On-Line photo printing in Sweden

Note: this one mostly applies to Sweden-based photographers... And is a nice find for myself.

A few days ago Frida and Pikki (I photographed them this summer) came over to order their wedding prints. And this really embarrasing thing happened- I could not upload the pictures to the printing companies web page... Then the lightning struck me- I have never done this since moving to Linux!

Some kind of Java plugin error... IcedTea it's called... This was all I was getting in my Chrome window...

Darned, the whole situation was just so ugly... I tried some other photo printing companies. Seemed like everyone was using Java for the photo upload interface...

Blah. After F&P left, I dived into the web for more detailed research. Came across Crimson lab in Stockholm. And what a lovely find that was!

More details inside the post.
For a change their website is clean and professional looking. It is easy to find the printing service you are looking for (normal photo paper prints/enlargements/canvas and others). Not a trace of ridiculous advertising and discounts, blinking all over the place.

They also have a very good section about color profiles for your monitor calibration and other general info about the printing process/print proofing which is explained in a very user friendly language.

Image upload is Flash based, so no issues with this under Linux. Works like it should. Quite easy to use too. It was a bit weird finding my way to individual image settings, but I would say that it's just the matter of doing it once, afterwards it is no big deal. Besides this, the interface is very smooth. Registration is painless as it is sowed into the upload process and happens only after you have finished setting up the prints. Sweet!

Another cool thing - you can order a test print before you buy anything else and make sure that what you see on your monitor is what you will get delivered on paper. My test print seems just a tad cooler than the image on screen. Now having in mind that I did calibrate my Eizo with a properly working Spyder 3 this does raise my eyebrow. It is not a huge difference or anything that non-pixel-peeper would notice, but still need to solve it. Or maybe just use a tungsten bulb in the room :)

All in all this little glitch with Java made me find a proper printing company. One software bug that I am glad to encounter :)

Cheers!
//M.