Recently I had experience of printing my photos at Saal Digital – a photo products manufacturer that offers a wide range of printing services. Check out their website www.saal-digital.com to see how their products may help you to promote your business or decorate your home.
So, first things first, to print a photo book at Saal Digital, just like at 100% of other printing services, I need to create the design. I choose Professional Line, and there are three options for that: upload a photo book in PDF, create it using Windows or MacOS app or design it on an iOS or Android device (by the way, for some other products, i.e. posters there is also an option to design it online). I click Windows app download, install it and run. This is what I encourage you to do: since to app is free – download it and play with it to see how it works and what design options it gives you. I like it lets to create my own design with empty template or use other more or less automatic options to speed up the process. I rate it high since it has all the tools I need to create a photo book. The only thing I missed was a setting for horizontal space between symbols which could be very useful.
After the design is ready I add it to the cart, pay for it and then the project is uploaded to Saal Digital server for processing.
The delivery time was acceptable: I live in the US, the photo book was coming from Germany, and shipping took ten days – it is not super fast which is understandable since the book was made on another continent, but I double checked it once again: if I order a book now they expect to deliver it in 6 days which is very good. Shipping cost is less than $10. And the package was delivered by DHL courier to the front door of my apartment and was handed right into my hands.
I didn’t make photos of the packaging but I assure you it was very good packed: double carton box and the book inside wrapped into the soft plastic material. Since the book has acrylic front cover there was a protective film on it to avoid scratches. The glossy paper used in the photo book is great, printing is of high-quality and very detailed.
Here are some pictures of the book:
Necessary to mention that if an image is of two-page width there is a visible mark of the fold in the center between pages:
It may be less visible:
Most likely it is caused by the peculiarity of the paper: the glossy layer damages in the fold area. I have other photo books printed on matte paper and they don’t have such effect. So, my recommendation is: if you have two-page wide images then choose matte paper.
Another thing I noticed is that printed photos seem to be a bit darker than images in their original files. It may happen because of the wrong calibration of my monitor, but the prints made with my own printer are lighter than the same ones in the photo book. So it’s worth to increase exposure or make images lighter by other ways before exporting them and adding to the photo book project.
So, to summarize: the photo book was made great. When I opened it for the first time I was absolutely amazed by clarity of the photos, precise printing of details and excellent color reproduction. I definitely recommend to print your best photos both for personal and professional purposes at Saal Digital.
P.S. After this review was published and shared with Saal Digital they contacted me offering to file a complaint about the images that appeared darker. As a solution they offered to re-print the photo book which is very good of them and positions them as a company that really strives to create a perfect product.