An enterprising Melbourne photographer, Matt Bereni, has reviewed a range of online photo printing services available in Australia, rating the Nulab Group’s consumer printing operation, NuShots, and Officeworks equal first, with Big W coming in next, followed by Harvey Norman.
The nine services reviewed included two offshore operations. The full list in their ranking order is: NuShots, Officeworks, Big W, Harvey Norman, Foto.com, Snapfish, Photobox, Eastmon and Apple.
‘I’m a photographer from Melbourne and I have recently started printing photos for clients,’ explained Mr Bereni. ‘To my great surprise, I was unable to find any good reviews of online photo printing services in Australia. I also noticed that many people were also looking for this information, which is why I decided to produce my own review.’
‘I have absolutely no commercial interest. My review was done independently. The methodology used to review the nine online photo services is clearly outlined on my website.
‘I thought you may want to share my review with some of your readers. It is available at: www.stitchintimephotos.com/photoprinting ‘
Mr Bereni judged the services on criteria beyond image quality, which in part explains why Harvey Norman and Big W receive different ratings even though they are produced in the same wholesale fulfilment centre, Photo Create at Glen Innes.
However, the lower quality rating given to Eastmon and Snapfish, which we presume also use Photo Create, is more problematic, given Mr Bereni’s review is reasonably objective. (He did use three assessors.) Or does it point to the Fujifilm Imagine software platform used by Big W and Harvey Norman delivering superior digital files?
The services were rated on: colour print quality; B&W print quality; price; shipping speed; packaging; website user-friendliness; and product range.
NuShots was the only operation to get full marks for both colour and monochrome print quality, with Officeworks a clear second on quality. NuShots used Kodak Endura Professional paper and Officeworks Kodak Endura paper at the time of the review. (Nulab is currently in the process of switching from silver halide to Indigo digital press printing.) All the other services used Fujifilm Crystal Archive paper.
The full review includes explanatory comments on the services provided by each of the nine providors: http://www.stitchintimephotos.com/photoprinting
Keith you are being done out of a job, this guy has a lot of time on his hands it appears, but a good review never the less.