Photography Thailand Forum

[Marc Schultz]

Unfortunately the instructions are in Thai only though. But a convenient, cost affective option for those living in Thailand and outside of Bangkok.

Using this site you can upload; communicate by email; pay; and receive your prints via EMS through the Post Office.

http://www.masterphotonetwork.com/howto.php

[Paul Whitehead]

BigDigitalLab got a mention on another forum, for offering good quality and having an online ordering system in english

http://www.bigdigitallab.com/web/main_e.asp

I just ordered a trial print from them yesterday to check it out - 177 Baht for a 20x30 including delivery in Bangkok (they seem to deliver anywhere in Thailand by post). The online process was OK - payment a bit protracted (by ATM receipt) but worked OK, will let you know about the print quality and packaging when it arrives

[Marc Schultz]

Good information Paul. Thanks for sharing. Please keep us posted on your results from your order. Cheers.

[Khun Hans]

Thanks Paul and mark for the information. Paul, keep us informed. Is it normal to send JPEG pictures to the lab and without having their print profile??
Hans

[Paul Whitehead]

IMHO if you are correctly profiled to a common standard (I still use A1998) and the printers correction is well setup it should not matter. If either your own monitor or the printer's correction is out you will see strange colours or casts. Hopefully will be able to tell you tomorrow if the printer's correction is out ;+)

[Paul Whitehead]

It arrived this afternoon, in a very strong cardboard tube. Very good quality. Good color match too. Will def use them again. From order to delivery was less than 48 hours.

[Khun Hans]

Thanks for the info, Paul. It all sounds promising. May I ask you how do you judge the good color match
Hans

[Paul Whitehead]

Hi Hans,

I have no technical method, just so long as the print matches what I see on my screen (but is tad duller as the print is not backlit) I am happy. Maybe I should be more technical if anyone can advise.

[Khun Hans]

Thanks, Paul. Yes, the print is always darker then what you see on the print. I think it is OK to compare to what the screen shows. What else should one do. That's what I do with my home prints here.
Hans

[Marc Schultz]

Good Paul, I am glad to hear you are happy with the result. Two points here. All these labs only print in the sRGB color space. That is all those machines are designed to do. So the color gamut is not even as wide as Adobe RGB technically, but I still can never tell any difference. Second thing is yes, prints always come out darker than on screen. I have resolved that by raising the mid-levels in Photoshop by 10-15 points at the end of my workflow before I send any files to the lab for print. That usually covers it.

[David Salmanowitz]

Marc--I think if you saw a good print that was properly printed with the widest gamut possible, having been previously worked on in the widest color gamut (Pro Photo) on a monitor that had been properly calibrated you would see a difference. From what I have seen here most shops that print are haven't a clue--actually not just in Thailand. I am sure there must be a good print shop somewhere in BKK, though they might not be as much of a bargain as the others.

[Paul Whitehead]

Well I just received my second delivery from bigdigitallab and it was NOT the same as the first!

1) They cannot supply glossy over 6 inches
2) second set of prints were poor quality, colours washed out by (presumably) auto-correction, white borders not even on all 4 sides.
3) Wierd colour corrections applied - as an example, the prints contained my own watermark as they were to be giveaways and even these watermarks are not the same colour across all the prints!


Pity the first print was fine - now I am hunting a new online source in Thailand.

[Marc Schultz]

That is too bad Paul. It did sound promising.

The other site though is a good lab as I have printed lots of stuff with them. If you live in Bangkok you could also drop the files off by hand and have them deliver via post or messenger (as I often do) if the site being in Thai seems to be too much of a challenge to deal with.  

[Marc Schultz]

I just had some prints made today at Master Lab. The results are fantastic. I went there in person today instead of trying to use the web site. I printed 12" x 18" and 20" x 30" sizes. At the moment there is a shortage in the market of glossy paper, so I printed on mat finish paper. Colors, saturation, contrast, and brightest are pretty much spot on. I do not calibrate anything. I just go by eye and increase brightness on pictures by about 10-15% before sending them to the lab. Often prints come out too dark if you don't compensate for the darkness of printers, especially when printing on mat paper. But the brightness came out just right on these. In fact I find if prints are a bit brighter they also show better when behind glass and also because prints are often get hung in rooms with inadequate lighting.

They told me the prints would take an hour, which is standard, but after about 30 minutes I received a text message from the shop to my phone saying my prints are ready. Very handy.

I had told them to print my files as is with no color or sizing adjustments and my plan was if the prints were too dark that I would order some reprints at my own expense and then have them deliver the second batch. But since the output was great that wasn't necessary. If you order prints and have them delivered without seeing them first you risk having to make a second trip to the lab otherwise.

[Khun Hans]

Very useful information. Thanks, Marc.