Looking for advice for various Printing avenues, Any Advice?

[ryan_bolger]

<p>So I am in the process of scoping out some printing companies and or printers to buy to print have my work professionally printed. I was curious to know if anyone out there can give me any of their thoughts of printing companies that maybe they use. I would love to print on various kinds of paper either cotton,canvas, and all of the various others. I would like to print both small and big. I am looking for great quality of product and good customer service. I am open to suggestions of printers to buy as well. Either way I am looking for the best way to go about having my work professionally printed that will make clients say "WOW". Thank you so very much and I look forward to your suggestions and input. It will be very much appreciated. Thank you.</p>

[mike51664877339]

<p>Some factors to consider:<br /> Do you have the print volume at a given size to warrant purchasing a printer? At some point in print width, you might say that the need is too infrequent to justify the extra $. In Epson's line, there is a big step up to go from 13 by 19 to 17 by 22. And to get roll feed for big panoramas, you take another pretty big step. I look at the issue periodically, and stop myself when I get to $1,000, and continue to buy from a service. So if you make a print-size decision, for instance, to go with a printer capable of 13 by 19, you must still find a vendor to produce larger sizes.<br /> Another factor for me is time. If you have your own printer, you have to spend the time making the print. On top of that, you might be inclined to do more make-overs than you would if you bought prints from a vendor.</p>

<p>I have an HP all-in-one that takes photo cartridges (including B&W) that I use for casual prints and photo-related "craft" projects like ink-jet transfer. The times I look at getting my own printer are the times I end up frustrated trying to get the HP to do my bidding--it gets confused. (The real answer is that I use it so seldom that I have to re-learn how to get things done each time.)<br>

For customer stuff, I use MPIX and Printmakers (Pawtucket RI).</p>

<p> </p>

[steve_taylor8]

<p>Try mpix and use the metallic paper.</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>A little later than I wanted, but I managed to delete my mostly finished post a few hours ago.</p>

<p>Plainly there is a volume dimension to the make yourself/make at lab decision, and indeed there's a hybrid route too whereby you buy a relatively small printer that takes care of the volume need whilst putting the largest and usually smaller volume stuff out to a lab. But there are other considerations too and I guess I'd just rather put the work to a lab than own and worry about printers and printing- but then I don't have a high volume need and virtually never print colour material small. Another dimension here is whether you're happy with inkjets or if instead you'd prefer the LightJet/Chromira/Lambda route using real type C photo papers, which pretty much binds you to using labs.</p>

<p>I don't think there's much of a quality dimension between make and buy these days. Chances are you'd be using the same family of printers from Epson or Canon as a lab, and the same inksets. Chances are that you'd be making the file yourself since that's by far the best way to get great prices from labs. Its just a question really of whether you use a lab's colour profile for soft proofing etc or whether you use one appropriate to the printer/paper combination you use at home. </p>

<p>Top-end print lab prices have fallen fast as it becomes apparent that the days of people handing over a slide or unadjusted Tiff have mostly gone and customers are looking for prices that correctly recognise the contribution made by the photographer, and there are some great values around. Most decent labs carry a wide enough array of papers to make experimentation entirely possible without needing to buy a boxful that you decide you don't like after the first half dozen prints. Indeed even if you're destined for printing your own, there's a logic to suggest using labs till you settle on a particular approach. </p>

<p>Lab recommendations?</p>

<p>I've used West Coast Imaging for years, <a href="http://www.westcoastimaging.com">www.westcoastimaging.com</a><br>

And have recently worked with The LightRoom <a href="http://www.lightroom.com">www.lightroom.com</a></p>

<p>and in both cases I've had really nice prints from nice people. </p>

[ryan_bolger]

<p>Thank you all so very much for the advice. I will scope out all of the wonderful links and see what I like and what I need and what the best way of going about it would be. I am going to start printing a ton of landscape and urban work, So I am trying to find out the best way to go about doing it. I might just buy my own printer. I own a canon printer already for small prints up to 8x10. I may just upgrade to print bigger and better. I will also scope out various outlets as far as Labs go. Has anyone ever used WHCC? If so, How do you like them? It's a toss up. But I am leaning towards more of purchasing my own professional printer to maybe go as big as 16x20 maybe even larger. I think panoramic would be a great thing as well. Any suggestions? I Like canon but I have used Epson in the past and am very pleased with their results. I look forward to hearing your great input. Thank you very much</p>

[Stock-Photos]

<p>I second the vote for<br>

<a href="http://www.mpix.com/">mpix</a></p>