Costco prints (Page 3): What were the dimensions of the file you printed... in PIXELS? That's all that matters. An excellent 20x30 can be made from a file that comes out of the camera...

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

piloto caliente wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll try that the next time.

What were the dimensions of the file you printed... in PIXELS? That's all that matters.

An excellent 20x30 can be made from a file that comes out of the camera as 4000x6000 pixels and gets enlarged (interpolated) to 4800x7200 pixels before printing. An acceptable 20x30 of SOME subject matter can be made with as few as 3000x4500 camera pixels enlarged (interpolated) to 4800x7200 before printing.

Jersey guy Loc: New Joisey

This is news to me, and somewhat disappointing as my Costco is only a couple of miles away and we are there often for other reasons. One thing that really surprised me was that you can order prints on-line and have them shipped to some other place in the country FREE. If all the store locations are closed, I hope they keep the on-line capability although the additional delay will sometimes be inconvenient.

As for the cartridge refiling service: that would be a real loss for me, I have had good luck with that service, no problems, and great $s. I will have to explore other sources and hope for the best. I am annoyed (and I know I am not alone) to see my color cartridges empty out when I never, ever print photos or content with color. And it isn't a slow death either.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

Deanie1113 wrote:

Are Costco's photo labs any good, though? Photo prints would be the ONLY reason I would join Costco -- how does their quality compare to those other places mentioned?

I don't know how much it varies from store to store, but at my store (west Omaha) the prints are very good quality IMO. They are made on real photo paper (Fuji Chrystal Archive) and the prints almost always look exactly like what they looked like on my monitor.

JasonC Loc: Houston, Texas

h2oartist wrote:

Has anyone heard that Costco is closing photo departments in some locations?

Indeed, as others have pointed out, Costco is closing photo labs at various locations. I have two Costcos that I frequent here in Houston, Texas and one of them has closed their photo lab. I hope the trend doesn't continue as they do a good job and are very reasonably priced, in my mind anyway.

Best,

Jason

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

joer wrote:

They are not competitive with internet processors such as Mixbook or AdoramaPix.

I print 20"x40" posters. Mixbook doesn't offer that size. Their 20"x30" is two dollars cheaper than Costco's 20"x40", and their 24"x36" is 7 dollars more expensive. And then there's shipping with Mixbook, making them extraordinarily more expensive than my Costco 3.9 miles down the road.

AdoramaPix has the same problem except that they seem to be more expensive than Mixbook.

So Costco wins for me here in the East San Diego County boondocks.

dandev Loc: Enumclaw, WA

They just built a new Costco 10 miles from my house and did not put a photo center in the store. :( Another Costco about 20 miles away still runs their photo center which I use for test prints.
For better quality, I am using White House Custom Colour and Bay Photo. They can mount photos on foam core (which they charge for) which I do when submitting photos for competition. I know it's not hard to mount your photos, getting a matt cutter and a space to do it is on my "to-do" list.

WayneL Loc: Baltimore Md

h2oartist wrote:

Has anyone heard that Costco is closing photo departments in some locations?

They closed the one near me. Mostly use Snapfish for photos through the mail. I used to use Costco all the time but not anymore

roger

Costco recently built a new store just a mile from me. When we visited that store I couldn't find the Photo Center. Vision, Tires, and Pharmacy were there, but no Photo Center. I asked one of the employees, who replied "Costco didn't make enough money on the Photo Center to justify having one"

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

joer wrote:

They are not competitive with internet processors such as Mixbook or AdoramaPix.

I can order an 8 X 10 print online at Costco for $1.79 ... drive there and shop, then pick up my print. That’s pretty competitive, plus you don’t have to wait several days or pay shipping costs.

Granted, if I want a very high quality print I’d go elsewhere, like MPIX, BayPhoto, White Wall, etc.

chapjohn Loc: Tigard, Oregon

The few times I used Costco for prints, they were OK and less expensive than other places. However, I don't print enough to justify a membership at Costco for just OK prints. I am willing to lay a little more at my local camera store to have better quality prints the few times I want prints.

Another aspect of Costco losing money on photo printing is that film is popular with younger photographers and not having the equipment to process film could be one factor.

My local camera store can do both film and digital processing/printing. If you are in my area I would recommend using The Shutterbug....https://www.theshutterbug.com/

They will also accept orders through their website and mail your prints to you.

PhotosBySteve

h2oartist wrote:

Has anyone heard that Costco is closing photo departments in some locations?

I certainly hope not!

piloto caliente

burkphoto wrote:

What were the dimensions of the file you printed... in PIXELS? That's all that matters.

An excellent 20x30 can be made from a file that comes out of the camera as 4000x6000 pixels and gets enlarged (interpolated) to 4800x7200 pixels before printing. An acceptable 20x30 of SOME subject matter can be made with as few as 3000x4500 camera pixels enlarged (interpolated) to 4800x7200 before printing.

The camera was set at 6000x4000, and a very mild crop obviously brought the size down a bit. I've never interpolated an image, so I'll have to learn how to do it. To Costco's credit they did refund what I paid for the 20x30. I had never had any problems with previous 20x30s they did for me, and it could be that there was a malfunction in their system that day; the system was down completely the day before. I haven't tried any more 20x30s, but several similar images I since had them do in 16x20 came out with the same high quality I had experienced through the years. I hope the photo center stays open. Thanks again for your advice.

JoeM845

The Costco in-store labs are also inexpensive and fast, but have very limited paper choices. They offer good quality within those parameters.

Costco has been closing photo centers at some warehouses. Look at https://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/Profiles/California_profiles.htm to get a sense of closed labs in California (and elsewhere). You will see "Note: Printer profiles are no longer available for this lab." in red for the stores without in-house printers.

They offer profiled printers that let you have more color control if you also do you post appropriately on a color-managed system. See https://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/CostcoPosterPrinters.html. You cannot get this if you use mail delivery.

lookingglass18

It recently closed in Middleton WI although it’s still available in Sun Prairie, WI. I called Costco: photos may be ordered on line and shipped to your home. They will be closing all the in-store photo departments and going strictly to on-line services because in-store service is sooo expensive (that’s a quote).

coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

All of the Costco's switched from wet labs (chemical based) to dry labs, which are ink jet based. I suspect with the huge decline in printing that it would not surprise me if they found more profitable use of that real estate where the lab was.

There are only a few manufactures of the wet labs they use. Most probably use Epson print head technology. Aside from maybe some pro labs all finishing services have switched to the dry lab technology. So if you order on-line or Costco you are probably getting the same kind of print.

I owned a photo lab for almost 20 years so I was well informed on the technologies of the industry.