Thoughts on Picplum Automatic Photo Prints • Hacker News Board

Re: Thoughts on Picplum Automatic Photo Prints

#41

Post by waterside81 » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 3:26 AM UTC

Let me chime in and add to the argument of paper vs. digital. We sell personalized kids books. Now you'd think, who in the heck buys books still? I'll tell you who: grandparents, aunts & uncles. While our eBook sales have risen steadily and with our iPad app coming up, I'm sure eBooks will take on an ever larger share of sales, people of a certain generation with spending power still love to touch paper.

Noticed a comment about the Picwing acquisition stating that the printer relationship was one of the aspects of the deal. You can't imagine how valuable that relationship is. We went through 4 printers before finally getting one who had the quality we wanted, turnaround time we wanted and price we wanted. From our first printer to our current printer, our cost per book fell by over 400%.

Re: Thoughts on Picplum Automatic Photo Prints

#42

Post by rorrr » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 5:15 AM UTC

PStamatiou wrote: post #38

rorrr wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our photo process is lightjet chemical process, most other companies use either a digital or inject process which is not as good as chemical photographic process. I bet 99.9% of customers cannot tell the difference between prints made by a 1) lightjet 2) Fuji Frontier 3) Noritsu 4) $500 inkjet printer According to your FAQ, you are using "Fuji Crystal Archive" paper, which many of your competitors use (Snapfish, for…

I need to update the FAQ but we have since switched to lustre paper which is not crystal archive (that is only glossy). One customer told us: "Shutterfly was really disappointing: pixelated, poor colors, and just a cheap feel - we'll never use them again." I quoted him in my post. Feel free to reach out to him to confirm. As I mentioned in the post, 4x6 is just the start. We've only been working on this for 2.5 month…

You're not answering the questions, but rather reply with a ridiculous testimony of some random person (even if it's true, it's one data point).

Re: Thoughts on Picplum Automatic Photo Prints

#43

Post by peteforde » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 6:13 AM UTC

hnsmurf wrote: post #2

I feel like selling printed photos is a lot like selling CDs. You know at some point nobody will ever use these anymore. You don't know when, exactly, and they'll probably outlast the CD, but I personally already get annoyed when someone gives me a non-digital version of a photo. If I like it enough I scan it and throw it out, if I don't I just trash it directly. Every day a bunch of people who want printed photos di…

You get annoyed when someone goes to the trouble of giving you a photo they considered important enough to print and share with you? I understand that living simply is a goal, but that sounds a little silly. Your comment makes me wonder if you stab these unlucky photos with a pencil and burn them before "trashing it directly" — presumably before the jerk can leave the room so that they understand the existential crisis they have narrowly averted. :)

It's safe to say that humans are a sentimental and even nostalgic bunch. We crave individuality and expression, and photos are the ultimate simple expression of our life and times. Getting prints back is a joy greater than Christmas (for those into that sort of thing) any day of the year. It's actually kind of addictive, and having physical copies of those moments trumps online sharing for all of the obvious tactile reasons.

As long as people have kids and crushes, books-in-progress and wallets there will be printed photos... and thank goodness for that.

Re: Thoughts on Picplum Automatic Photo Prints

#44

Post by peteforde » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 6:26 AM UTC

Congrats on the new startup, Paul!

My only caveat to you is that you're flat out wrong that film is dying. Compared to the now-exploded market for entry-level and above pro-sumer SLRs like the Canons, film is tiny. However, the actual market for film has stayed pretty steady, thanks to new players like Lomography introducing medium format cheaply to a new generation of artistic kids.

I'm actually sympathetic to your outlook because when I was your age I used to roll my eyes at the idea of film. I had my 5D tricked out with a 14L/35L/85 II L/200L kit in my bag. Eight years later I'm shooting almost exclusively on a Hasselblad, but my Mamiya 7 and Mamiya C330 and FujiFilm G617 are all well loved (and I still have fun with a Holga).

Here's my suggestion to you, one photography obsessed startup guy to another: set aside a weekend to bike around with a rented Hasselblad 503 or Mamiya 7. You'll need three rolls of film: Ilford FP4 Plus 125, Kodak Portra VC400 and FujiFilm Velvia 50.

The first thing you'll notice is that with 12 shots on a roll, you have to exercise constraint and make every shot count. You'll start remembering why you took a photo, how you were feeling. Suddenly the shots that you'd discard on a 5D II are some of the most charming of the lot. You learn to appreciate that turning your most interesting creative decisions to a mass-produced autofocus IC is kind of a drag. Happy accidents abound.

I'm warning you... it's a rabbit hole, and you might never come back out (but you'll be very happy there).

Re: Thoughts on Picplum Automatic Photo Prints

#45

Post by lyime » Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 8:14 AM UTC

rorrr wrote: post #33

lyime wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@jordanlev So we have tried ordering prints from a few other big digital photo printing sites. First thing that you will notice is that everyone uses much thinner quality paper then we use. We use heavy Luster Fujifilm photo paper, much thicker than many others. Our photo process is lightjet chemical process, most other companies use either a digital or inject process which is not as good as chemical photographic pro…

Our photo process is lightjet chemical process, most other companies use either a digital or inject process which is not as good as chemical photographic process. I bet 99.9% of customers cannot tell the difference between prints made by a 1) lightjet 2) Fuji Frontier 3) Noritsu 4) $500 inkjet printer According to your FAQ, you are using "Fuji Crystal Archive" paper, which many of your competitors use (Snapfish, for…

I don't know how we could be more clear about our current business model. Not much to discuss there. As far as print quality is concerned, you seem like you have made up your mind that there is no difference. We have seen prints from different suppliers and printers, and there is a significant difference in quality. Here is some context that will educate you on quality printing process http://blogofwilliam.tumblr.com/post/9277485802/picplum-a-qu...