Image Printing In Thailand

[Chao Lao Beach]

With Thailand being the Land of Fakes and Dodgy-ness in mind, does anyone actually know of where to go to get good quality prints.

There are some knowledgeable folks here, with so much cheap ink and stuff around, I don't want prints fading after a year and stuff like that.

Any advice?

[Dancealot]

Big Camera has amazing quality. Just came home with another set.

Interestingly. On Samui it's 10B/print Phetchabun it's 5B/print and Bangkok 2B/print. (Different brands)

[Chao Lao Beach]

What do you mean by "different brands". Are you talking all Big Camera shops?

[Dancealot]

What do you mean by "different brands". Are you talking all Big Camera shops?

No, that would be good, though..

Samui was Kodak, Phetchabun was Big cam where i got my pics today.

Bangkok was a dodgy place....

Sorry if i was not clear.. But my pics from Big cam surely are!

[Chao Lao Beach]

I am not really sure, I think that "fabianfred" mentioned in a thread about using different inks, some last for 70 years before degrading etc, it is up to the shop what they use.

In Thailand, paying more doesn't mean better quality for the long run. Just thinking out aloud.

[Dancealot]

I am not really sure, I think that "fabianfred" mentioned in a thread about using different inks, some last for 70 years before degrading etc, it is up to the shop what they use.

In Thailand, paying more doesn't mean better quality for the long run. Just thinking out aloud.

I vouch for that Fabian is a very good and precise photographer and he might have some good advice on this.

[samuijimmy]

Kodak or Fuji Shops I always find OK.... some where in the 8 to 10 baht range for regular prints, in tourist places, but about half in non tourist places.... (Kodak) Quantity might have a baring on price too.

My neighbours had a bunch done in BKK at 2 baht... I have not seen them yet....

(paper quality or type might be part of the equation too)

[fabianfred]

I ran a photo studio for 5 years here in Fang......well my wife was the owner and I just taught her how to do it all.

We found that for best quality we liked the Epson printers which used their photo quality ink cartridges...called Durabrite... or something. It was a resin based instead of the more usual dye based ink and was claimed to be archival for 70+ years.

Certainly photos we printed and hung outside the shop and were often in direct sunlight never faded over a year.

The only thing to remember is that they dry quicker than the dye based inks....so they need to be used regularly to avoid them drying and clogging the fine capilliary tubes to the print head.

I now only use a multi printer/scan at home by Canon. The family use it mainly for copying documents, for which use it doesn't need connecting to a computer....cost about 3,000 baht with the big ink tanks. Not high quality ink but most copying is only Black ink. I use photopaper at 100 Baht for 20 sheets of A4, so with 4 4x6 prints a sheet it is much cheaper than 5 Baht a throw at the photo lab.

No longer archival but fine for making pix and giving them to kids and families who otherwise have no cameras...hill-tribes etc.

[fabianfred]

The only trouble with the Epson printers was that they had a chip in the ink cartridges so it told you the cartridge was empty and needed changing when in fact it was only 2/3 to 3/4 used. Costly anyway and then cxheated out of using it all up. Of course they don't want Joe ordinary to get problems so to make it simple it tells you to change before it empties and so hopefully the tubes never get empty and dry out.

For those of us with a brain we used a chip resetter which told it the cartridge was full, after it warned us...so we used it until empty and then quickly replaced it. It sometimes needed a few 'cleaning' cycles to get the ink back to the print head and running OK....but as I said regular use (daily) reduced problems.

Naturally the pigment based inks are not available from those Big tank setups.

[astral]

I had an Epson printer years back and it always dried up.

The heads were not part of the cartridge and had to be

changed seperately, a costly job.

I ended up just throwing it in the bin.

Anyway that is off topic.

The question is shops that do good, durable prints!!

[samuijimmy]

Before moving here, I had a fairly high end Epson printer in Canada, and printed of quite a number of images, before moving .... I had several of those pictures on my wall here (not sun at all) within a year they had all faded...after two years I threw them out ...

The ones I have in binders were fine the last time I looked... perhaps should take a boo again!

I find going to a Photo shop (Kodak or Fuji ) is cheaper anyway! than buying the useless ink cartridges!