hagar Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Lisa, when you are trying labs.. try Costco if there is one close. You can upload your photos online, and pick them up the next day. Make sure you click the option not to optimize at the end. I typically get 12x18 prints from them.. $2.99 each.. can't beat that really.. and the once or twice I had a bad print they redid it immediately. Even their 20x30's are cheap.. 9.99.. At least here in AZ they are. I had a 3.3 mp Olympus a few years ago.. and got decent results on 12x18. My guess is you'll be more than fine with the k100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisa_stieg Posted July 17, 2008 Author Share Posted July 17, 2008 Haig, unfortunately, we have no Costco, only Sam's. I've never tried their lab, so I don't know how it compares, but I know that Mpix does a GREAT job on my prints. Their 12x18's are $13.50, so they are quite a bit more expensive than Costco, but I still think them quite reasonable and their prints are consistently good quality. I wonder if Costco has an option to mail them to you? That would be worth investigating... Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 I've used <a href="http://www.winkflash.com">WinkFlash</a> for large prints. They have very reasonable prices and I cannot fault their quality:<br> <br> 11.25 x 14.25: $4.95<br> 12 x 16: $5.95<br> 16 x 20: $7.95<br> 16 x 24: $9.95<br> 18 x 24: $11.95<br> <br> These are in their "poster" section, but they're still printed on thick photographic paper. Their "normal" prints, 4x6 to 10x15, are also incredibly well priced; 8x12 is $1.49 and 10x15 is $3.79, for example. Their customer service is also exemplary, the best I've dealt with in ages. Furthermore, and this is very important for me, the print customization (adding white borders especially) is so much better than Mpix, which I hated when I tried them out (unless they've upgraded their tools since then).<br> <br> Geez, you'd think I own stock in the company or something :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Luttmann Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Portraits don't need a lot of resolution on print. Unlike a landscape which benefits from microfine detail, we don't want every pore screaming out from the print. I remember using my old Canon 10D for wedding work and having superb 16x24 prints on my Epson 7600. Landscape at that size looked like cr@p. With the K20D, I routinely print 20x30 landscape work with no issues at all. Ya, it's not a 4x5 sheet of film, but it's really good. For portraits, you'll have no problems getting 14x21, 16x24, 20x30 or even 24x36. I'd go with the K20D as if you are looking at prints 20x30 and less, it's an all around perfect camera. Just make sure you've got good....and I mean GOOD glass. I got a perfect copy of the 16-50DA and love it. But I've also just tried a Zeiss 25mm and the edges better, the contrast is better, and the resolution throughout is better. And as mentioned, don't bother with software like Alien Skin or Genuine Fractals. For a lot of large prints recently I've been interpolating to 200% using bicubic, sharpening to taste, adding a fine level of noise, and downrezzing using bicubic to my desired print size at 300 or 360dpi, depending upon the printer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_kuhne Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Well, Lisa, if you decide on the K20D, your K100 will still serve well as your compact alternate or backup. It is great for high ISO use too. I think you'll be pleased with the quality of your K100's prints from a good lab. I am going for the K200D for the reasons I mentioned, and I feel the 10mp IQ is more than enough for what I do, and hard to distinguish from the K20D, which is shown compared to the K10D in the RAW comparisons on dpreview. The K20D does have a bigger buffer for more burst shots than the K200D, if you do a lot of continuous speed shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagar Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Costco will mail them to you.. you need a membership number, but if you'd like to try it out you can certainly use mine. Just email me and let me know :-). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisa_stieg Posted July 17, 2008 Author Share Posted July 17, 2008 Thanks Haig! My mom has an account there, so I suppose I could use hers too...is the color in their printing good? Mis, I uploaded some shots to Winkfish to give them a try and already the color looks drastically different. Is that typical? Lisa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Alisa, I hope you uploaded to WinkFlash, not WinkFish :-) What do you mean by "and already the color looks drastically different"? I'm assuming you didn't get any prints yet, did you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisa_stieg Posted July 21, 2008 Author Share Posted July 21, 2008 I meant Winkflash instead of Winkfish...I guess I somehow combined Snapfish and Winkflash...duh... Anyways, what I meant was when I look at the pictures I uploaded on THEIR website, the colors look much more washed-out and dull than when I look at them on my computer. I know this will open up a can of worms in regards to calibrating my monitor, but I don't think that's the case, particularly when I don't notice colors changing when I upload my photos to other places on the web. WEIRD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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