Panstoria Photo Book Review Part 3

The previous posts in this series are located at Panstoria Photo Book Review and Panstoria Photo Book Review Part 2.

I received updated photo books from Panstoria. Unlike the previous books, these books were received undamaged. Packaging is probably still inadequate, but it was sufficient to protect the book for the shipment to my house. This book came to me directly from Panstoria’s supplier, rather than via Panstoria.

Creative Memories photo book (top); initial Panstoria photo book (middle); second Panstoria photo book (bottom). Note: Clicking on this photo will bring up a full-size image.

The new Panstoria photo book is somewhat better than the first Panstoria photo book. It is lighter and the grain pattern is less evident. The grain pattern is, however, more noticeable than the corresponding Creative Memories photo book. The half-tone dots in the Creative Memories photo book appear more random,with less noticeable line patterns than those present in Panstoria’s book.

These photos are direct comparisons of the same photo printed in multiple books. In the absence of a direct comparison, the differences between books might not even be noticed. In general, the Panstoria Photo book has acceptable image quality and the differences are relatively subtle.

Creative Memories uses a Kodak Nexpress, and Panstoria uses a Xerox iGen4. This difference may be the root cause for the differences between photo books. Because of Kodak’s history with photography, their digital presses appear better optimized for printing photographs, while Xerox’s history with producing office documents may give them an edge in this area.

Creative Memories photo books are no longer available. I also prefer a simple ordering process. Consequently, I will probably use Panstoria Print Shop for photo books, unless something better comes along.

Keep watching this blog for more updates on photo books and other topics.

 

 

 

 

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