Photobox do it again.....

ChrisGaskin

ChrisGaskin

Getting itchy
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Name
Christopher
Edit My Images
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learned my lesson..... ordered two 20x16 poster prints the other day, they arrived yesturday, very good print quality..... but, the main wanted print had been printed in portrait, chopping 4 inches off each side :bang:
 
Thats a real shame, and must be very frustrating.

I can't say I have have ever had a problem with them though, guess I am lucky!

Have you contacted them?
 
If it was their mistake then contact them. I once contact them because a laminated wallet print was poor quality and not sealed, they sent me a replacement out straight away without needing to see the faulty one.
 
Is it photobox that you have to tick the "do not resize" or something along those lines. I know a few they have done this to.

I remember Jessies doing it on 400 prints i'd shot in Scotland. Even though I'd asked them not to resize, the lad thought they would look better (with a few heads chopped off too!)

I'd definitely contact them, i'm sure they will re-print. Good luck with it, it's frustrating
 
haven't used photobox in a while but in the past had to send several e-mails to get some prints reprinted due to sending files in TIFF rather than JPEG. The colors were way off and had to get the prints for an assignment. They did replace the prints but alot of effort was done on my side - I'm now using snapfish.
 
I don't use them anymore although IME service has always been a strong point of theirs. But my prints were consistently too dark and they screw you for commission on print sales out of the pro galleries.

Hope you get it sorted
 
This is why I use Sam's Photolabs and the ROES system, you can at least see what you're going to get.
 
Cant complain about photobox, they used to be bad a few years back but have really smartened up now, people should check all their photos in what layout it is Landscape/Portrait and if it gets delivered wrong then complain, they`ll definately do it again till its right.

I`ve only had one problem with them when they printed out 3 sets of pictures of wedding photos but one of the sets was the same picture 73 times over lol, i complained and they re printed it again and done the exactly the same thing, but to be fair to them they did re print the complete order not the ones they missed out so i came away with plenty more prints that i could give away to people.
 
I found photobox prints came out too dark and had some cropping issues...I recommend theprintspace.co.uk.
 
HI ALL.
BEING A TOTAL NOOB WITH PHOTOGRAPHY AND SHOOTING IN RAW I DECIDED TO USE PHOTOBOX AND ORDERED THEIR SMALLEST PHOTO BOOK TO CHECK MY ABILITIES ON MY FIRST OUTING WITH MY NEW CAMERA.
"A LITTLE DISSAPOINTED" DOESNT EVEN COME CLOSE TO HOW I FELT WHEN IT ARRIVED. THE PRINTING WAS ALONG THE SAME LINES AS NEWSPAPER PICTURES ARE PRINTED (LOTS OF DOTS).
I DONT KNOW HOW THEY HAVE THE CHEEK TO CALL THEMSELVES PROFESSIONALS IF THIS IS THE KIND OF SERVICE YOU GET.
NEEDLESS TO SAY I WILL NOT BE USING THEM AGAIN. WHEN I GET SOME FREE TIME MY NEXT PORT OF CALL WILL BE CEWE AS RECCOMENDED IN A RECENT MAG I HAVE.
 
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DAZMAN32 said:
HI ALL.
BEING A TOTAL NOOB WITH PHOTOGRAPHY AND SHOOTING IN RAW I DECIDED TO USE PHOTOBOX AND ORDERED THEIR SMALLEST PHOTO BOOK TO CHECK MY ABILITIES ON MY FIRST OUTING WITH MY NEW CAMERA.
"A LITTLE DISSAPOINTED" DOESNT EVEN COME CLOSE TO HOW I FELT WHEN IT ARRIVED. THE PRINTING WAS ALONG THE SAME LINES AS NEWSPAPER PICTURES ARE PRINTED (LOTS OF DOTS).
I DONT KNOW HOW THEY HAVE THE CHEEK TO CALL THEMSELVES PROFESSIONALS IF THIS IS THE KIND OF SERVICE YOU GET.
NEEDLESS TO SAY I WILL NOT BE USING THEM AGAIN. WHEN I GET SOME FREE TIME MY NEXT PORT OF CALL WILL BE CEWE AS RECCOMENDED IN A RECENT MAG I HAVE.
Click to expand...

If they have been printed with the quality that you have described then unfortunately it appears that you have uploaded the wrong file size/resolution (ie way too small). I've had 6 photobooks from them, all outstanding quality, as well as thousands (without exaggeration) of 6x4s, a couple of hundred A4s, and 6 30in x 20in. No complaints.
 
