DSCL - Wow!!!!!!

***I compared aldi, snapfish and DSCL if that's any help? Thread floating around in this section. Came to the conclusion that I'd use aldi for snapshot type shots and DSCL for everything proper. Aldi's service and printing is fantastic, I was seriously impressed, but DSCL is that bit better. Aldi's and DSCL's packages arrived on the same day too (the day after order) so really, Aldi are very good and I prefer them to Snapfish, PhotoBox and kodak***

Thanks, but from Aldiphotos:- six 8X12" prints delivered to you door for £3.37 is very tempting and equal to just the del charge from DSCL...and if I don't put the Aldi print next to the DSCL print I wont know it's inferior :)
 
excalibur2 said:
***I compared aldi, snapfish and DSCL if that's any help? Thread floating around in this section. Came to the conclusion that I'd use aldi for snapshot type shots and DSCL for everything proper. Aldi's service and printing is fantastic, I was seriously impressed, but DSCL is that bit better. Aldi's and DSCL's packages arrived on the same day too (the day after order) so really, Aldi are very good and I prefer them to Snapfish, PhotoBox and kodak***

Thanks, but from Aldiphotos:- six 8X12" prints delivered to you door for £3.37 is very tempting and equal to just the del charge from DSCL...and if I don't put the Aldi print next to the DSCL print I wont know it's inferior :)
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I did just that, I got 12x8s from 3 different companies of 3 seperate images and every time, DSCL was best, a bit sharper in colour and retained detail in printing better than Aldi's - only marginally though, but enough for a photographer to be able to tell... I asked a few people with varying levels of creativity what they thought. I asked if they were from the same or different and if they were different which one was best (or "cost more"). Generally, the people who didn't notice detail as much, like those with slightly poorer vision, said they were the same. Others said that DSCL was better and one person preferred the Aldi photos. (I asked about 8 people I think :thinking: .)

Honestly, Aldi's quality for gloss prints is very, very good. I would highly recommend them....but I'd rate DSCL higher - not least for the extra size options.
 
Do you need to calibrate your monitor with spyder or similar? In order to get good prints. Where are they babased please
 
Jango said:
Do you need to calibrate your monitor with spyder or similar? In order to get good prints. Where are they babased please
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You can calibrate or you can order a calibrated print off them and use your 'eye' to sort your monitor out.

They are babased in Manchester
 
MARK AMIES said:
If I worked at DSCL I would be beside myself right now, well done guys.

No need for advertising!!
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There's two photo related companies who I have no end of praise for, DSCL, and photomart ;)

In all honesty, I don't know how anyone who has ever bought prints from DSCL copes with 'consumer' prints ever again... I use them very regularly for events where I haven't printed on the night, portraits and display prints of pictures, in the last year I have ordered probably in excess of 1000 prints from DSCL and never a single bad print, messed up order or example of anything other than top notch service...
 
tiler65 said:
You may be right regarding 'special offers' but I find that my larger prints especially school portraits where I am offering 12x8 & 16x12 etc, the packaging alone is worth the price of P&P they charge. Also I can pick up in store sometimes if I need them the same day.

I ordered my last set at 2:00pm on Tuesday and it was in my letterbox next morning..........brilliant service.
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I was impressed with the p&p tbh, they had the A3 prints nicely protected with the corrgated plastic stuff.
 
Can I hijack the thread for a minute and ask how you go about sharpening images from print with DSCL?

I sharpen in LR3 most often. Should I add any output sharpening when I export or not? Some print places I seem to have to oversharpen for.
 
EMA747 said:
Can I hijack the thread for a minute and ask how you go about sharpening images from print with DSCL?

I sharpen in LR3 most often. Should I add any output sharpening when I export or not? Some print places I seem to have to oversharpen for.
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I don't do any sharpening if I use LR, I do all mine in PS Where I can control it better.
 
Should I add any output sharpening when I export or not? Some print places I seem to have to oversharpen for
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Different people apply differing amounts of sharpening - and the subject matter also dictates the amount you need...

Then different labs have different amounts they apply depending on the printer they use..

