Album Photo Quality

<p>Just saw a "Parent book" from Zookbinders. The layout and build quality looked good but I was underwhelmed by the quality of the printed images. I honestly thought I saw better work from My Publisher. This was one of the companies I was looking at to offer clients Flush mount coffee table leather books.</p>

<p>Do you have any recommendations for companies that do excellent image reproduction? Or, could companies be asked to print a page or two as a free sample to judge the quality of their work?</p>

<p>Zookbinders and mypublisher are no where near the same league, I can't understand the comparison....did you actually see the two and hold each in your hands?</p>

<p>I just started using Graphi studio and the sample books are AMAZING! I am blown away by the quality seriously.</p>

<p>David, I absolutely have held both books in my hand, hence the question. Granted, I only saw the "parent book", but I wouldn't imagine there would be a difference in image quality, only size. I can only say that I would not be satisfied handing this to a client. The pictures were oversatuated and oversharpened. They did not show the quality I would expect from a good print.</p>

<p>Realize that usually the photographer hands their worked digital files to Zookbinders to be made into a book. So if the photographer oversharpened and oversaturated the images, that is how they will be. You also didn't say whether the item was a press book or regular photo book. Press books, because they aren't printed on photo paper, will naturally have slightly less image quality. In any case, I would actually call them if you are interested still. Most places will offer test prints--I believe, if you do use them, several test prints are part of the process of starting up with them.</p>

<p>This is why I choose to have a lab do my print-and-bind work such as Miller's or H&H. The skill level required to print is much greater than the skill level to make a flush album which is mostly made by machine anyway. I'd rather work with a lab that's skilled in print making than an album company who's just trying to compete.<br>

If I want an album from one of the albums companies like you've mentioned, I get better results when a lab makes my prints, I inspect them, then I ship them off to Album Crafters in Florida -they make a quality album and are wonderful to deal with. Yes, it's a 2 step process, but what's another week when I can be comfortable with the printing before the book is made. It's much easier to remake a print before it's bound....-Aimee</p>

<p>Aimee -- how are they mounted?</p>

<p>I have printed at Zookbinders and Millers and both are pretty much the same (I loved both).<br /> I am guessing what you were holding was a Zookbinders Photobook. They are the cheaper book with a hard gloss page. The Zookbook is the flush album with either E Surface or Metallic finish. These albums are beautiful. If what you saw was over sharpened and over-saturated, that was the photographer, not Zookbinders.<br /> When you sign on with Millers or Zookbinders, they do a few test prints so you can see what your monitor is looking like compared to their prints. I use an Apple cinema display so I was good right from the start. I did sample albums with both and loved both companies. The prints matched exactly what I saw on my monitor. I did one metallic and one E surface......both were fantastic.<br /> The only 2 things (in my opinion) that are different with the 2 companies are price and speed.<br /> If you order with Zookbinders, you can expect about a 2 week turnaround time with a cheaper price.<br /> If you do Millers, you can expect a 2 day turnaround time but plan to spend a little more (free overnight shipping too).<br /> You really can't go wrong with either of these album companies. Neither of them over-saturate or over sharpen their prints.<br /> Good luck</p>

<p>John,<br>

Album Crafters makes a true flush mount album using "real" photographs. It's library bound, trimmed and gilded on the edges. Check them out on the web....-Aimee</p>