I have a bit of a strategy for printing my stuff. For orders up to A4 size I'll use Photobox as their quality is pretty good and importantly the postage is low so there's more margin for me. I always check the "advanced options" before checking out in order to ensure that no resizing or cropping is taking place.

For anything over A4 I'll use DS Colour Labs (DSCL) where the quality is particularly important at the larger print sizes. DSCL are excellent, well packaged picture delivery, and very high quality.

For "specials" such as very large prints, I'll use The Print Space who are able to produce amazing quality large prints, especially on their metallic paper.
 
i've no need to stick up for them, but i've never had any problems... in fact found their service to be brilliant... and not had any issues with getting 30x20" posters. etc. printed.

i only had one problem where i'd ordered about 40 6x4" prints (2 sets of 20 different images)... and they sent me about 30 copies of the same image! but i emailed them and was sent a replacement set of images mailed out to me the following day at no cost.

and I see they've an offer on for 2-for-1 poster prints at the moment, so going to fill my boots!
 
Another vote in favour of Photobox from me too... I've even used them for wedding albums (albeit 'budget' ones) and haven't had any issues with them. Print quality is fine and the turn around time between ordering and delivery is pretty good too. :)

Si
 
I have used photobox a lot over the years for photobooks and poster sized prints - never had any problems and for the price they offer a good product and service at the budget end. Look out for their 2 for 1 promotions which are not frequent enough for my liking.
 
i don't know how those who've had bits chopped off ;) have prepared their images... but I prepare all my images for print in Photoshop (cropping, etc. to the exact print size) and then upload them to Photobox, ready-to-print. I never use any of their online editing tools.
 
Only had 1 print come back faulty, with a black line at hte top, one email and a scan of the problem and a new one dispatched same day, great service.

Every other print I've had done has been very good another :thumbs: for them
 
I ordered two prints at 12 x 8 from photobox, the colours were washed out and any processing i had done of the image in photoshop was stripped away. I wouldnt use them again after that. I am still looking for a good photo printing service which will not try to "correct" the images they print. Any suggestions welcome.
 
thisisengland said:
I ordered two prints at 12 x 8 from photobox, the colours were washed out and any processing i had done of the image in photoshop was stripped away. I wouldnt use them again after that. I am still looking for a good photo printing service which will not try to "correct" the images they print. Any suggestions welcome.
Click to expand...

i've no affiliation to defend photobox, but i think everyone needs to be careful about sending an image to a printers and getting back exactly what they're hoping for.

in terms of your photoshop PP being stripped away, i'm not sure this could be done if you uploaded a JPG... it's flattened like a pancake, so wouldn't be able to be altered (unless it still had EXIF data attached, see below)

from researching all about sending to printers, there are lots of things to consider... for example is your screen calibrated? certainly on flat panel screens, what you see onscreen is going to be lighter/higher contrast than what would actually be printed... ie. prints will come out darker.

most printers will have instructions on their website as to how to prepare images for print, things to bear in mind... i'm sure i've read such things on photobox, in their help section.

so info such as:
Most jpeg images contain some called an EXIF header. This is information about the camera used to take the picture and exposure settings at the time. This EXIF information is used by our Fuji Frontiers to enhance images and to compensate for any underexposure on the camera. Generally, you will get brighter punchier prints if the EXIF information is still there.

Some older photo editing packages can strip out this EXIF information, meaning that our Frontiers can't enhance the image.

Also the act of editing an image at all in PhotoShop, even newer versions, causes the Frontier enhancement to be turned off. Fuji assume that the image has been edited to be how you want it printed and so won't change it any further.

If you are in doubt please upload your unedited images to get the best possible printed results.
Click to expand...
 
For those with colour problems, you can always request a calibration print from PhotoBox - and then compare that to the same image here. Not as good as getting your monitor properly calibrated but at least you will be getting a print of what you see.
 
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Benners, the jpg image i sent was much darker than the one they printed out for me, they seem to have lightened it an awful lot and the colours were washed out and faded. This was the image I am talking about
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisisengland/4362842579/
although there was another with that which also came back in the same condition. In my shot there clouds are blueish but they have come back a faded purple colour and where there are colour changes on the print it is quite blotchy. I have viewed this picture on several monitors some darker, some lighter than my one at home but none of them with the awful result of the print I got back. I will be sending this image to other labs to compare results and find the best lab for my images. I just did not find the photobox image acceptable on this, my first try with them. Maybe if I darken the image further it may bring about the result I want in the print.
 
I ordered a custom mug, and custom mothers day card with them on monday night, and was told to expect a 5 day turnaround. The mug arrived on Wednesday and the card on thursday and quality is excellent.

One happy customer here. :)
 
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