Collected the prints today from the Burton Sorting Office. I was working outside in the garden for about half an hour, after waiting in for them to arrive, only to find that they had been and left a card for me to take to the sorting office to collect it.
In evaluating the the prints, I will also look at the condition of them from the point of packaging because this is important as it protects the prints from damage during transit from the printers to me.
Packaging
When D S Colour Labs send out prints they take great care in packing them between two plastic / cardboard sheets taped together to form an envelope, with the invoice attached, to keep them flat and protect them from creases and folds. This is inside a strong corrugated cardboard box, clearly labelled with the addressee’s name and address with a return address in case it could not be delivered.
The box was in good condition when I collected it, with the prints safely inside, protected by the plastic / cardboard, with the tape in tacked.
Print Quality
The print quality is very good, with no signs of banding, or any other printer faults, and by selecting the auto corrected option, where the image is lightened slightly, (especially after finding some previous prints seemed to come out darker than what I expected), the prints matched the images on the computer screen. So obviously D S Colour Labs have responded to peoples comments about the darkened prints, and provided an option where this is automatically corrected.
Finish
The finish was very good, with a matt like finish which seems to provide a more clear and defined edge to lines which gloss finishes can sometimes lose.
Colour Management
The colours were faithfully reproduced, but without too much saturation, which I have heard some companies do to emphasise the images too much. The whites were white without any colour cast and details remained sharp.
Crop
The images were as I uploaded them without any form of crop, with a narrow band along one edge.
Overall Evaluation
Another case of a fast turn around from uploading the images to receiving the finished prints, with a very high quality print quality, good finish and accurate colour management. D S Colour Labs have obviously listened to peoples concerns over darker prints and provided an option on the print size and finish menu to correct any problems.
My only comment, which has nothing to do with D S Colour Labs, but an evaluation of one of the prints is that on 'Cooper's Square' the image is a little pixelated, but this is more due to the camera I used, on a mobile phone, which would never deliver the quality of a SLR. But this shows what a mobile phone camera can deliver, and it's limits.
No prizes for guessing where my next set of A3 prints will be printed !
