Mpix

First, I get all my MPIX prints through zenfolio, which is a photographer gallery website. If you buy a year membership in zenfolio, you can purchase prints and other items from Mpix at cost, which is about 30% less than retail. However, once in a while, they have a half-price sale on prints starting at 8 x 10 in size. Then it's really a good deal, because you're paying 50% of an already discounted price. Now, here is where you have to use some common sense or better, have some knowledge of photo printing. Mpix will lock you out of ordering a print that's too big if your pixel count for any jpeg file is too small. BUT, you also have to use some judgment. If you have an out of focus photo, or a photo with poor contrast, poor color, etc., mpix can't help you that much, even though they do have a default for color correction. Make sure your photo doesn't just have the minimal file size for a print, but more than the minimal. You can find the file size to print size math on lots of websites. It also pays to pay the extra for their smear proof coating; it's about $1 to $2 dollars depending on photo size. It is worth it. Every handle a photo and then see fingerprints on it? Good luck. Another bit of advice: if you have very vivid colors in your images, say, from photographing flowers or other very colorful objects, I'd be careful and make sure the file size is large enough to result in vivid print color. Remember, the larger the print, the duller the color. A print at 8 x 10 is going to be brighter and sharper than a 13 x 19 print. If you calculate the square inch total of the paper it's easy to tell. You are spreading more ink over a larger surface, and pixel density can impact very large prints. I know this stuff because I did my own printing for years, and decided it wasn't worth the time and expense. It might cost $2.00 to print an 11 x 17 photo at home, but it might take four or five tries, not to mention a host of other things that can go wrong. For monochrome photos, I'd definitely go with Mpix. Ink printers only use a couple of cartridges when mixing b&W or sepia. Mono- or duotone images look great from Mpix.