Need some album assistance

Helloagain36 · January 13, 2010

I was wondering if anyone can share some album printers who provide a free design interface a lot like mycanvas does? I am fine with spending X for an album but would prefer to not need to purchase album design software additionally. I like how user friendly the drag and drop interface that mycanvas uses is. I would order directly from them, but it seems that they only offer their premium albums in 8x8 and 8.5x11 sizes which both seem too small for a wedding album.

I have checked out finao, and find their albums very unique and priced nicely but their website boggles my mind and unless I am misunderstanding, it seems I need to purchase design software or source out to a designer, which I am trying to avoid doing.

KISS seemed nice as well, but their simple option is a bit too simple for me, and the custom option again is sourcing out to a designer.

I feel like I am being nit picky but I am completely new to printing albums so any help in general will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

-Dave

BlueSkyPhotos · January 13, 2010

Hi Dave,

I don't have any vendor provided software recommendations, but I would like to mention an alternative solution. Have you ever tried using Fotofusion http://www.lumapix.com? Their interface is very user friendly and you can output your album as jpg, psd, tiff and pdf files. You can use these files with most of the vendors.

I used mycanvas and blurb in the past, but their design software restricts you to one vendor.

Take care,

Jacek

Mishka · January 13, 2010

I use Finao products, and I design my albums with Photojunction. It's a free software that's very easy to use, and you can create your own templates.

By the way, here's an example of an album I designed and had printed by Finao.

Helloagain36 · January 13, 2010

Mishka wrote:

I use Finao products, and I design my albums with Photojunction. It's a free software that's very easy to use, and you can create your own templates.

By the way, here's an example of an album I designed and had printed by Finao.

Awesome, that is exactly the type of software that I was looking for. Your album looks beautiful. You have been happy with Finao I assume? Their options are definitely the most diverse and unique that I have seen. Thanks so much for the help, summer is coming way too quickly and I need to get all this album stuff sorted out pronto!

-Dave

Qarik · January 13, 2010

with finao you can use anything that output in jpeg. PS, indesign, lightroom, etc.

ShepsMom · January 13, 2010

A lot of album makers offer free ROES software where you can design your own template in PS and upload in their templates, some offer templates build in with ROES.
I know that Graphistudios offer nice layouts with their fee software.

ChatKat · January 13, 2010

ShepsMom wrote:

A lot of album makers offer free ROES software where you can design your own template in PS and upload in their templates, some offer templates build in with ROES.
I know that Graphistudios offer nice layouts with their fee software.

I do not recommend the Graphi software. I did an album and had to make a change - the software corrupted and I lost the whole album design.

I suggest you do the album in software that you can use with any album company of your choice. Graphi albums are beautiful but the communicaiton with Italy is not.

jdorseydesign · January 15, 2010

This thread made me wonder, does anyone use Apple's iWork suite (in particular Apple Pages) to design albums? I know it will output PDFs, will any of the online album printers take PDF as a format?

BradfordBenn · January 19, 2010

I did one in Illustrator as multiple pages and then output it as PDF with embedded images.

Jeremy Winterberg · January 19, 2010

I'm using InDesign to make my albums. You can output as jpeg or pdf. Alot of vendors will accept pdf files. Its alot easier to upload to them (one file vs 10+).

I'm using Miller's for my vendor. The turnaround time is fantastic, and the quality is amazing. Not to mention the albums are very affordable. (about $300 for a 10x10, depends on the cover) I was going to use Finao, but their website confuses me as well. Millers is more professional looking, and easy to navigate.

urbanaries · January 19, 2010

Jeremy Winterberg wrote:

I'm using InDesign to make my albums. You can output as jpeg or pdf. Alot of vendors will accept pdf files. Its alot easier to upload to them (one file vs 10+).

I'm using Miller's for my vendor. The turnaround time is fantastic, and the quality is amazing. Not to mention the albums are very affordable. (about $300 for a 10x10, depends on the cover) I was going to use Finao, but their website confuses me as well. Millers is more professional looking, and easy to navigate.

+1 on Millers. They've got a good balance of simplicity and popular options. They've got nice "public" pages with good quality photos you can direct clients to for perusing with no price info. It amazes me sometimes how terribly designed sites some of these (most!) album companies have.

