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Why this test?

I mostly use my photographs in digital form and seldom get them printed but with the latest add-on to my family I had to send some pictures to offline family members. I read a couple of test that concluded that almost all photo printing services available for Danes provided the same quality (or bad quality) so I ordered 20 pictures and received them a couple of days later.

Then the shock hit me — the pictures were really bad… My girlfriend suggested that I should drop my beloved Nikon D200 DSLR camera and buy a normal pocket camera that could produce usable photographs in print. In the evening the same day I checked if my Apple iMac 24″ was correct calibrated (using Huey by Pantone) and everything seemed fine?

I tried ordering 10 photographs from 2 other printing services and one of them looked like the first but the second one looked very different — actually quite good. I ended up with 8 orders at 8 online printing services and made a print on my cheap Canon IP4300 printer.

Instead of keeping the result to myself I will try to share my experience but please keep in mind what equipment I used, primarily that the screen was calibrated by a Huey device from Pantone (and if possible please remember to deselect the optimize option some online printing services offer).

Contestants

1. dk.photobox.com
2. labnet.dk
3. extrafilm.com
4. billedbutikken.dk
5. foto.com
6. bilka.dk (luxus quality)
7. pixum.com
8. Apple via Apperture
9. Canon IP4300 (with Glossy Photo Paper for everyday use)

Rating scale

********** (10/10) Excellent
*********~ (9/10) Very good
********~~ (8/10) Good
*******~~~ (7/10) More than sufficient
******~~~~ (6/10) Sufficient
*****~~~~~ (5/10) Nearly sufficient
****~~~~~~ (4/10) Insufficient
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) Strongly insufficient
**~~~~~~~~ (2/10) Poor
*~~~~~~~~~ (1/10) Very poor

Picture 1 of 10

********** (10/10) dk.photobox.com
********** (10/10) labnet.dk
*********~ (9/10) extrafilm.com
********~~ (8/10) billedbutikken.dk
*******~~~ (7/10) foto.com
*******~~~ (7/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
*******~~~ (7/10) pixum.com
******~~~~ (6/10) Apple via Apperture
******~~~~ (6/10) Canon IP4300

Note: All services passes this test.

Picture 2 of 10

********~~ (8/10) dk.photobox.com
********~~ (8/10) labnet.dk
*******~~~ (7/10) extrafilm.com
******~~~~ (6/10) billedbutikken.dk
******~~~~ (6/10) foto.com
*****~~~~~ (5/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
**~~~~~~~~ (2/10) pixum.com
**~~~~~~~~ (2/10) Apple via Apperture
*****~~~~~ (5/10) Canon IP4300

Note: Some services just made the grey in the top of the picture black or just the wrong color.

Picture 3 of 10

********~~ (8/10) dk.photobox.com
*********~ (9/10) labnet.dk
*******~~~ (7/10) extrafilm.com
*******~~~ (7/10) billedbutikken.dk
******~~~~ (6/10) foto.com
****~~~~~~ (4/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) pixum.com
****~~~~~~ (4/10) Apple via Apperture
*****~~~~~ (5/10) Canon IP4300

Note: The background and especially the man to the left just disappeared on some of the prints. The top contestants are having problem with the skin color.

Picture 4 of 10

*********~ (9/10) dk.photobox.com
********** (10/10) labnet.dk
******~~~~ (6/10) extrafilm.com
******~~~~ (6/10) billedbutikken.dk
******~~~~ (6/10) foto.com
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) pixum.com
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) Apple via Apperture
*****~~~~~ (5/10) Canon IP4300

Note: The same as the other pictures.

Picture 5 of 10

*********~ (9/10) dk.photobox.com
*********~ (9/10) labnet.dk
********~~ (8/10) extrafilm.com
********~~ (8/10) billedbutikken.dk
******~~~~ (6/10) foto.com
******~~~~ (6/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
*****~~~~~ (5/10) pixum.com
******~~~~ (6/10) Apple via Apperture
******~~~~ (6/10) Canon IP4300

Note: Almost all contestants are having a hard time making the right skin color.

Picture 6 of 10

*********~ (9/10) dk.photobox.com
********** (10/10) labnet.dk
*****~~~~~ (5/10) extrafilm.com
********~~ (8/10) billedbutikken.dk
********~~ (8/10) foto.com
*******~~~ (7/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
****~~~~~~ (4/10) pixum.com
****~~~~~~ (4/10) Apple via Apperture
*****~~~~~ (5/10) Canon IP4300

Note: Only labnet.dk could make the dark cloud, the yellow house and the lower right bricks look right.

Picture 7 of 10

*********~ (9/10) dk.photobox.com
********** (10/10) labnet.dk
********~~ (8/10) extrafilm.com
*****~~~~~ (5/10) billedbutikken.dk
*******~~~ (7/10) foto.com
*******~~~ (7/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
*****~~~~~ (5/10) pixum.com
*****~~~~~ (5/10) Apple via Apperture
******~~~~ (6/10) Canon IP4300

Note: This photograph got some pretty powerful colors. Only labnet.dk nails those but photobox.com got close.

Picture 8 of 10

********~~ (8/10) dk.photobox.com
********** (10/10) labnet.dk
********~~ (8/10) extrafilm.com
*******~~~ (7/10) billedbutikken.dk
******~~~~ (6/10) foto.com
******~~~~ (6/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) pixum.com
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) Apple via Apperture
*****~~~~~ (5/10) Canon IP4300

Note: Only labnet.dk got this right.

Picture 9 of 10

*******~~~ (7/10) dk.photobox.com
********~~ (8/10) labnet.dk
****~~~~~~ (4/10) extrafilm.com
*****~~~~~ (5/10) billedbutikken.dk
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) foto.com
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) pixum.com
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) Apple via Apperture
****~~~~~~ (4/10) Canon IP4300

Note: Not a single print provider can match what I see on my screen

Picture 10 of 10

*********~ (9/10) dk.photobox.com
********** (10/10) labnet.dk
****~~~~~~ (4/10) extrafilm.com
*******~~~ (7/10) billedbutikken.dk
******~~~~ (6/10) foto.com
*****~~~~~ (5/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) pixum.com
*****~~~~~ (5/10) Apple via Apperture
***~~~~~~~ (3/10) Canon IP4300

Note: This should be a BW print but some prints got a purple, brown or yellow stain.

Summary

And here is the average rating for the 10 pictures:

*********½ (9.4/10) labnet.dk
********½~ (8.6/10) dk.photobox.com
******½~~~ (6.7/10) billedbutikken.dk
******½~~~ (6.6/10) extrafilm.com
******~~~~ (6.1/10) foto.com
*****½~~~~ (5.3/10) bilka.dk (luxus quality)
*****~~~~~ (4.9/10) Canon IP4300
****~~~~~~ (4.1/10) Apple via Apperture
****~~~~~~ (3.8/10) pixum.com

Can it really be true that the different is so big? Just to prove my point I dusted off my old Canon 3000 scanner and here is the result:

Scary!?

The final conclusion

Only two services provided a recommendable service:

labnet.dk makes the best prints but is a bit expensive. (1.60 DKR when ordering 50 prints in 10x15cm)

dk.photobox.com makes really good prints considering the price (0.74 DKR when ordering 50 prints in 10x15cm — at the moment they offer prints at 0.49 DKR).

Notes:
— Both labnet.dk and dk.photobox.com used Fuji Film paper as the only ones (the other online printing services used different kinds of Kodak paper).