![]() ![]() My monitor is not color calibrated with special hardware. I talked to the photo print person at Costco and she said that Auto-Correct doesn’t actually change any colors but mostly brightens the image if required. I also enabled Auto-Correct when ordering at Costco. At Bay Photo, real human beings visibly inspect and correct each photo when manual color correction is requested. I opted for manual color correction at Bay Photo (which is my default option) to see how good it is. That said, it does allow me to roughly compare the prints from a single set of orders placed at each service. I only ordered a small number of prints and I did not re-order them to check for printing consistency. The ProcessĪs you can tell, this far from a scientific test. I only paid for the basic 3 – 5 day shipping and was pleasantly surprised at the quick delivery. They arrived at my house today on Thursday. The prints were ordered on Tuesday, printed several hours later and shipped the same day. Costco does not have an option for metallic. ![]() For fun, I also printed one 8 x 12 and one 4 x 6 on the metallic paper. The same photos were printed at the same sizes on luster paper with manual color correction. The same 6 images from my portfolio where uploaded to Bay Photo directly through SmugMug. SmugMug picked Bay Photo after a shootout with several printing vendors. Bay Photo is the default option in SmugMug’s Professional service. They have one location in Santa Cruz, California. I don’t have their sales numbers but I’m sure its much lower than Costco’s sales. Bay Photoįounded in 1976, Bay Photo specializes in professional printing services. I picked up the prints on the way home from work. The photographs were printed within 15 minutes and I was notified my email. My favorite interior image was printed on luster at 8 x 12 inches. 5 of the images were printed on luster finished paper at 4 x 6 inches. They were uploaded to Costco at full resolution via the web with Auto Correct turned on. I downloaded 6 full resolution landscape, cityscape and interior photographs from my online portfolio. Photographs can be submitted online through the web or at kiosks at the stores. They sell a whole range of products–of which one of the departments is a 1 hour photo lab. A yearly membership fee entitles members to buy stuff in bulk at lower prices. They are the king of warehouse stores in the United States (bigger than Sam’s Club) and are known for great customer service. There are currently 572 stores around the world with $72 billion in sales. One would expect higher quality from Bay Photo with an equally higher price while Costco is convenient and very inexpensive. Nevertheless, I thought it would be an interesting comparison. After all, Costco is a warehouse club that has a consumer oriented 1 hour photo “lab” while Bay Photo is a high-end professional printing service. ![]()
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