Best site for Photobooks?

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

I'm debating between snapfish and shutterfly...maybe Costco? Anyone have experience? best prices? I'm hoping to find one that I can just upload the pictures and the computer will "make" it for me...I'm waaayyy behind and have 2 years worth of pictures I need to get into books. I would drive myself crazy trying to do that with all the options...too many choices!!

Thanks for any help!!

 

[Marlton Mom]

I just finished composing my first photo book with Shutterfly. I took advantage of an offer for a free 8 x 8 books compliments of Tripadvisor. I had to pay shipping and handling for a 20 page book ($8.55)

I have to say that I had trouble finding just the right size insert for some of my cropped photos. I don't know if it was because of the selections available only for the 8 x 8 book or what. Often times the default crop for the insert did not meet my needs, despite searching through all the configurations.

I had originally intended to compose a photo book with Blurb, as that site has gotten good reviews. I didn't get around to doing that and this free offer popped up and I decided to go for it so that I could 'test' the resolution, colors etc of my pictures in this free book.

The book should be here Nov 2nd so I'll see then how I did. Otherwise I am looking forward to exploring Blurb (or perhaps Mpix!) to see if the size limitations I experienced with my pictures becomes less than an issue.

PS. I have lots of experiencing formatting picture for newsletters, yearbooks and I was disappointed at the lack of crop controls offered by Shutterfly.


Marlton Mom

 

[annnewjerz]

I'd look into Blurb.com. I used Shutterfly once and wasn't 100% happy with the results, so I ordered through Blurb.com the next time and was really impressed with everything. They have lots of layouts to choose from, you can pick you own custom layouts, the quality of the book (I got the hardcover) was GREAT and the price was reasonable. They also had a lot longer page limit for the books than other sites (at the time I got mine), which was an added bonus because I would have had to create separate volumes for one trip's photos with some other companies.

 

[Bstanley]

I'm not familiar with Snapfish or Shutterfly books, but I created a book for our June trip to Paris using BLURB and while I found their software a bit clunky - they did have a lot of layouts, but I modified practically every page - the quality of the resulting book is excellent.

I laid out a 10x12 (if I remember correctly) book with 80 pages, I chose their 'upgrade' paper (not sure what that really means - quite glossy and heavy though) and hardback/book cover for my personal copy and it was $34.95 including shipping (there was some sort of special for the author).

The book looks great, feels great and the pictures were very nicely reproduced. I even printed panoramas all the way into the fold from both pages and it came out just like I envisioned it.

4 other folks who were on the trip also bought copies and claim they were good quality as well - the soft cover version was $24.95 + shipping.

I can definitely recommend BLURB.

 

[Docarino]

I also vote Blurb for quality. I agree the software is a little clunky but I use photoshop instead and upload full page bleeds. The quality is far above anything I've seen and the prices are competitive, if not cheaper. I use the premium paper and lustre finish and have been so happy. I have printed books from shutterfly and snapfish and they don't compare.

 

[pgowder]

I've done a few of the suede books on MPix. The quality is fantastic! We are trying to do more of our Disney vacations in photobooks.

 

[Steve's Girl]

I've done a few of the suede books on MPix. The quality is fantastic! We are trying to do more of our Disney vacations in photobooks.

I've been really happy with mpix too. Although not the cheapest option, it is the best quality I have found. On my last book, I used one of my fireworks photos from WDW for the cover and back of the book and I was very happy with the final product.

 

[Poohbear5]

I was very pleased with Blurb. I did my daughter's wedding photo book last summer, using the premium paper.

I recently did a photobook for a friend who just deployed to Afghanistan. It was a great way to get a TON of photos all in one book without taking up much space in the footlocker. HE was thrilled with the book.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Picaboo just sent me spam saying that they are having a sale good today and tomorrow. I've never done business with them, but if you are inclined to do so, you can get between 20% and 50% off today or tomorrow.

