I've got a 1600x1200 jpg from a 2 megapixel camera that I want to
take to Costco (walk in) and get printed to 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 to
see how it looks at the different sizes.
How should I prep the pix (file) ?
The picture was shot at the second highest quality setting, e.g. not
the uncompressed .tif, but at the SHQ jpg format (low compression
jpg, about a 1 meg file size). Old Oly C-2100.
Was going to use shutterfly, but reading here it seems costco is
closer, quicker, and probably comparable without upload issues.
newb wrote:
> I've got a 1600x1200 jpg from a 2 megapixel camera that I want to
> take to Costco (walk in) and get printed to 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 to
> see how it looks at the different sizes.
>
> How should I prep the pix (file) ?
>
> The picture was shot at the second highest quality setting, e.g. not
> the uncompressed .tif, but at the SHQ jpg format (low compression
> jpg, about a 1 meg file size). Old Oly C-2100.
>
> Was going to use shutterfly, but reading here it seems costco is
> closer, quicker, and probably comparable without upload issues.
>
>
The only thing you might want to do is crop the image to the ratios
of 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10. This is not needed since Costco will do the
cropping for you, but you might not like where they crop. Other then
that you can just have the image printed as it.
BTW you can upload to Costco and have the prints waiting for you when
you get there, which is something that I find very handy. Note that
there one hour time is only good for 4x6 prints, larger ones can take a
few hours.
Scott W wrote:
> newb wrote:
>> I've got a 1600x1200 jpg from a 2 megapixel camera that I want to
>> take to Costco (walk in) and get printed to 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 to
>> see how it looks at the different sizes.
>> How should I prep the pix (file) ?
>> The picture was shot at the second highest quality setting, e.g. not
>> the uncompressed .tif, but at the SHQ jpg format (low compression
>> jpg, about a 1 meg file size). Old Oly C-2100.
>> Was going to use shutterfly, but reading here it seems costco is
>> closer, quicker, and probably comparable without upload issues.
>>
> The only thing you might want to do is crop the image to the ratios
> of 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10. This is not needed since Costco will do the
> cropping for you, but you might not like where they crop. Other then
> that you can just have the image printed as it.
>
> BTW you can upload to Costco and have the prints waiting for you when
> you get there, which is something that I find very handy. Note that
> there one hour time is only good for 4x6 prints, larger ones can take a
> few hours.
>
> Scott
My Costco is so popular that sometimes they can't make the one-hour
deadline, but they always tell me (if I take the data in myself). I
usually am quite pleased with their 4X6 prints considering their price,
but I haven't tried them with larger sizes. I do see lots of customers
at the counter with smiles on their faces when they look at larger ones
they've ordered, though.
Allen
newb wrote:
> I've got a 1600x1200 jpg from a 2 megapixel camera that I want to
> take to Costco (walk in) and get printed to 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 to
> see how it looks at the different sizes.
You should upload the file three times, properly cropped for each print
size. If walking in, create three files on your memory card or CD.
I always crop in Picasa or Photoshop Elements before uploading to
Costco. Don't let them decide where to crop.
You can also decide whether or not to let them do enhancements to the
photo or to print it exactly as you u
It's much easier to upload the file to Costco, rather than walk-in. You
don't want to be waiting around for your prints.
On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:13:39 -0500, Allen <allen@nothere.net> wrote:
>Scott W wrote:
>> newb wrote:
>>> I've got a 1600x1200 jpg from a 2 megapixel camera that I want to
>>> take to Costco (walk in) and get printed to 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 to
>>> see how it looks at the different sizes.
>>> How should I prep the pix (file) ?
>>> The picture was shot at the second highest quality setting, e.g. not
>>> the uncompressed .tif, but at the SHQ jpg format (low compression
>>> jpg, about a 1 meg file size). Old Oly C-2100.
>>> Was going to use shutterfly, but reading here it seems costco is
>>> closer, quicker, and probably comparable without upload issues.
>>>
>> The only thing you might want to do is crop the image to the ratios
>> of 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10. This is not needed since Costco will do the
>> cropping for you, but you might not like where they crop. Other then
>> that you can just have the image printed as it.
>>
>> BTW you can upload to Costco and have the prints waiting for you when
>> you get there, which is something that I find very handy. Note that
>> there one hour time is only good for 4x6 prints, larger ones can take a
>> few hours.
>>
>> Scott
>My Costco is so popular that sometimes they can't make the one-hour
>deadline, but they always tell me (if I take the data in myself). I
>usually am quite pleased with their 4X6 prints considering their price,
>but I haven't tried them with larger sizes. I do see lots of customers
>at the counter with smiles on their faces when they look at larger ones
>they've ordered, though.
>Allen
You can get excellent large prints from Costco by profiling your
monitor and then using the printer profile which is specific to the
printer in your local Costco. Get the printer profiles at
drycreekphoto.com
On Sep 6, 5:29 am, newb wrote:
> I've got a 1600x1200 jpg from a 2 megapixel camera that I want to
> take to Costco (walk in) and get printed to 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 to
> see how it looks at the different sizes.
>
> How should I prep the pix (file) ?
>
> The picture was shot at the second highest quality setting, e.g. not
> the uncompressed .tif, but at the SHQ jpg format (low compression
> jpg, about a 1 meg file size). Old Oly C-2100.
>
> Was going to use shutterfly, but reading here it seems costco is
> closer, quicker, and probably comparable without upload issues.
I am a Costco fanatic. Love them. I've printed many 4X6, 5X7, 8X10,
and 8X12s. (8X12 is the same aspect ratio as 4X6) I've also printed
some at the larger size. I think it was 12X20 or so. Always
excellent.
The comments about pre-cropping are well founded. You'll be more
pleased with your results.
About uploading online: That is slightly more expensive at my costco
than walking in. So, if you have a large number of photos to print,
it would be worth it to walk in. One time, I had about 200 4X6s to
print. Saved me some cash to walk in, and then wander for an hour.
The nice thing about the web page is that it will warn you if you try
to print a big pic without enough resolution.
> ... costco is
> closer, quicker, and probably comparable without upload issues.
I'd suggest checking the local Costco about the turn-around time before
driving over. A while back, I was dissatisfied because turn-around time
wasn't as advertised, even for straightforward 4x6s. Maybe it was a
temporary crunch, or maybe it's a popular location, or .... The prints
were actually very good.
Thanks for all the tips. I emailed them a picture, and cropped it
to the print size (4x6) using their adjustable cropping tools.
(Photoshop elements didn't seem to use the same terminology I was
looking for. I'll find it someday though when I have time. )
Unfortunately when I went to order a print, the "select a warehouse
for pick up" location: State/region/warehouse drop down boxes
weren't working for my browser (opera 9.2), nothing in the drop down
fields.
[A complimentary Cc of this posting was sent to
Oliver Costich
<ocostich@NOSPAMcomcast.net>], who wrote in article <1c33e3t701fccn8in5cav7l1aab1n0fpb8@4ax.com>:
> You can get excellent large prints from Costco by profiling your
> monitor and then using the printer profile which is specific to the
> printer in your local Costco. Get the printer profiles at
> drycreekphoto.com
Please do not confuse things. You can get some acceptable SMALL
prints from Costco walkin-service (quality may depend a lot on
location, of course). For large prints (above 12x18 or some such) you
must use a different service (Costco Poster or some such), which is
IME, horrible; they downscale to 100ppi; enough said...
First time Costco printing question 
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