Comparing printing services

[ruffdog64]

I`ve recently had 2 photos printed ,one set was done at tesco and ther other dscl and the same files were used on each set and in my opinion the Tesco set look better and i`m surprised ,has anyone any thoughts why this could be?

 

[testbloke]

Paper. Chemistry, calibration, printer, competency of operator, full moon etc.
I have had good prints from Costco but also many that went in the bin, consistency and reliability also important. No point producing a stunning print if you can only do it 10% of the time

 

[Box Brownie]

One consideration is the dcsl print what up send them I.e. no machine or operator intervention but tesco always 'process' the files and that "has pleased your eye" compared to what you are used to

 

[ruffdog64]

Far comment , the Tesco machine had no human inteference so i`m assuming you mean dscl? in which case not good

 

[Box Brownie]

Far comment , the Tesco machine had no human inteference so i`m assuming you mean dscl? in which case not good

You may not have seen an operator but that does not mean to say it had not been setup to for example sharpen, boost colours, increase contrast et al.

 

[droj]

Harvey, to make sense of this for the rest of us, we need you to say WHAT the differences are between these two sets of prints - is it the tonal disposition, the white balance, the saturation - just what, exactly? Otherwise it's just vague woffle to do with your subjective impressions & we haven't a clue what you're on about.

 

[ruffdog64]

The Tesco prints are brighter, the colour is more saturated giving in my opinion a nicer looking image ,detail wise they are the same hope this helps, i will try to put up a photo of the two images

 

[droj]

... i will try to put up a photo of the two images

Good idea, if it can be done ... do you have a scanner? To upload to the forums I think there's a max file size of 350Kb or so per image, & 1024 px max dimension? sRGB jpg's. There's an 'upload a file' button bottom right under the message field ...

You may not have seen an operator but that does not mean to say it had not been setup to for example sharpen, boost colours, increase contrast et al.

This, too - we don't know what the presets were.

 

[owenb]

From memory dscl don't colour correct........ Will make a difference also colour profile used will alter...... On your screen which print is more accurate?

 

[testbloke]

Dscl apply auto correction unless you choose the pro option which also has back print.

 

[Brian G]

From memory dscl don't colour correct........ Will make a difference also colour profile used will alter...... On your screen which print is more accurate?

With DSCL you need to attach their (downloadable) profile, to match whichever type of paper they will be printing on.

To the OP - When you say you "prefer" one set of prints over the other, how do they match what you see on your (obviously profiled) monitor?
I've had many prints done by DSCL and they consistently match what I see on my monitor screen.

 

[droj]

Dscl apply auto correction unless you choose the pro option which also has back print.

Which might explain why when I had some prints made there some years ago, the results were over-saturated and tonally over-hyped. Whereas with Peak, it was quite clear on the order form that you could turn off intervention if you wanted to.