Mpix

I ordered some framed photos and they looked great before ordering them. The frame overlapped the picture, but showed that everything was proportional and nothing looked bad on my computer before ordering them. Once I recieved the framed photos in the mail, I was very disappointed to see that my boyfriend's head was completely cut off from the entire picture on each framed photo. I contacted customer service and they told me that frames can overlap and they e-mailed me what I ordered. I was told I can reorder the same print at a discounted price. Why would I want to reorder the same thing that was not what I ordered in the first place? All I wanted was an exchange since Mpix made the mistake! This is horrible customer service and, not only will I never us Mpix again, but I will also let everyone I know about my horrible experience. Now, I have to give these gifts that look rediculous! The only reason I gave Mpix 1 star is because they were so quick to deliver and the framed Art was so well packaged.

First off I work abroad so shipping to my house here was not the best idea so I shipped to a domestic address then had it forwarded later. I ordered a photobook. 2 actually. The first was in matte finish and my mother liked it so much she kept it and I ordered another which unintentionally was in gloss. Ok my bad no worries. I just got the book. Was in no hurry to receive it but I wish I had now that Ive had a chance to check it out. Now I am a photographer and have printed many times through Mpix and other places but this quality on this book was garbage. Pixilation on small photos. How is that possible. Big photos look like they were painted in acrylic paint. First page in the "lay flat" book was already separating from the binding. That i could live with as it is a family album, but the horrid print quality on my images is impressive. Now before you say its the camera there are 3 different camera files that comprised this book, one of which was a camera phone just because I loved the photo (note 4 so non issue). You cant tell the difference from the camera phone quality to the professional canon dslr and my gorgeous fujifilm mirrorless.
Needless to say, if you are a pro or a serious photographer i cant recommend this service for a paid gig. Something that you can risk hitting or missing on sure cause the price is good. But if you really need it done right with no risk then I would strongly caution. Fortunately there is still time as this is a christmas present. Just annoyed I need to redo the layouts on a different site.

I did a lot of research in trying to find a new company from which to order 4 by 6 prints, read many reviews, and MPIX sounded like a good one to try. I have 100's of pictures taken on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to New York City, all of which are of high quality and taken with my excellent camera, but wanted to test the waters before jumping into the deep end. Having read all the fine print regarding the company's "Color Correction" option... including the fact that it is to some degree subjective and dependent on the way a certain person perceives an image, I decided to start by ordering the same 20 prints with and without this option and then make a decision on how to order the rest. Okay first the (only) good thing... turnaround time was good. (They came by USPS.) And now on to the rest. In the middle of our bad weather season, right before Christmas when a huge amount of mail is being handled, my prints came in rather flimsy cardboard mailers without any indication on the outside that photos were enclosed, "Do Not Bend", or anything to that end. Inside they was no piece of cardboard to protect the photos, and when I tried to removed one set from the mailer I discovered that it was literally "crammed" in to such an extent that many of that set were "bent". There is no way that this damage could have happened without someone having handled the prints very roughly when they put them into the mailer. Next I noticed that there was no indication of which set of prints had been "Color Corrected", but for one brief moment I believed that this should become very obvious in no time... not so at all! In both sets of prints there are ones where the quality is absolutely horrible and in no way reflects the quality of the photos I took of a vibrant, very colorful Times Square. In both sets there are some that are ridiculously dark, some that are blurry, some strangely colored. Bottom line... WHAT A MESS! I don't even know where to begin in dealing with it, but I can't even imagine using MPIX to print my very precious photos.

I sent them vibrant, highly saturated photos. They printed dull, lifeless, washed out photos with highly lacking contrast, color depth, and color saturation. Details also seemed to be blurred in the pictures. To say the prints are lack luster would be an understatement. Comparing them to my prints at other labs the difference was night and day.

After a useless back and forth email session with various customer service reps popping out of the woodwork (they have no phone number), I decided it wasn't worth wasting any more time trying. Even after sending several comparison snapshots that looked dramatically different from the originals, I was told they could see no difference, and to check the calibration on my monitor... Prints don't lie, and I have printed from many, many labs. None have been this poor.

In a crunch for time (I'd had my Mpix prints shipped 1 day delivery) I printed from a local drugstore... and got great results. I guess that's the silver lining of this horrendous experience. Now I'm debating whether or not to return the photos, as I'm guessing it will only amount to more hassle. Actually, I know it will be more hassle. They don't cover the cost of return shipping, and also don't accept returns on 4x6 prints. You still have to return them though if you want to get a refund on the rest of your prints and original shipping. Oh, but they offered me a 50 percent discount on color correction... oh joy.

In summation: lifeless and flat prints for some of the highest prices I've seen. Customer service did nothing but try to convince me that I was the one with the problem. Should have read some of the more recent reviews that talk about a decline in quality and saturation. I was lead to order based on the older more positive reviews. I will avoid this lab like the plague and would suggest the same to you.

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.