Lowest price 30x40 chromira print?

[Dave Jeffery]

Wow! What a coincidence.My friend is from Sophia and will be there next month. What is the name of your business and where are you located as I'll have him stop by.

Thanks!

Dave Jeffery

[New Hassel Man]

http://www.vipphotolab.com charges $42 for a 30x40 chromira print. Does anyone know of a place you can get them cheaper?

check with bluecubeimaging.com. Love their prints, never been disappointed with the quality and I'm pretty sure it's 39.99, maybe lower.

[New Hassel Man]

might have to search Model Mayhem for Blue Cube Imaging, I got the website wrong.

[jamesklowe]

..the lab down here charges $180NZD for a 30x45... (although 75 for students)

[Lenny Eiger]

I really hate threads like this - they ought to be thrown out. It's offensive. What's the cheapest way to do anything? Just find someone who doesn't know what they are doing and pay them almost nothing to make a mess.

Why not ask who is the cheapest commercial photographer here? Or who sells their artwork for the least? It totally belies any concern for quality or substance.

Photography, commercial or Fine art, isn't a commodity, nor is scanning or printing. There is skill, sensitivity and sensibility, that goes into them all.

Lenny

[bob carnie]

To the OP

In Toronto the price of a 30x40 colour print can be lower than $40 or it can be $140
The labs that I compete against all have an un-managed catagory for files supplied to the labs where we will print on a per ft basis.

Toronto Image Works (owned by Ed Burtynski} Chromira 50 inch platform
Colour Genics (owned by Charles Chui) Lightjet 50 inch platform
Elevator ( owned by yours truly) Lambda 30 inch platform

Each lab has a per sq ft fee for paper on different output material and devices.
Each lab has its specific file specifications , profiles and needs to be followed when you supply files.
In my case its flattened 8bit RGB 1998 at 400ppi for lambda Prints and flattened 16bit RGB at 360 for Inkjet.( we will send the profiles to the clients before printing}

Basically all three labs will give you this down and dirty price and if you are very PS savvy the savings are tremendous. We are happy as paper is pumped through our machines which makes our plots happy and we do make some money.

Soon the costcos/wallmarts will come into play and the price will go down and then at that time it may not be worth our time. (time will tell)

You also can give All three Labs a raw file and have technicians do all the work for you if you are not up on your PS skills. For this you will pay full rates, and for some this is a very doable alternative.
Once the file is finished it then can be re printed at the lower rate which in the long run helps the photographer with editions.

I do not think there is any thing wrong with this service as it puts all the responsibility on the photographer to do excellent PS work. A a lot of Students are using this service and savvy photographers who build up the work and then do a square ft test , make adjustments to the files and resubmit at final size.
One must remember an RA4 process needs paper and will fluctuate so if you are going to use a labs service this way I would recommend test and finals within a 24hour period to keep consistant. Otherwise all the good profile , colour management in the world will not help you out. just a little lab rat secret... test and print right away.
This is why profiles need to be adjusted weekly/daily for large jobs and applied to the files just before printing.
This is something we are trying to introduce on our main papers on a weekly basis, but is quite time consuming.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

I heard the other day that you can get a 30X40 at Costco for nine bucks- it's worth a try, especially since you can get a big hot dog and all the soda you care to drink for a buck fifty afterwards

[pocketfulladoubles]

I really hate threads like this - they ought to be thrown out. It's offensive. What's the cheapest way to do anything? Just find someone who doesn't know what they are doing and pay them almost nothing to make a mess.

Why not ask who is the cheapest commercial photographer here? Or who sells their artwork for the least? It totally belies any concern for quality or substance.

Photography, commercial or Fine art, isn't a commodity, nor is scanning or printing. There is skill, sensitivity and sensibility, that goes into them all.

Lenny

Lenny, I know where you are coming from, but may I suggest you view this topic with some amusement instead. After all, if it weren't for cut-rate hack-jobs, there wouldn't be any way for you to distinguish yourself as a seasoned expert. I don't think it is such a bad idea to print out a $40 stab-in-the dark, see if you really like it, and then find a pro to make a $200 final copy. I'm guessing that for many, $200 proofs aren't feasible.

[bob carnie]

Cut rate hack jobs?

The printing device whether it is located at Costco, Walmart or Pofessional Lab are the same, Lambda , Chromira, Lightjet, Theta,
The Paper is the same, either Fuji Crystal Archive or Kodak paper.
the only hack side of the equation is if the photographer provides a crappy scan, or edit to the output provider with out a good profile attached.
When you spend your money*$200* for a print it usually is for a good scan or edit by an experienced pro, but if you have capable skills in scanning and PS/lightroom then using these output operations should give you outstanding results.
The market place is moving to RA4 output at a lower rate, These machines work best with a lot of paper going through them.
I would bet the control plots at a costco or wallmart for these devices are excellent.
These days in the lab world there are two types of clients, those who prefer a technician to do all the work and pay a premium for such , or use these output providers and do the scans and edits themselves.
Times have changed , very rapidly with the advent of Lightroom and better quality original capture.

Lenny, I know where you are coming from, but may I suggest you view this topic with some amusement instead. After all, if it weren't for cut-rate hack-jobs, there wouldn't be any way for you to distinguish yourself as a seasoned expert. I don't think it is such a bad idea to print out a $40 stab-in-the dark, see if you really like it, and then find a pro to make a $200 final copy. I'm guessing that for many, $200 proofs aren't feasible.

[Findingmyway4ever]

if forty bucks for a 30x40 print is too much for you, you should take up another hobby, like building things out of matchsticks or something

Doesn't that lead to bad lessons taught to children?

To the OP:

I would personally find a large format commercial printer for dirt cheap on the used. You can find "very cheap" stuff out there due to businesses continuing to close down or upgrading to the latest/greatest. These machines are commercial based, mega buck machines just like the commercial based mega buck high end drum/flatbed scanners we use that date back to early 90's.

You can find them for free, even, since they are only using up space. I'm sure if you research for a product that will give you stellar results, you'll find one from free-$500 on Craigslist. Even if you have to do an overnight trip to get it, and you end up getting it for the price of gas, that'll pay off your $40 hotel room