Sorry - which Photobook ?

justa1972

justa1972

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Name
Justin
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Hello

Can anyone recommend a Photobook website?

I've never used one before and started using Jessops as there was an offer code - however, the offer code doesnt work which makes them pretty expensive as everyone else has big discounts this weekend !

Its just for one book and I'd like it to be decent quality

thanks
 
Another thumbsup for Photobox.
Sign up for their emails and start working on the book.
They will offer you a discount at some point at which time you click to buy.
I printed a 120 page book of last year's holiday for £34.40 delivered using prebought credit on an offer :)
 
I have used Photobox on a few occasions, and then had one from Albelli (now Bonusprint!!).
Both have been fine and the recipient (mostly family) have been blown away by them.

Recently I've heard good things about SAAL, which is a German company. To clarify, I have no affiliation with the company.
I've taken the plunge and ordered one from their site and am awaiting delivery (Xmas gift).

The book is lay flat, 34 pages and came in at £40, but there was a £20 voucher kicking about. Add £6 for delivery and it came in around £25.
You can make adjustments (padded cover, presentation box, linen covers, remove barcode) so the costs can vary considerably.

Whilst it took some time to put together, the annoying thing was that after you have created the book using their application, you go pay for it, and then after that they check images and then upload (mine was 58Mb from recollection), and this process tok about 20 min. I'd be annoyed if images were found to be substandard during this process (fortunately that was not the case).

On the flip side, the good thing is that you can create it offline, so it is the final process that you need to be online. I did mine over a few weeks when I was sitting waiting for the kids in their various activities!!


Hope that helps in the bewildering array of choices.....
 
Another plus for Saal. I was given a voucher and produced their photo book in return for an open and honest review which I did and you can read the review at

.https://www.facebook.com/groups/165143940728168/

I think there are lots of discount codes floating around for them but if you read the review and act quickly there is a £20 off code valid until 30.11.17. The software is easy to use and it didn't take very long to produce the book. If you want any more info or have any questions feel free to message me. Good luck and hope you are pleased with your book whichever company you use.
 
Books from different providers may have a different feel in terms of paper, binding and general ambience. Some use photo paper, so you know what you're getting there - good definition (dependent on your originals!) and maybe gloss or lustre.

Blurb now have a lay-flat option, but their printing as far as I know is as it was before and isn't a photographic process - nevertheless it looks pretty good unless you study it through a hand lens. Their Premium Lustre paper's pretty good, I wou;ldn't bother with the Proline range.

I like the Blurb cover options. I mean a linen case with printed dustwrapper is class, isn't it? To me a photo print directly onto a glossy hard cover reminds me of a Haynes car manual from the 60's. And someone offers a 'soft touch' cover - it must be padded - quite creepy!

I don't at all like the toytown layout apps that all these firms seem to provide, though. They seem to lack two things - freedom and precision. I suppose that you're meant to use one of the supplied templates, but that's a bit like painting by numbers to me.

I'd be interested to know how long all the layflat bindings last.

You can order a Moleskine-based photobook from the States that's properly bound - I think that at something like 9" x 7" with 60pp one is about $112, presumably plus shipping? For the millionaires amongst us?
 
Kell said:
I've used photobox for the past 12 years and would certainly throw their name in the ring.

Quality is noticeably better now than it was when I first started using them and there are many more options too.
Click to expand...

:plus1: for Photobox, their service is great as well.
 
I had a couple of books from Blurb, and whilst the quality of one of them was really very good, I wouldn't recommend them based on my experience. The pdf proof that they emailed me for one book was different to the one that I designed using their online tool (text fonts and size changed, pushing text off the page etc). I emailed them and asked them to look into it before they printed the book, but after a few emails saying they were looking into it, they stopped replying at all. I ended up getting the book with the errors in, and had to go through PayPal to get my money back.

The book that was right was very good, so I might use them again in the future, but I'll be paying by PayPal again just to be safe.
 
One scheme with Blurb is that you can lay out your own book according to their sizes, and produce a high-res pdf to send for print that you can in effect proof on your own screen. But you do have to follow certain rules, as well as having the means of producing the correct type of pdf that follows their protocol. They can provide templates for page and cover sizes (these are just outlines with guides - you can place your text and images where you like within the limits of trim and bleed) for inDesign of I think CS4 and above. For other apps they can provide measurements for you to input yourself. Also available is their CMYK print profile that you can embed in your picture files.
 
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