Right now I'm using my demo version of Album DS to create miller's books...no issues yet. I also see that Miller's is expanding to allow Mac use of their software...if it was anything like the MPIX software for blurb-style books (Miller's sister company) it will come in handy.

heatherfeather · January 19, 2010

I just got back my first order from Millers... and I am impressed. At less than half the price of GraphiStudio, it is pretty high quality.
I had a bear of a time with the software, and spent most of last week on the phone with technical services. They really worked with me to get it going though. I think they did 5 remote sessions before we got it all done... which to me = great customer service.

urbanaries · January 19, 2010

heatherfeather wrote:

I just got back my first order from Millers... and I am impressed. At less than half the price of GraphiStudio, it is pretty high quality.
I had a bear of a time with the software, and spent most of last week on the phone with technical services. They really worked with me to get it going though. I think they did 5 remote sessions before we got it all done... which to me = great customer service.

oooh...that's a bummer. assuming you're on a PC? Are you using the new remote studio?

I'd really recommend Album DS, like Dave:D, even at $350 it MORE than pays for itself if you can use a super fast, cheap vendor like Miller's. I truly hate to say the word "cheap" though because I am really impressed with their craftsmanship, materials and customer service.

FWIW. I had a client recently REFUSE to get her album through Graphi once I told her that was my new vendor of choice. She was kind of snipey and said "all you have to do is google GraphiStudio and you'll find a slew of quality issues." Much as I balk at her nerve, she is right....http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=graphistudio&aq=f&aql=&aqi=n1g10&oq=&fp=e8d6ef47431c6a4a

Jeremy Winterberg · January 20, 2010

urbanaries wrote:

oooh...that's a bummer. assuming you're on a PC? Are you using the new remote studio?

I'd really recommend Album DS, like Dave:D, even at $350 it MORE than pays for itself if you can use a super fast, cheap vendor like Miller's. I truly hate to say the word "cheap" though because I am really impressed with their craftsmanship, materials and customer service.

FWIW. I had a client recently REFUSE to get her album through Graphi once I told her that was my new vendor of choice. She was kind of snipey and said "all you have to do is google GraphiStudio and you'll find a slew of quality issues." Much as I balk at her nerve, she is right....http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=graphistudio&aq=f&aql=&aqi=n1g10&oq=&fp=e8d6ef47431c6a4a

Inexpensive might be a better choice over cheap. haha

Another thing that I really like about Miller's is they sent me those sample prints and a pricing catalog, all bundled up in this nice folder thing, to welcome me in. Very Professional!

Wow, I watched the video on youtube that comes up on that page... simply awful experience for that guy. Also, why would anyone want to have an album made by a company that takes several MONTHS to finish an album? Doesnt make sense to me.

smurfy · October 9, 2010

Just tried Meridian
This is an older thread, but I thought it only right to spread the positive experience I had with Meridian (http://www.meridianpro.com/products-pricing_files/albums.html) this week.

Due to some recent quality issues, I'd gotten frustrated with my regular album provider. I'd already had set up an account with Meridian for prints, but it had never been used, since Smugmug /Bay photo got those orders.

Recently saw an ad for new Meridian albums, but couldn't find any reviews for Meridain wedding albums on line...
I had to be walked patiently on the phone through a couple of issues, due to not having used ROES much, but their communication displayed both patience and excellent customer support.

The album shipped a day after the upload, and I worried. I just did not believe it was possible for a company to turn around a quality album that quickly. But it arrived today, and blew me away! From the binding, colors and edging to the leather - wrapped presentation box, it's gorgeous, and the clients will without a doubt be thrilled!

Moogle Pepper · October 9, 2010

Fundy Album builder and Black River Imaging for the win!

tenoverthenose · October 9, 2010

I really don't like to think about how I created albums before Fundy Album Builder - it's that good.

smurfy · October 9, 2010

tenoverthenose wrote: »

I really don't like to think about how I created albums before Fundy Album Builder - it's that good.

Is Fundy similar to Photojuntion?

Agnieszka · October 9, 2010

urbanaries wrote: »

FWIW. I had a client recently REFUSE to get her album through Graphi once I told her that was my new vendor of choice. She was kind of snipey and said "all you have to do is google GraphiStudio and you'll find a slew of quality issues." Much as I balk at her nerve, she is right....http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=graphistudio&aq=f&aql=&aqi=n1g10&oq=&fp=e8d6ef47431c6a4a

Oh wow ...

I do all my albums through Graphi these days and have been VERY impressed and happy with their products *and I'm fairly picky*

(p.s. there are bad things posted about pretty much all album crafters, why mention which once you're using?)

Need some album assistance

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