I ordered two b&w prints from DigitalSilverImaging.com with their Budget Low Priced RC ROES system and they arrived today.
Packed well, and yet believe it or not the box / envelope was a bit bent. As it turns out not enough to damage the prints, but that was because of the nature of the print paper. Had they been on heavy fiber paper, they might have been bent. Believe me – I know how it goes. I laughed when I saw they were using the same system, more or less as I’ve been using these last 12 years with the cardboard and the kraft envelopes.
I actually could tell their packaging dept. a secret way to prevent bends – though it costs more. If you use a kraft envelope that’s twice the size as the print (this is for smaller prints like 8 x 12 and 11 x 14) and then bend it over in half – it’s just about impossible to dent.
Anyway – the prints are fine from a density and overall look point of view… but… when I went to pick them up I was surprised at how thin the paper was. It wasn’t the double weight RC Ilford paper I remember from my printing days.
Now is that okay or not? I’m not sure.
But I looked at the pricing and offerings again and noticed that there is another listing for Ilford RC Ilfospeed paper. Just to give a comparison of prices for a few sizes:
8 x 12 – $20 (for the first print, RC Ilfospeed. Additional prints are half that price).
8 x 12 – $5.99 (this is what I ordered through the ROES Value RC Print)
That will give you an idea of what you are up against.
And then if you want the fiber paper ($46 for the first print).
So I still don’t have a clear decision here. The obvious thing that comes to mind is to order a bunch of prints maybe even fiber, and have a fiber sale. I’m worried about getting caught with extra stock. As I say – I need to give this some thought. I will place an order for the Ilfospeed paper tomorrow. In the meantime will try to figure out if that can work for me.
Man, nothing comes easy, does it? $50 for a fibre print. Damn. maybe I should dust off the enlarger and make fibre prints for people … it pays better than this art thing ;)
BTW Dave, what the heck happened to your RedBubble shop?
Yeah. I keep searching for magic solution. I killed the redbubble shop. Not mature enough environment yet.
I could go into it but why bother. I spent time making Zazzle just for cards which works.
Still working on outsourcing. Redbubble isn’t for that.
Try not to rush into something. I remember reading you rhapsodizing over Zazzle…. I think most people want something you’ve touched and printed yourself, looked over, signed and packed. The only way outsourcing would work would be if the outsourced prints were significantly less expensive. Otherwise do it yourself.
Absolutely.
Not only Zazzle but fotomoto as well.
However this goes all prints are sent to me for approval, signing etc. Nothing goes to a customer unless I think it’s as good a job as I can do.
I can tell you that the fiber prints are beautiful but too expensive to offer except as special deal where I am forced to buy stock to save printing costs and that would be for one image now and then.
But I have learned my lesson.
I had ordered the RC prints and they were excellent as I said in my earlier comments. I am going to try the luster to see if there is a difference. They are a true B&W print that is critical to me.
If you do everything right you will end up with perfectly neutral, b&w with a wide dynamic range.
This is the method that I’ve been using since the Epson 4800 came out with the Advanced B&W Driver. Believe me – if you have any color shifting etc. than you are doing something wrong. I’ve been at it with the Epson K3 inks for must be like 7 years at least – and depending on the paper, these are as close as you get to the old darkroom fiber or at least RC prints.
The Lustre (which is Ilford Smooth Pearl) is stiffer and slightly heavier than the Ilfobroom (True B&W)… and the best of all is if you can afford to use the Fiber Paper which is the best of both worlds – the darkroom world and the ability to really fine-tune and recreate identical prints.