Hey guys,

I know this topic has been done to death, but maybe a poll will help simplify things. I hope you participate so we can all get a better idea about everyone's opinion.

RANK BY PRINT QUALITY, NOT COVERS OR BINDING, PLEASE

If you've ordered a photobooks within the past year and found one to be the best, or only one, but liked the print quality, select it in the poll and let's see once and for all who tops the list.

(for poll purposes, book covers & binding shouldn't come into play for ranking, unless it goes beyond preferences, like poor quality)

Commentary below on companies is also helpful, but for easy research,

Post as follows:

book company name(s) in bold first
then "great", "good", "fair", or "poor" or whatever and then skip two lines and give commentary

If you want, simply copy/paste an opinion you've previously posted in another thread (if it's allowed), but start with the format above naming company(s) and quality first in bold.

Be sure to include when you ordered the book, from what I;ve read some companies changed print quality.

Also, from what I see Asuka and SharedInk are best, but are considerably more so I am not including them, because they are too obvious.

it is too bad there isn't any responses. I was wonder the same thing. i would like to make a few books but I would like to know other people's opinions that actually had books made.

I've only ever used shutterfly, so I'm no help. I've made several books through them, so I guess I'm happy with them, but I have nothing to compare them to.

wow that was a run on sentence of a run on sentence!

Digilabs
Excellent

Mpix
Excellent

I've published using Digilabs Software/Mpix (Same software and printing but different lab) and the printing is wonderful using Pearl paper. Covers are similar to Blurb without the dust jacket

I will be trying several companies in the next weeks.

I think the problem with the polling idea is most people haven't used all of them. I have used Photoworks.com and blurb. Photoworks has better print quality and blurb has better value if you have need over 100 pages printed.

I have used Mpix, Blurb, and Iphoto.

I photo -
Ok quality


The program/software to build the book was not my favorite.

Mpix-
Pretty great quality

Best program/software of the 3- the most flexible system but still ended up doing most of the spreads in photoshop and then importing them as full page bleeds. I didn't like the book/ binding as much though. It didn't have a beautiful cover and that was my issue.

Blurb-
Pretty good

I have used them the most. I found the program to be the biggest pain but I like the finished product the best. I think I have ordered 20 or 30 books from them and have been fairly happy.


What I am looking for next:
At a recent bridal fair I did recently I noticed that a lot of the other photographers had really amazing books that had hard pages- like those chunky board books that toddlers use. They were pretty big pages like 15 inches or so and extremely well made. I have looked and looked but I cant find the company that does those. Anybody have any ideas?

I have used LULU and am very pleased. They have a really slick system.

Originally Posted by heatherfeather What I am looking for next: At a recent bridal fair I did recently I noticed that a lot of the other photographers had really amazing books that had hard pages- like those chunky board books that toddlers use. They were pretty big pages like 15 inches or so and extremely well made. I have looked and looked but I cant find the company that does those. Anybody have any ideas?

How 'bout these?

http://www.kissweddingbooks.com/

I saw one here:
http://www.amelialyon.net/personal/w...en-kissed.html

Originally Posted by joshhuntnm I have used LULU and am very pleased. They have a really slick system.

Wow....sharp price. Have you ordered a hard cover from them ?

Originally Posted by heatherfeather I have used Mpix, Blurb, and Iphoto. I photo - Ok quality

iPhoto and Aperture use the same publisher, which I believe is Kodak. I did one for my wife for Christmas and was very impressed with the results. It was a sturdy book with spot-on colors. I believe the only drawbacks were that 1) glossy paper only, and 2) an inconspicuous "Made on a Mac" in the inside rear cover.

Originally Posted by gus Wow....sharp price. Have you ordered a hard cover from them ?

I have ordered lots of paperbacks with good results. I have some photo books for Mothers day. I will try to remember to post a comment when the come in. I have not yet heard from them that they have shipped, so they are not real fast.

It's interesting that OTHER received far more votes than any other but I couldn't find their web site.

In any case, it has dawned on me that photo books would would be a great addition to my project (why does it take so long to see the obvious?) so I downloaded Blurb and I'm gonna play with it today. Since I've seen comments that Blurb's software can be a bit challenging, I'll be watching this thread for comments regarding other company's software as compared to Blurb's.

Chuck Cannova
www.customrideportraits.com

Originally Posted by chuckinsocal It's interesting that OTHER received far more votes than any other but I couldn't find their web site.

I am one of those "other" voters and I have two publishers in mind. The problem is neither one of them is open to the general public, you have to have an account with them and, to some degree or another, convince them you are a professional. I managed to do so with both so maybe it isn't so hard. :)

www.asukabook.com not only has stunning build quality and covers but also excellent paper and brilliant print quality. It puts iPhoto, Kodak, and especially Blurb to shame. Honestly. But, they are not cheap, not terribly flexible on page counts, and the page layout software is called Photoshop. :)

www.forbeyon.com has even nicer covers and bindings and pages, for yet even more money. Think high-end wedding album quality here.

I've done a few Blurb books and not entirely sure I'd use them again. The results were inconsistent and never all that great to me. The only positive is they are cheap. I like the iPhoto books better than Blurb and will use them again. I use Asuka when its something very special. I use Forbeyon when I get a huge bonus at work.