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aladdinsane · Jan 15, 2002, 12:01 AM

Enough has been said about iPhoto in another thread but I think the iPhoto album book deserves its own

I have to admit I was skeptical about the new photo book one can generate and order using iPhoto. Especially after playing with iPhoto which I am not thrilled about.

But I was also curious and I still had not sent my friends in Norway pictures from my visit there last summer as I had promised

So I put together a book of total 49 photos on 21 pages when I got iPhoto last week.

I used some Icelandic characters in the text and when I finished the order I thought the transfer of the photos (49MB) took suspiciously short time (I have cable modem with awful upload speed

)

Expecting a book with tiny or missing images

and text full of black boxes I was excited when I got the package today.

And WOW! It is everything it promises to be and more. All the pages are exactly as I set them up (of course one might say). The quality of the photos is very good. I guess iPhoto does a very good job scaling the photos before transferring them.

The book has very nice glossy pages that gives the book a professional look and feel. The hard cover is also very nice. The finish of the book is all of great quality and I will make a good gift. If you are skeptical like I was, you should know it is worth the risk. You will not be disappointed.

The only thing I wasn't thrilled about was the price. I paid about $80 with tax and S/H for 21 pages. I don't mind paying $80 once in a while but I will probably only make books to give away if the price stays this high.

Two thumbs up Apple.

Xeo · Jan 15, 2002, 12:24 AM

Originally posted by aladdinsane:
he only thing I wasn't thrilled about was the price. I paid about $80 with tax and S/H for 21 pages. I don't mind paying $80 once in a while but I will probably only make books to give away if the price stays this high.

Holy cow! I guess that's $63.00 in pages alone. I never thought how quickly that would add up. Still, it'd be a nice gift. I'm glad it worked out so well. Now I'll expect top notch quality if I end up getting one.

Person Man · Jan 15, 2002, 12:45 AM

Originally posted by Xeo:
Holy cow! I guess that's $63.00 in pages alone. I never thought how quickly that would add up. Still, it'd be a nice gift. I'm glad it worked out so well. Now I'll expect top notch quality if I end up getting one.

Well, it's like $30 for the first ten pages and then each page after that is $10! That's ridiculous!

Michael T. Doyle · Jan 15, 2002, 12:46 AM

Of course, you can always just create an HTML slideshow and burn onto a 50-cent CD-R for a lot less

Person Man · Jan 15, 2002, 12:47 AM

[double post]

[ 01-14-2002: Message edited by: Person Man ]

mrchin · Jan 15, 2002, 12:53 AM

it's only $3 a page after thr first 10. So it's 3 bucks a page anyway, just that it's a minimum of 10 pages and $30. The feature that I'd like a double sided. I don't want pictures on one page and blank on the next. Sometimes, a spread is necessary.

aladdinsane · Jan 15, 2002, 12:58 AM

First 10 pages: 29.99
11 Additional pages: 33.00
Tax: 5.20
Shipping: 12.99
---------------------------
Total $ 81.18

Developer · Jan 15, 2002, 10:09 AM

Well, I would try it but Apple doesn't take �.

Shipping: 12.99

Wow, that's expensive. If Amazon can ship to Europe for half of that, why can't Apple/Kodak?

[ 01-15-2002: Message edited by: Developer ]

sirlexelot · Jan 15, 2002, 10:17 AM

I dunno, I've had worse luck with the iPhoto service. I ordered the 10 free prints thing, using some pictures from my Canon Powershot s100, the very camera that Apple has used to represent the whole digital photo aspect of this hub stratgey thing for quite some time. My original pictures look just fine on the computer - certainly not flawless, but sharp and nice. The prints, however, have significantly higher .jpg compression than my originals. Somewhere in the process my pix got compressed by at least 40% or more. Basically, the prints look awful. I for one am pretty disappointed in the whole iPhoto service, and won't be wasting money on a big blurry book o' .jpg mess any time soon.

timster · Jan 15, 2002, 12:03 PM

I'm curious. What pixel measurements were the pictures you sent to be printed?

From my experience, if you use too low of a picture size, like 640x480, then they wont come out looking very good even though they look fine on the computer screen.

-tim

OAW · Jan 15, 2002, 02:02 PM

I've always had pretty good results from the www.ofoto.com print service (which is the Kodak owned service that iPhoto uses BTW). I have a Kodak DC4800 3.1 megapixel camera, and I always take pictures at the highest quality. Thus, most of my file sizes come in around 1 MB or so. Print quality is very nice with ONE exception ... BRIGHTNESS. I find that a print that looks GREAT on the screen is typically printed several shades DARKER. So I've learned to adjust the brightness 30-40% on each photo I plan to get printed. Even if it looks a little washed out on the screen, the print will be so much better.

I don't really know why the prints always come out so much darker. It is a bit of a pain to have to adjust the brightness like this just to get a decent print.

OAW

mftalon · Jan 15, 2002, 04:41 PM

One would think the highly touted ColorSync would solve the brightness problem.... Hmmm... maybe not.

Metzen · Jan 15, 2002, 09:26 PM

Originally posted by mftalon:
One would think the highly touted ColorSync would solve the brightness problem.... Hmmm... maybe not.

It depends if you've setup ColorSync.

stumper · Jan 16, 2002, 11:03 AM

Originally posted by Metzen:


It depends if you've setup ColorSync.

