Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Interesting ...

So I have always thought that maybe Costco's color photo prints were a bit off from what I saw on my screen. A couple of years back I even seem to recall reading that someone said they printed the color green poorly. It's never been enough to make me pursue a different printer for my photos. What I was getting back was good enough. Until last weekend.

I was in a mad dash trying to get my stuff together for Scrap Weekend. My main problem was not having any recent prints to scrap with. Minor detail right? So I stayed up way too late selecting photos from the many folders I had on my computer to print. I uploaded them to Costco and was about to process my order when I saw that the earliest they would be ready for pick up was 1:00PM. That was a couple of hours past the time I wanted to leave. So I searched for a Costco near where I would be headed. No luck. So in a desperate moment, I opened an account with Walgreens. Uploaded my pictures and selected a store near where I would be staying. I was a little bummed that they only offered the glossy finish for pick up orders (because I have become fond of the matte or "lustre" finish), but at this point, beggars couldn't be choosers.

Everything worked out well. I got my pictures and began scrapping. Sometime on Saturday afternoon, I came across a set of photos printed from Costco (I had grabbed some photos I had at home just in case before leaving). Unbeknownst to me, I also had the exact same, unedited photos printed in my Walgreens order. I compared the too, and my theory was confirmed. What a difference!!!


Here I have laid the Walgreens print on top of the layout with the Costco prints. Both sets of photos are the same exact shots, with glossy finishes, and are unedited. Just in my photo of the photos, you can see quite a difference in the vibrancy or pop of the colors. I think Walgreen may have just found a new customer. This is not to say I will never use Costco again. They're super convenient and I do some of my shopping there. But for my prints that I really love and have specific plans for? Walgreens it may be.
Thought I would share in case anyone has been questioning their Costco prints or pondering where to get their photos printed at. These are the only two pick up places I have tried. I have used Shutterfly and Snapfish in the past, but long before the days of me knowing how to shoot in Manual.

1 comment:

Susie said...

I had the same thing happen with Costco prints I used for scrapping. I could not believe that poor color skin tones that I got in my print order. I think I may have still used them on my scrapbook page (before I retired, of course), but I like to keep a set around to show people that want to order there for their walls, it's SO much better to go through an online service that exclusively prints for portrait photography and you don't get wonky colors. But you can't beat the convenience of Costco, either.