We got some photos printed, but I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the quality. Thirty-year old photos from my childhood look sharper! At first I thought this was because of the photos being taken with a digital camera, but then I realised it could also be the printer.
I’ve since found out that the company we used (Hema) is rated as one of the worst places to print photos.
Other photo-printers 🔗
In the search for a better photo-printing service I’ve decided to order 20 photos at three different providers so I can see the quality differences for my self. I looked around at several online reviews, comparison sites and forums to see which providers I would compare. Below are the sources that mostly influenced my decisions.
Silent shiver 🔗
This horse-photographer made a very detailed comparison of three professional photography printers. I’m going to use her post as a blueprint for my when I compare the photos.
Compared:
- Profotonet: most consistent quality, but least sharp
- Saal Digital: cheapest, but less consistent in quality
- FIFO Color: sharpest prints, but too dark
Fotovergelijk 🔗
Fotovergelijk is a place where people rate printed photos and compare pricing. Hema is rated the worst…
I’ve added the printer-service used by the website if they don’t print their own photos.
Good:
- Profotonet (10)
- Albelli (9) uses Albumprinter to print
- Webprint (9) (named Smartphoto in other countries)
- Fotofabriek (9)
- Pixum (9) CeWe
- Fotogoed (9) Küpper druck
Reasonable:
- Blokker (8) Fujiprint
- Albert Heijn (7) CeWe
Bad:
- Aldi (6) CeWe
- Kruidvat (5) CeWe
- Hema 🤨 (4)
The scale originally goes from 1 to 5, but I converted it into a 10-point scale so I can compare it with the scoring of Onlinefotoservices.
Onlinefotoservices 🔗
Lastly, we take a look at onlinefotoservices, another comparison site.
Highly rated:
- Profotonet (8,8)
Reasonable:
- Primera (7,7) CeWe
- Smartphoto / Webprint (7,6)
- Pixum, Aldi, Photobox (7,4) CeWe
Bad:
- Kruidvat (6,3) CeWe
- Hema (6,1)
Conclusion 🔗
Everybody agrees Profotonet is the marketleader in high quality photo-printing. Albelli and Webprint seem to be a good 2nd place. CeWe is popular, but has a mixed track-record. The other two high-rated services from Fotovergelijk are not known to me (Fotofabriek and Fotogoed) and are also more expensive. They are highly rated in service, so perhaps I can go back to them some time.
For now I will order photos at Profotonet, Albelli and Webprint. In the next post you will find the outcomes!