 

[BeautyAndTheBeast22]

I have created several books through Picaboo and have always been more than happy with the end result. There are always promo's going through the site and some are better than others. I create my album and then wait for the deal that best suits my needs or price range. The best deal I have seen so far is buy one get one free.

 

[beatlesblonde]

I've used Snapfish several times. I get their emails and get great codes for discounts. I just made and ordered three 8"x11" books with a buy 1 get 2 free code that they had over the weekend. I've heard good things about Blurb too but I haven't tried them.

 

[AJRitz]

Add another voice in favor of Blurb.com. I've used myPublisher.com, Shutterfly.com and Blurb.com. The quality of the Blurb.com books was the highest of the three, and I like their pricing model better as well. Extra pages on Shutterfly or myPublisher add up cost in a hurry. Blurb charges a flat fee for "blocks" of pages (and it usually worked out cheaper than the per page additional charges), which just felt more flexible to me. Blurb's more recent software updates have been better. It took a bit of getting used to, but once used to it, there's a lot of power and flexibility in their publishing options - especially when it comes to adding text.

 

[cpbjgc]

The current issue of Popular Photography has a review of different photobook services including all the ones mentioned in this thread so far. It may be helpful to head down to the local library to check the article (It doesn't seem to be on their website).

 

[RadioNate]

I currently have books from Shutterfly and Costco on the way. Costco had a coupon and Shutterfly was free. I do like Shutterfly's options. Costco is very limited.

I've used MyPublisher in the past and they were eh.

I use the Creative Memories scrapbooking software and used their printing service once and didn't think it was that impressive.

Putting Blurb on the list to try next. I have 1 more free book with Shutterfly and I think I can get one through Disney Movie Rewards on Snapfish so I'll try them all and report back!

 

[RadioNate]

Just reporting back on my Costco book. It's ok. I'm not wowed by it. It is of similar quality to the ones that I've done at My Publisher. Comparing to the actual prints of the same photos the ones in the book look flat and grainy. On their own they look fine but they don't really pop either.

Now, for the price...I like it well enough. My mom will be happy with it (it is for her) and won't notice any real quality issues.

Costco used to have a deal with MyPublisher and I don't wonder if they still use them to print their books because they look about quality wise.

Shutterfly book should be here by Monday. I'm interested in comparing the two since they have a lot of the same photos.

 

[ashley17]

A good friend of mine recently started using aperture and she loves it. That'll be my go-to after this trip

 

[Experiment_626]

A good friend of mine recently started using aperture and she loves it. That'll be my go-to after this trip

I've heard lots of good things about Aperture's photo book service.

SSB

 

[RadioNate]

Ok - got the Shutterfly book. They are hard to compare side by side because the Costco one is a hard cover 8.5x11 and the Shutterfly is a soft cover 7x9 but I think for photo quality inside the book Shutterfly wins.

I have several of the same photos and while the ones in the Shutterfly book are printed smaller they just look better. In the Costco book they are slighly grainy, which I think is the quality of printing and paper rather than resolution since we are talking photos taken with an 18mp camera. I have 8x12 prints of the same images and they are beautiful.

The Shutterfly paper is definitely heavier. I think this might be personal preference but the Shutterfly photos are glossier which I don't prefer but some people might.

I have a hard cover book coming from Shutterfly (I had lots of free books!) so I can look at the binding differences.

I have Aperture.

I'm dying to try Blurb next. Luckily it is Christmas gift time!

 

[thinkinginpink]

my friend ordered one from winkflash.com last year and it was beautiful.

 

[Sndsgood]

yeah popular photographys november issues checks out 10 diffrent sites for photobooks, they said kodak has the best quality images so thats what i ended up going with. the site wasn't bad to get the book setup it should be here tomorrow or monday crossing my fingers that it comes out good.

talking to a few other people they have said with costco allot of times it just depends on how you get making the book. you get an enthusiest and they turn out pretty decent, but if you just get someone there collecting a check it can be al ittle iffy.