online enlargement print - digitalab

Hello,

I am sure this has been covered many times but couldnt find it in the search - simple question:

what online lab do you recommend for printing enlargement? I'm thinking mainly 12 x 18'' and 18 x 24''

Has anyone used Digitalab?

I am after a compromise price/quality so no pro lab at £50 the print!

thanks

DSCL definitely for the 18x12 - above that size their prints aren't quite so good so personally I'd use Peak Imaging



http://www.dscolourlabs.co.uk/

http://www.peak-imaging.co.uk/


Simon

Photobox take some beating!

thanks!
DSCL is very cheap for 12 x 18 so not taking much risk!
photobox i tried once and the 3 prints i ordered went straight to the rubbish bin

The DSCL "lustre" finish prints are far better than the Photobox Matt ones - better colour rendition and really work well under glass.

ordered 5 12x18'' with DSCL, was like £10 delivered! not sure about using the automated corrections so i ordered the same print with and without! now looking at a 18x18'' so checking the other link you sent - thanks

The safest bet with DSCL is to do all the adjustments yourself, resizing especially, and then use the "pro" option

will see what happens - only saw after the resizing bit (mine are not 300dpi like they want), will see how it goes - why are the bigger prints not as good? i guess they use a different printer, but it's a shame because they have the size i want (18 x 1

just got the prints from DSCL.
i have mixed feelings (I printed 5 pictures 12 x 18'' matt):

- colours look good
- paper quality is good too
- i printed the same picture twice, one with autocorrection and one without, the one autocorrected is better (B&W, better contrast)
- i ordered 2 panoramas, they got cropped to 12 x 18'', although i ordered white borders so was expecting to get big white bands - apparently there is a "shrink to fit" box which i did not see so my mistake i guess
- one B&W looks really weird, i boosted the sharpness quite a bit but it looks horrible on the edges of the person's face (around the face basically), might be coming from my picture.

anyway on a positive note it was very cheap (paid £10.48 for 5 prints), only one can go on my wall though.

I've recently read another thread or two on problems with DSCLs new software, it seems the editing options are not too good - particularly cropping - I've never had a problem but always do all edits myself and only use the "pro" option (uncorrected, uncropped) - using their "zero install" software

Simon

yes i actually just looked at it and there is no option to "shrink to fit" as the person told me on the phone, at least not on the "zero install" online thingy.
i might need to edit the format (do you match their requirements in terms of DPI?), i guess once you know what to do it might actually work ok, but unless you want to print 10 pictures (which i dont), the tests are actually not cost effective!

I just go with 300DPI, just do all the editing yourself - you can download their colour profile too to softproof your prints beforehand - their printing process is fully automated so you do need to be 100% sure that your files are exactly as you want them, if things do go wrong as you've seen their customer service isn't the best but you'll really not find anyone who provides such good quality prints for the price