.... so it's something you will have to send to the lab(s) you are using to find what's best for you, and the type of work you do....

As a headsup - for my own work (weddings and portraits), with a Nikon D3 I apply 70% radius1, detail 25 and masking3 - and no additional sharpening for print on export...
 
I normally order prints in lustre finish. However, there are times when I have wanted to order gloss as well but I think SAMs and loxley both say you will lose current order if u change. Think last time I used dscl I only had gloss/lustre and not pearl, so how do you order various finishes in one order?
 
cambsno said:
I normally order prints in lustre finish. However, there are times when I have wanted to order gloss as well but I think SAMs and loxley both say you will lose current order if u change. Think last time I used dscl I only had gloss/lustre and not pearl, so how do you order various finishes in one order?
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DSCL have a drop down menu to choose each finish for each file. I am sure Sams and Loxley is the same too.
 
DSCL have a drop down menu to choose each finish for each file. I am sure Sams and Loxley is the same too
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.

We have a menu at the bottom right of the screen to select your paper surface - you have to make your order for one surface, complete, then make a second order for the second. However, on all but the first one you can select "collect" rather than post - and put a note in the special instructions to add to first order - so you are not charged postage on each order.
Each catalogue is different - as not every size of print is available on every surface.

We are just about to add special catalogues for specific types of customer - and some of these will allow a mix of surfaces within an order....

Loxley are exactly the same.

It is to allow the lab to know that everything within a single job goes to a particular printer with a particular paper in it....
 
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(y)(y)

I'll soon be hanging their 18x12" Pearl prints on my wall, i love how they have a subtle metallic finish that makes the colours glow :)
 
Well this does give me hope.

I've only ever had one print done as I usually print my own but I spotted that my local camera store could do an A3 print and frame it cheaper than I could do it myself. The only problem was that when I went to collect it it was way too dark. I know that I should have known that it was too good to be true and I can't really explain why it put me off paying for prints but it did.
 
Hmmm, at the risk of being a lone voice, I am not sure I would go as far as some people on here. I had a DSCL order a year ago which was fine, and after reading about how great they were thought I would try them on my last order to see how good they are compared to Sam's who are my first choice.

Overall the quality was fine, as you would expect these beat the likes of Tesco hands down (which is where Joe Public print), and probably better than Loxley... however, I thought the paper was thinner than Sam's? No scientific test, just gut feeling as I handled them, they seemed a bit flimsier. IQ wise very good, although they seemed a tad darker than Sam's.

Dont get me wrong, good quality prints and at a great price, but for paid work it would have to be Sam's for me... a little more money but they just have a better feel to them and a little more ooomph. For now they will stay as a no.2.
 
I just checked their website, and see that prints are only available as glossy or lustre. That's a deal breaker for me. I prefer matt and find that lustre is still too "shiny".

I could get matt prints in anything up to about A1 or equivalent in most of the bigger shopping malls in South Africa (I've just come back again) but I'm having difficulty finding a source in the UK, and I don't want to get into home printing. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.
 
MartynK said:
I just checked their website, and see that prints are only available as glossy or lustre. That's a deal breaker for me. I prefer matt and find that lustre is still too "shiny".

I could get matt prints in anything up to about A1 or equivalent in most of the bigger shopping malls in South Africa (I've just come back again) but I'm having difficulty finding a source in the UK, and I don't want to get into home printing. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.
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try it, their new ordering system calls it matte instead of lustre. I really like it - sling in a cheap test order?
 
Matte is different to Lustre

The Matte surface is much smoother than Lustre.

I have been trying some through my own lab - and will have a selction of sizes with it in the next couple of weeks...
 
Anyone have any experience of Pearl finish from DSCL? At roughly three times the price it seems a little costly, but I'm thinking of using it for the occasional framed print.
 
tiler65 said:
You may be right regarding 'special offers' but I find that my larger prints especially school portraits where I am offering 12x8 & 16x12 etc, the packaging alone is worth the price of P&P they charge. Also I can pick up in store sometimes if I need them the same day.
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Spot on................(y)
 
itsdavedotnet said:
try it, their new ordering system calls it matte instead of lustre. I really like it - sling in a cheap test order?
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Thanks for this. I'll try it and see how the prints turn out. Sorry for not responding sooner, but I just forgot to check this thread.
 
