| Printing your own pictures is pretty expensive, and while it is possible to get better quality than a decently run minilab, you will be in for a steep learning curve to get there.
For myself, I'm a firm believer in shopping local, so I'd at least give whoever is in your area, whether a Wal-Mart or other a try. If they do OK, then you are supporting local employment, possibly costing costing yourself less $$ and getting your prints back faster.
If they don't do a reasonable job, then shop elsewhere.
Remember that in an ideal world, the lab prints will match your screen, in practice it doesn't always work this way, and your system is as likely to be wrong as theirs if they are actually doing QC.
A good test is to send the same file to the lab a couple of weeks apart and see if they look the same. I don't mind dialing my system into a lab that is consistent but a little off if it makes sense to do so. Supporting local businesses makes sense, even if that local business is a big faceless gray box. |