Toronto Labs

<p>Hi Everyone,<br>

I will be trying out Pitko and Colourgenics tomorrow to see which place I like better, are there any other labs in the downtown/brewery district that others have had good experiences with?<br>

I'll be printing a whack of 4x6s, and a couple of 8 x 10s tomorrow, but have plans for canvas wraps, 16x20 and up etc. in the future. I am looking for knowledgeable yet non-snooty staff and good colour management. Basically, I am shopping for a lab that I can build a good working relationship with over the long-term.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

Torontoimageworks.com. Not been lately but they always delivered excellent results.

And while you're there check out all the galleries at 80 Spadina. You won't be disappointed:)

<p>TIW is excellent of course. I use Pikto for proofs (Kodak matte paper, not the Fuji).<br>

Elevator is also excellent, but a bit more high end as they print exhibitions for a lot of well known shooters.</p>

<p>Thanks guys. I am definitely going to check out Toronto Image Works now. elevator looks pretty good, but I think I'll wait to have a bit more work behind me before waltzing in there. <br>

Ian, just curious about the advantages having proofs made somewhere if your not planning on printing there?</p>

<p>I stopped going to Toronto Image Works because they wouldn't tell me which machine and ink set combo they would intend to use on my ink jet prints - they have several different models. Actually the only reason I would get ink jets done there is to get them done on their Hewlett Packard machine with Vivera inks (300 year+ archival rating). Otherwise I've found it difficult/impossible to get a good screen to print match - ink jet or especially C-print. Pikto is OK but my first choice would be Colourgenics. The prints are bang on colourwise - my colour management workflow seems to flow easily into theirs. For what it's worth TIW uses a Chromira printer and Colourgenics uses a Lightjet (and their ICC profiles are in Adobe RGB 1998). And as a general observation - Toronto Image Works seems to attract photographers that do conventional work such as that you see on Photo.net pages whereas Colourgenics seems to attract those who do more experimental/creative work which you might see in local galleries.<br>

I've never used Elevator digital but they seem to regard themselves as 'master printers' with prices to match. They'd be good to consider if you wanted to hand over the printing process to them. If you want a hand in the printing of your own work the other three would be better choices.<br />Also, you should proof your prints at the lab where you intend to do your final prints.</p>

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<p>The advantage is that they do good proofs. I hand over files to my clients, not large prints. The last time I needed a bunch of large prints done (from neg) was for a Contact show. I had Bob at Elevator do them. They were great.<br>

I do 12"x18"s at Pikto from time to just to see stuff a bit bigger.</p>