Public Apology

ExposeTheMoment

Public Apology To Andy and Anyone Else I offended.

I want to apologize for my rudeness and beating a dead horse. I decided to cancel my
Trial with EM and continue being a happy Pro User of Smugmug.

I’ll patiently wait for the improvements. I can hope things will only get better for us Pro Users, as I recently read that the print prices have been lowered. Way to go Smugmug, now I can order my prints from here instead of Costco. WhooWhoo.

Mike Lane

So what changed your mind?

dogwood

prints
As far as I'm aware, the smugmug prints are actually higher quality (the lab uses a top-end Fuji Frontier) than Costco (who in my area concentrates on volume more than quality).

Anyway, I know a lot of folks would challenge me to see a difference in the prints from Costco or smugmug-- all I can say is let me take that challenge in 20 years. That's when higher quality really starts to pay off and the print isn't faded or blotchy.

ExposeTheMoment

dogwood wrote:

As far as I'm aware, the smugmug prints are actually higher quality (the lab uses a top-end Fuji Frontier) than Costco (who in my area concentrates on volume more than quality).

Anyway, I know a lot of folks would challenge me to see a difference in the prints from Costco or smugmug-- all I can say is let me take that challenge in 20 years. That's when higher quality really starts to pay off and the print isn't faded or blotchy.

Costco use a Fuji Frontier. I have not had any complaints about there prints. I also belong to serveral photography forums, and there are plantly of others using costco as well.

I also like the fact Costco allows back printing, so I can put my copyright on their.

But still Im glas that smugmug has a lower print price, this will help.

dogwood

printers
I'm probably wrong about this-- but I thought there were different versions of the Fuji Frontier? I can't seem to find this info on the smugmug page so they may be using the same Frontier model as Costco.

If there is indeed a difference, it's likely comparable to using L-glass vs. Tamron. Your shots will look decent either way as long as your exposure and composition is good-- but there's certainly a reason you prefer the L-glass, right? And it's a difference the general public is unlikely to notice.

But again-- I may be wrong about all this-- anyone know about the different Fuji Frontier models-- and more importantly, which Frontier smugmug and Costco (and places like Walmart) use?

kwalsh

Various Costco's use different printers, but all of them use Fuji Crystal Archive paper and the same chemistry - longevity will be the same regardless. As far as image quality goes I really doubt there will be a difference, now or in the next 30 years. That said, there still is attention to detail. One Costco in my town sometimes gets the prints cut slightly out of square.

It is also worth mentioning that Costco does pay to have all of their printers at all of their stores color profiled on a regular basis and you can download and use those color profiles if you are into that kind of thing.

I really doubt EZ-Prints offers anything quality wise over Costco - but they are directly linked to smugmug and mail out prints direct to customers so obviously they are more convienent (and they don't require a membership either).

Ken

DavidTO

kwalsh wrote:

I really doubt EZ-Prints offers anything quality wise over Costco - but they are directly linked to smugmug and mail out prints direct to customers so obviously they are more convienent (and they don't require a membership either).

Ken

I don't doubt it at all. I can't find it now, but they did a lot of research into selecting their provider. They did a test with Kodak, Shutterfly...I forget which all they did, but the prints from ezprints were clearly better. And I would imagine that costco wouldn't be any different, I mean they're in the business of low cost, not high quality.

Andy

kwalsh wrote:

I really doubt EZ-Prints offers anything quality wise over Costco ]

Ken

Except for

* printing is EZPrints' ONLY business
* we thoroughly and tightly color manage with EZPrints
* we guarantee 100% satisfaction and if your customer gets a bum print, makes a bad crop, the postman bends your envelope, or you the pro fall asleep at the switch and send aRGB or otherwise goof on the color, exposure, white balance or what have you, I've got your back and will have reprints done and out the door to your customer before you can start the car and get back to Costco

And more.

dogwood

andy--
Do you know which Fuji Frontier model EZ Prints uses to print? Just curious. I've heard there are $200,000 pro-lab Frontiers and there are much cheaper drug-store type Frontiers for one-hour photo places.

Andy

dogwood wrote:

Do you know which Fuji Frontier model EZ Prints uses to print? Just curious. I've heard there are $200,000 pro-lab Frontiers and there are much cheaper drug-store type Frontiers for one-hour photo places.

Hey dog,

I've asked EZP to comment directly - trying to get them to be more involved here on the forum - straight from the horses mouth, so to speak

Dr. Know

dogwood wrote:

Do you know which Fuji Frontier model EZ Prints uses to print? Just curious. I've heard there are $200,000 pro-lab Frontiers and there are much cheaper drug-store type Frontiers for one-hour photo places.

Hello Dogwood...

Great question...

I am a representative of EZ Prints and have the following data points for you.

We use Fuji Frontier 370's and 390's, and yes, many retail outlets and pro labs utilize these printers. They are extremely reliable and produce very high quality prints when utilized, maintained and QCed properly. This last piece is really where the pro and consumer alike see the real difference. With retail outlets usually the procedures for color and density calibration are just enough. At EZ Prints we calibrate our printers every time there is any type of change. All of our printers are considered "out of calibration" until we prove that they are at our standards. This is where our QC and Operations management staff can see any drifts or a requirement for maintenance. We use industry known standards and color spaces as our baseline. In fact, we developed our calibration print in conjuction with Smugmug to make sure we addressed the concrete concerns of the professional. From every type of skin tones to a Gretag MacBeth color chart, we make certain that everytime we touch the process of printing, we are on target. With a retail outlet I'm not sure I can say the same thing.

There is also the QC check after printing, or what we call post processing. This too is on a different level than what one would see in a retail outlet.

Although equipment may be similar, at the end of the day its in the operation and attention to what really matters (color, consistency) that makes the difference.

Let me know if this was helpful, and if you have any further questions...

Cheers,

Dr. Know :soapbox

Mike Lane

I just got a print today. It was a matte version of a 24 x 36 inch version of a print I no longer have available online. Wow, wow, wow. Dr. Know, I've got to tell you that is one amazing printing outfit you've got there. The thing is beautiful! I had a different print done in glossy 24x36 of this image:



That one took my breath away. But the one I printed was cropped heavily so I didn't know if it would work so well. Suffice it to say that it did work well.

Also I want to rave about Smugmug's auto color option. I know photo pros (which I'm not obviously) can't stand the idea of auto color corrections to images they spent a bunch of time on. The print I just had printed used autocolor and it was absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend it!

Thanks EZ Prints and thanks Smugmug.

Andy

ExposeTheMoment wrote:

Public Apology To Andy and Anyone Else I offended.

I want to apologize for my rudeness and beating a dead horse. I decided to cancel my
Trial with EM and continue being a happy Pro User of Smugmug.

I’ll patiently wait for the improvements. I can hope things will only get better for us Pro Users, as I recently read that the print prices have been lowered. Way to go Smugmug, now I can order my prints from here instead of Costco. WhooWhoo.

Hi Gary - no worries - glad you are here to stay

dogwood

thanks dr. know
That's helpful and great to know EZ Prints keeps up with all the calibration and fine-tuning required by high-end photo printers. Just a guess, but I'll bet some of the other outlets using Fuji Frontiers don't spend quite as much time "geeking out" over their equipment. I started out getting my smugmug prints delivered to me just to make sure the quality was top-notch before I sold them to a customer and can say without hesitation the quality was fantastic.

Now I let my customers deal with ordering their own prints off my website!