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Richard Wasserman
7-Mar-2011, 11:20
I need to get black and white postcards printed (photo on the front, text on the back)—any recommendations?

IanG
7-Mar-2011, 11:35
Do you want genuine photographic post cards or Litho prints.

Also are you in Germany ? or somewhere else.

Ian

Kirk Gittings
7-Mar-2011, 11:38
I've had good luck some years ago with Modern and more recently with VistaPrint.

Henry Ambrose
7-Mar-2011, 11:44
As Kirk wrote, Modern Postcard has been good.

Steve Sherman
7-Mar-2011, 12:18
ABC Picture or Postcard, I believe in Arkansas

Richard Wasserman
7-Mar-2011, 15:10
Thanks all, I'll check out your suggestions.

Jim Jones
7-Mar-2011, 15:30
Most 4x6" photo paper falls within the USPS specifications for postcards. Text can be printed on the back with many laser printers, and the photo then printed on the front.

photobymike
7-Mar-2011, 18:24
I use an Epson 4800 printer with Moab dual side rag inkjet paper. I print 6 up flip the sheet and print the post card on the back. It is limited production but is very effective with high quality.

Frank Petronio
7-Mar-2011, 21:17
If you want more than ~1000 of 6 cards, then conventional litho, doing either four-color or old-but-wonderful duotones is competitive with the online digital presses.... but it's out of sight if you need less than that.

For online digital, 50 to 500 of 1 cards, Moo.com is more expensive than VistaPrint but their quality has been good.

But for really short runs, under 100, an inkjet is better quality than anything short of a darkroom print. And probably cheaper.

It's hard to feed a 4x6 through your inkjet and get nice gripping and small margins, but every printer/driver/paper is different, let me know if you ever find a foolproof great one ;-)

Also, the "bulky" "photo-weight" 300-gsm inkjet papers feel a bit on the wimpy side to mail. But I have mailed even Harman FB-Gloss AI cut to card size and it holds up fine, so most of the double-sided uncoated papers should be OK. In this case, the smaller 3.5-4 x 5.5-6-inch (close to the minimum p-card size) is beneficial for not flopping around as much as a larger size card. If you use mailing labels maybe you can avoid needing to print on the reverse side, since it tends to be a PITA and can cause a lot of extra wastage. If you do decide to try to inkjet print both sides, be prepared to dick around and blow a few. Also the thicker papers have their own quirks with feeding, setting, curling....

photobymike
8-Mar-2011, 09:27
It's hard to feed a 4x6 through your inkjet and get nice gripping and small margins, but every printer/driver/paper is different, let me know if you ever find a foolproof great one ;-)



I do 6 up or 8 up depending on the size of paper used. I use double sided printing inkjet. just flip and print other side ..takes practice but once setup in Lightroom not a problem. I use a Epson 4800 because of vacuum paper feed holds paper while printing. but would work well on other printers i would think...

Richard Wasserman
25-Mar-2011, 12:54
I just want to update this thread. I chose Modern Postcard who did a great job. The cards arrived today—they were actually shipped earlier than promised. The quality of the printing is very nice, and the company was a pleasure to work with. Customer service was excellent—I was assigned a contact person who was always available to answer questions, of which I had many. I highly recommend them and will certainly use them again.

Rick A
26-Mar-2011, 14:34
I've printed postcards on Ilford postcard stock for years. It comes preprinted on the back and is variable contrast. Really nice paper to print on.

Richard Wasserman
26-Mar-2011, 15:45
I ordered 500 5x7 cards, printed both sides—too many to do myself.

alferdodave
29-Mar-2011, 01:32
I would recommend the discount printing (http://www.bargainbasementprinting.com/) from Bargain Basement Printing. They offer quality products at great prices. They print them in various sizes and have color options available for both sides as well as the gloss effect for either or both sides. Their turnaround is from 5-7 days. Get a quote online from them.

William McEwen
8-Apr-2011, 10:08
I, too have been very happy with Modern Postcard.

Also, ABC Pictures is good, but the stock is less firm.

John Kasaian
9-Apr-2011, 07:49
I've printed postcards on Ilford postcard stock for years. It comes preprinted on the back and is variable contrast. Really nice paper to print on.

Is Ilford postcard stock still available? A few weeks ago I received a postcard made with it and it is very impressive indeed.

bgh
13-Oct-2011, 08:09
Is Ilford postcard stock still available? A few weeks ago I received a postcard made with it and it is very impressive indeed.

It is indeed, John--Adorama has it in stock now. Its terrific stuff when you want to make just a few postcards to send to friends & colleagues.

Bruce

jp
5-Dec-2011, 12:42
Just received an order from modern postcard. Nice output and paper.

Output is a tiny bit on the sharp side (not as bad as consumer-oriented-automatic-sharpening) , so don't sharpen photos prior to sending them. (this is compared to my home 4x6 dye sub printer) Otherwise, it's WYSIWYG.

I made a PDF according to their instructions for shape/borders, etc.. gave them some money, and I've got a stack of nice postcards now.

Bill Koechling
5-Dec-2011, 13:17
+1 for Modern Postcard. Also, Ilford used to sell 4x6 B&W postcard photo paper that I used a lot as thank yous to clients. I don't know if it's still available.

oops.... just saw that Rick said that

JoseButler
4-Jun-2012, 02:11
I would like demandprint.I'm always use.they provide the best post card designs.

Business card template (http://www.demandprints.com/business-card-printing)

JoseButler
20-Jun-2012, 02:30
I use Business card template (http://www.demandprints.com/business-card-printing) so many time because they provide different type of post card design.

Greg Blank
24-Jul-2012, 13:29
Modern Post card is so good in so many ways, I spent a big dollar amount quite a few years back when proofing and comping were not done digitally. I took four of my best stream images and made folding cards from them and have sold a fair amount of boxed set over the years. I would give MP two thumbs up and more business once these are completely sold. I seem to remember spending more than a grand at the time, cards envelopes and see through boxes.