I was going to start a thread asking for recommendations for on line printing services and found your thread.

Im not happy with the on line service I currently use (so much variability) this could be my own fault, but the company I use are a well known, cheap provider so I think that thats part of my problem.


Many thanks for the tip, I will give them a try

Best Regards
 
I used DSCL for an order, thought I'd give them another chance. I ordered yesterday lunchtime and they arrived today, superb delivery.

However, I wasn't impressed with the prints, especially the greens. I deliberately got a few prints done the same as ones I've previously had done elsewhere and the skin tones had less punch and the colours just weren't close. It's a shame as the service is good, but I don't think I'll be using them again for customer orders, but will for prints of the kids, which incidentally were fine as long as there weren't too many greens.
 
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Thats what I found Dave, they just lacked that something for me which sams and loxleys have.
 
Incidentally, I've reordered them all from Sam's as I can't hand the DSCL ones over to a paying customer. The only thing that let's Sam's down is they're not too quick in sending out reprints if one comes back unusable, which isn't good when you have orders to fulfill.
 
I had a few images done on the pearl when it was on a special offer (same price as glossy (y))

when used on the right type of image it looks fantastic, I have an 18x12" print of a floodlit suspension bridge and the metallic shimmer on the paper really brings the colours out. Also did a female portrait, she had fairly pale skin and bright coloured clothes which again appeared to jump off the page. But the fave print was a shot of a 53 caddy, the pearl made the paint look out of this world :eek:
 
I tried dscl for the first time last week and was pretty happy. The uploading software was easy to use, I had 8 A4 prints on the lustre paper and thought the quality was great. My only gripe was the high postal cost which was about 3 times the actual cost, which meant that overall each print cost approx £1.

I'll make sure that next time I try and organise myself better to send a batch of 20-30 to reduce the overall unit cost.
 
Just had a kingfisher done at 30" x 20" for an exhibition, looks superb.
 
vulcanlover said:
I'll make sure that next time I try and organise myself better to send a batch of 20-30 to reduce the overall unit cost.
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Always pays to do that mate, the P&P is the same for all images no matter the size. So I tend to order a few at a time. Plus, when sending on to customers, the excellent DSCL packaging for the larger prints can be re-used.
 
Took my order from DSCL yesterday, quality is grat as always, Awaiting another order tomorrow, no doubt it will be great
 
I find them great, very quick and great customer service. I had one come back to me with a line through it, looked like an upload error. Contacted them, they sent me a new copy out right away and praised my work - can't ask for more!

Their PNP is a little high, but I tend to order about 5 prints at a time and it makes it about £2 a print for 15x10" which is cheaper than photobox and better quality.

I find for landscape work the prints come back as on screen, so no qualms at all really.
 
Ok, in defence of DSCL further to my last comments.

I received the same prints from Sam's today and the greens are pretty much the same, so it looks to be time to recalibrate my monitor and isn't a DSCL issue. However, Sam's prints were definitely sharper and had more punch to them, but then I guess that's why they're quite a bit more expensive than DSCL.
 
Hey guys,

I also want to add a nice comment to the people at DSCL. Placed my first order a few weeks back, they came the very next day which i loved, extremely well packed.

The colours were spot on, for once i found a printer that has no hassle with uploading and produces the correct colours. Im definately going to be ordering from them with all my future orders.
 
Anyone using DSCL, put in the code 10JPFOCDSCL and get 10% off. I just used it and if works fine.
 
Another vote for DSCL from me
 
I like that you can now mix and match paper types. I did this Wednesday evening and the prints arrived this morning :) . I opted mostly for 8x6 pearl prints which look great, but they have been heavilly cropped.

I resized them all to 8 x 6 @ 300dpi but about 1/4 of an inch has been chopped off from all of the edges. I know they zoom the image a little to print them bigger and cut them down to 8x6 to avoid any borders, but wasn't expecting soo much to be cropped. I've not really noticed it on previous orders though :thinking:
 
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