Photobook Recommendations

cambsno

cambsno

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No recent threads on this, what would you folks recommend for photobooks?

Am using a Mac, so one of the apps would be ideal but web based are fine. This is just for me - want to put together a load of books based on family events, holidays, trips etc... typically 20-80 images, ideally something like A3 size/ Not sure I am fussed about hardcover v soft, but I dont like dust-jackets as they get torn and curl up. Obviously looking for decent quality but at a realistic price, so somewhere between Tesco and Loxley I guess ;)
 
I use Mixam these days - upload the book as a high-res .pdf created from a word file. I used CEWE with their web-based app for my first ever photobook, and it still looks good more than 10 years on. Did one with Photobox also web-based a few years ago, and that was good.
 
Used CEWE for a book at Christmas. I found their software a bit of a clart but the quality of the book was very good.
 
Chipper said:
Sometimes you can find a £100 voucher for SAAL digital; top .quality lay flat. Mine popped up on Facebook.
Click to expand...
I agree. I got a £100 voucher from facebook.

I have had some glitches though; for example the colour scheme i chose for the front cover meant that my name in black was almost invisible on the grey that I'd chosen and when I pointed this out to them they credited me with the full cost of the book. Just recently I had problems with a book design and they offered me 30 euro credit for my inconvenience.

Otherwise the finished product is superb.
 
Well. ordered from SAAL - software is ok, a few things I didn't like but overall ok. Speedy though, ordered Tues night and here less than 48 hours later. Went for 28x19 and the XT pages which is nice. Very impressed, 2 more on order and more to come!
 
I’ve used one or two over the years.

Blurb - I’ve made dozens of books with them over the past 15 years or so, generally very impressed with them. I make an annual yearbook of all our family snaps, it’s expensive but palatable with the 40% discount that comes round every few weeks. In fact, don’t order from them without a discount, they come round every week or two. Occasional errors, but they’ve corrected them with a reprint. The ability to create books in Lightroom is a massive boon for me, although their own software is good. Production and shipping can sometimes be tedious and a bit pricey if you want it quickly.

Saal - just had a layflat book done using a £100 voucher from Instagram. Mine cost more than the £100 as I did 130 pages and while I’m not sure I’d have paid the full price, the quality is excellent. Their software is OK and fairly intuitive but lacked a few things I expected to see and moving pages / images round was something that it didn’t seem to be able to do. Production and shipping was fast, far quicker than blurb.

Mixam - used them for zines, quality and service is excellent but there have been faults with the last two orders (which they’ve reprinted with varying degrees of success) so I’m slightly wary of using them now. You do need to produce the pdf yourself though.

Photobox - used them a couple of times a while back, from memory it was fine but there was a distinct lack of page and cover design options. This may have changed since then.
 
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