As an Instagram (follow me) user I noticed an account that was liking a lot of my photos so as you do, I clicked on their account (@iprintagram) which offered instagram users the service of making the photos they had uploaded into polaroid style images.
Being a photographer and a polaroid owner I liked the idea of a cheaper way to create polaroids and was curious to see the quality of the prints as I would possible offer this service to my future clients.
So I downloaded their app on the Apple istore and set up an account which is really easy to use.
You need to select the three images (it did three at a time) that you want to print, continue to review the images and enter payment details, paypal is conveniently accepted.
When I did this it was £2.99 for 3 prints but it’s now £4.99 I thought if the qality was decent then it would be worth it in the long run so went ahead.
After about only 4 days the prints turned up each wrapped individually in their own pouch.
I had a smile on my face when opening and when seeing my photos in print but I was a bit suprised at the overall quality when I took a closer look.
The print quality itself on two of them is good no issues with them but one of them, the one with darker colours in it doesnt match the colours of the one I uploaded, the smaller size of the instagram image doesnt affect it because of the small print size so there must be a printing issue that makes colours darker as you can see the yellow turned out orange and the skin has been darkened like contrast has been added.
It’s clear the images were just printed on a piece of Kodak photo paper and cut fast and without 100% care with a guillotine.
The bottom border is too long for an authentic polaroid look, the space seemed wasted and my business thought was thinking they could have saved the paper.
The cutting out of the whole image isn’t straight around the border, this could be a one off but I have seen comments on their facebook page withe the same issues.
My impression of these prints wasn’t great but wasn’t terrible, I can clearly do this myself at home however I can see how the average Tom wouldn’t bother with these faults and would happily hang them on their wall or stick them in a photo album and write ‘OMG wasted’ in oen at the bottom.
Since I ordered these iprintagram have upgraded their services to include a wider range and have increased the price of the original service but also increased the image number so works out better for the customer.
The polaroid prints are now offered in packs of 8 (from £4.99) they also now include square prints (From £4.99) Greetings Cards (From £3.99) Canvas prints (from £29.99) Framed prints (from £27.99) Framed Montages 12″ x 12″ (from £24.99) Canvas montages (from £32.99) and Acrylic Block (from 26.99)
I think the prices are slightly expensive after seeing the simple quality of the product I tested personally.
If you are a photographer and want to use these for clients, the other services look to be expensive for what they are but if you have no problems paying over the odds for things you could do at home or get elsewhere then go ahead, For those I can’t comment on the quality because I haven’t seen them but feel free to comment if you have.
My ratings would be:
SERVICE: Excellent
POSTAGE (price): Great
POSTAGE (time): Great
Quality (Overall) : Good
I can see the fun side of the prints and I think the company have been quick and clever to make a business through instagram photos which otherwise wouldn’t be printed because you can’t take the photo off of instagram, so for that it’s great and I agree it will appeal to many people so don’t let me put you off of ordering please do give it a go the cutting issue may well have been sorted as they expand their empire.
Chris Howley Photography 