And sometimes even when you set up ColorSync, the results are confusing/disappointing. I have ColorSync profiles (DC3400) for my camera, my display (Studio 17"), and my printer (Epson 880). When I configured it initially, I thought "cool, I should be able to easily match color through the entire chain of devices, and my prints will be perfect".

Suffice it to say that I became so frustrated with the end result that now when I print from iPhoto I disable ColorSync and go with the basic color controls. It took a LITTLE fine tuning, but my prints are now virtually identical to what I have on screen.

Perhaps ColorSync on OS X still has a few "issues" ? Who knows. I do know that I probably pay more printing them myself, but they are impressive, and I have control over the process. I just hope the prints last :-)

I may try the Book service, though. There's something "warm and fuzzy" about having a hard bound copy of some special event that can be handed down through the family at some point. I know that many of my non-tech relatives would love it... as long as it doesn't suck !

Cheers !

Eric.

PS: If someone actually has figured out Colorsync for X, let me know.

Hemingray · Jan 16, 2002, 04:09 PM

So tell me, are the photo albums archival quality? Is it made with acid-free paper? This is the type of stuff I'm concerned about (being an archivist for a hobby), and I don't really see the long-term benefit of paying money for an album that will fade/discolor in two or three generations... when I have a computer that will show my pictures perfectly from now until near-infinity (provided the data is transferred every 100 years or so.) Overkill? Definitely.

ppmax · Jan 16, 2002, 05:13 PM

re: the brightness issue: you have to calibrate your monitor, then set up colorsync. whats happening is that your gamma is out of wack. if you have an apple monitor they ship with a little tool that you use to calibrate your gamma. it looks like a popsicle, but has a hole punched out of it with a bit of clear plastic in the middle. you hold it up to your monitor and compare the brightness (under "normal" lighting conditions)of a page of white paper to the monitors representation of the color white.

awaspaas · Jan 16, 2002, 05:18 PM

Originally posted by Hemingray:
So tell me, are the photo albums archival quality? Is it made with acid-free paper? This is the type of stuff I'm concerned about (being an archivist for a hobby), and I don't really see the long-term benefit of paying money for an album that will fade/discolor in two or three generations... when I have a computer that will show my pictures perfectly from now until near-infinity (provided the data is transferred every 100 years or so.) Overkill? Definitely.

I remember hearing that the pages were acid-free.

Mediaman_12 · Jan 16, 2002, 07:40 PM

'A photo speaks a 1000 words' or so they say. What do these things look like, in real life (as aposed to Apples own sales pic's).
It's only idle wonder as I live in the UK, and so can't order one yet.

Hemingray · Jan 16, 2002, 08:48 PM

Originally posted by awaspaas:


I remember hearing that the pages were acid-free.

Right you are, awaspaas!

Apple web site, quote: "iPhoto makes it simple to turn your book into a beautiful keepsake, printed on acid-free glossy paper and bound in an elegant linen cover."

Guess it helps if I read.

That's certainly good news!

Boondoggle · Jan 17, 2002, 07:48 AM

I can't wait for my book... But something strange happened yesterday.

I submitted my book request last thursday. Yesterday I got a call from a guy at Apple saying that there had been a glitch with the billing and they needed my credit card number again, my book would be delayed a few days, but Apple would pick up the tab for overnight delivery.

I thought that was a bit weird, so I asked the guy if I could just re-order the book online instead of giving him my CC #. He said sure, but he still wanted me to call him after I did that so he could credit me the shipping. Fine.

Well I got home last night and according to Apple and FedEX, my book has been shipped and I should get it today. So of course I didn't reorder it.

I wonder if my card will be billed for it at all? Did Apple screw up? Was that guy really from Apple? If I don't get billed, I have to decide if I should be honest and call them and pay for it, or consider it payback for Apple F'ing up and sending me, and billing me for two 10.1 upgrade CD's.

EddieDesignsDotCom · Jan 17, 2002, 09:50 AM

Print quality is very nice with ONE exception ... BRIGHTNESS. I find that a print that looks GREAT on the screen is typically printed several shades DARKER. So I've learned to adjust the brightness 30-40% on each photo I plan to get printed. Even if it looks a little washed out on the screen, the print will be so much better.

I don't really know why the prints always come out so much darker. It is a bit of a pain to have to adjust the brightness like this just to get a decent print.

as a professional designer and photographer, I print my own photographs to A3 size (double US letter?) with my Epson 1290 edge to edge 6 color printer. what I always do is 'fix' all my digital camera pics taken with my Sony Cybershot DSC-S50. Now I know that a pic *may* look fine once downloaded off your digital camera raw but after I've 'perfected' a pic with my 'Photoshop (nonetheless) skills' and look back at the raw shot my final 'naturally manipulated' looks ALOT better in so many ways (color, brightness, contrast, sharper, etc, etc).

I don't really see the long-term benefit of paying money for an album that will fade/discolor in two or three generations...

I use Epson's photo papers to print on and Epson claims with both the inks (using the Epson 1290) and it's paper that the colors don't fade for about 80 years? They call it 'lightfastness' whatever that is...

*having over 1000 personal professionally shot images viewable at my <a href="http://www.masteratwork.com/freshprints">FRESHPRINTS</a> website I plan to sell prints online asap. The papers that these personally enhanced pics will be sold on include satin, silk, A3 (around double US Letter) edge to edge - no white margin.

feel free to look at my shots

http://www.masteratwork.com/freshprints