introduced her to ProPrints for canvas prints, and she's pleased with them. She tried Shutterbug and was very disappointed in the results. I'm settling into printing on my Pro-100, but it's going to get expensive. But it's hard to know exactly how much each print is costing. And, I've been disappointed in how my prints fade and discolour rather quickly. (So much for longevity claims!) I'm sort of afraid to try to sell the prints that my customers will come back in a few months complaining.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

If you use pro grade cameras, use a pro grade lab. But first:

Calibrate your monitors with a hardware and software solution (colorimeter or spectrophotometer and accompanying software kit). The kit will teach you how to use it correctly.

Be sure your monitor brightness is limited to between 85 and 120 candelas per square meter. Most of the calibration kits can help you achieve this.

Be sure your monitor gamma is 2.2.

Be sure your monitor black level is 0.5 candelas per square meter.

Be sure your monitor's starting color temperature is as recommended by the calibration software... usually between 5000K and 6500K.

While cameras come with white balance settings for "daylight," "cloudy," "shade," "flash," "incandescent," "fluorescent," etc. these are seldom completely accurate in the real world. That's why I recommend using a white balance target such as the One Shot Digital Calibration Target or a Delta-1 Gray Card or similar (there are at least fifty such products sold at major camera stores).

Photograph a suitable test target in the same light that falls on your subject. If you are making JPEGs at the camera, use that as a custom/manual/preset white balance reference. If you are recording raw data files, be sure you snap a photo of the white balance target if your camera doesn't make one when doing the custom white balance.

Unless working for an agency that requires it, don't use Adobe RGB as your color space. It is a world of hurt when you send those files to a low end lab. Use sRGB instead.

Work with your lab to get their ICC color PRINTER PROFILES to use as PROOFING PROFILES. Again, assuming you calibrate your monitor correctly, the use of proofing or simulation profiles will help you adjust your files so that what you see on the monitor is very, very close to what the lab delivers. NOTE: If the lab technician or sales clerk or customer service person does not know what an ICC color profile is, RUN!!! You don't want to deal with amateurs.

Aside from that, I strongly recommend two more things:

Record raw files and post-process them on a calibrated monitor. Once you learn the power of raw, you will prefer it for certain types of photography.

Use a professional color lab for processing and printing. Bay Photo, H&H, WHCC (White House Custom Color), Full Color, American Color Lab, Nations Photo, PCL West Imaging, UPI Lab, mPix/Millers, and probably 100 others can be found by doing an Internet search for "professional color lab". These folks all offer varying product lines and serve different types of customers. Printique and Shutterfly are a couple of others to look at. Shutterfly is a mass market photofinisher.

There is a completely different attitude at good pro labs from what you'll find at CVS. I managed many roles at one for three decades, and I met folks from most of the labs I listed at Kodak Professional conferences and other photo industry conventions and conferences.

The most important thing of all is to open a good line of communication with a pro lab's technical service representative you can understand and trust. A good TSR can help you get the absolute most out of your lab.

User ID

Maybe youre replying to a some other thread ? Or pasting from your archives but clicked on the wrong file ?

Henry Nguyen Loc: Houston, Texas

I am thinking about buying a printer for 8 x 12 prints. Anyone has suggestions what printer to buy?
Thanks

Henry Nguyen Loc: Houston, Texas

I am thinking about buying a printer for 8 x 12 prints. Anyone has suggestions what printer to buy?
Thanks

epd1947

I don’t understand the logic in using the kind of high end gear that cost many thousands of dollars and then having cheap machine prints done at a drugstore - totally illogical- CVS is ok for 4x6 prints to give away to family of friends but for serious work you need to work with a professionally staffed lab.