I've got this old hard drive with hundreds of family photos from vacations and I finally want to make a proper photobook out of them. dm and Rossmann used to always have that, but now I only find those QR code solutions there. Which providers still do good quality work for that?
I recently made one myself and ended up going with Saal Digital - they really have solid materials and the color quality is way better than those cheap quick-print options. The price is a bit higher, but for family photos it's definitely worth it. The pages feel high-quality and last forever if you keep pulling the book out and looking through it.
I'm totally with you on that - DM and Rossmann have really become a pain 😅 for genuinely good quality, give Cewe a try, they do professional photo books and have a huge selection of layouts. alternatively, Ifolor and Artifact are also solid options, though Ifolor is more in the premium segment. if you want to play it safe, check out the customer reviews on their sites - the paper and print quality really varies, and some providers also run regular sales where it gets cheaper. it's definitely worth it, especially if you have hundreds of photos! 📸
I wouldn't recommend the QR code things either - that's quick and cheap, but not the right choice for proper family photos. I had a book made at Blurb a while back and was surprised at how good the quality is, especially with the paper options. They really give you different covers and layouts to choose from, and you can see exactly how everything looks beforehand.
CEWE is also a solid bet if you want something German - they've got a big community and tons of templates if designing feels like too much work. Both are way better than what drugstores offer these days.
If you have hundreds of photos, it's worth checking out specialized online services like Pixum or Saal Digital - they sometimes have better options for larger quantities and can do custom formats too. The quality is really solid, and you can upload the photos directly instead of having to get them printed somewhere else first.
One important thing people often overlook: pay attention to the paper type. Some providers give you a choice between matte photo paper or glossy, and that makes a real difference with old vacation photos. Matte just looks more high-quality when the images are older. Also check if you can edit the photos yourself beforehand - old digital photos often just need a bit of color correction to look better in print.
One more thing to add to the providers already mentioned: also check out Photobox and Pixum, they're solid options too with good binding quality. The most important point I'd give you - and it's easy to overlook - is to sort and edit your photos properly beforehand 📸 With hundreds of images, it makes a huge difference whether you pick out the best ones and maybe adjust the color and contrast a bit, or just digitize everything willy-nilly. Bad lighting or blurry images show up way more obvious in print than on screen. And one more tip: do a test print with just a few pages first to check the color reproduction with your preferred provider - there are actually significant differences depending on how they calibrate their printers.
With so many photos, I'd definitely go through your hard drive thoroughly and sort things out first - hundreds doesn't mean they're all good, and a slim book with only your best shots will look way better in the end than if you just cram everything in. As for providers: the names that have already come up (Cewe, Saal Digital, Pixum) are actually solid, but my tip would be to also check with smaller, regional printers if there are any near you - they can often fulfill individual requests and you get to see the quality beforehand. With online options you've got to be careful not to fall for some cheap portal that promises you colorful layouts but cuts corners on print quality - don't let yourself get blinded by low prices.
CEWE and Saal Digital are really solid, but I'd also recommend PhotoBox to you - they have a decent selection of materials and layouts, and the print quality is consistently good. What a lot of people don't know: if you really have hundreds of photos, it's often worth sorting and editing them first, otherwise you end up with a 500-page monster that nobody's gonna flip through. Pixum isn't bad either, but in my experience they have a bit less design freedom than the others.
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