Review of Photobook Singapore & Photobook Express

[nottipiglet]

Like most readers of Clubsnap, I take a fair number of pictures each year, some of which I would like to present in a professional manner. So, I have been making around two photo books each year. In the past, I turn to Fotohub’s FotoJournal for my scrap-booking needs. They make excellent books, with pages made out of photo paper. However, they did not produce FotoJournals with hard covers and their product with the hard covers (FotoStory) is priced prohibitively. As such, I have been on the hunt for an alternative book for quite some time now, until recently, I stumbled on these two photo book printers.

There are many which photo book makers out there, but I am going to review only two companies, namely Photobook Singapore (www.photobooksingapore.com) and Photobook Express (www.photobookexpress.com). I chose these two companies for my printing needs because:

- They make very high quality books. The pages have good thickness. Many photo books out there have thin magazine-like pages.
- The books come with hard cover.
- They are very affordable. There are probably better photo books out there, but they also cost considerably more.
- Both use the same excellent scrapbooking software by Taopix (www.taopix.com).

I did not include other photo book makers in my review because they either did not meet my criteria above, or their marketing engine did not get to me (in which case I do not even know that they exist).

Photobook Singapore

Photobook Singapore is an offshoot of Photobook Worldwide, which is an American company. Their factory is in Kuala Lumpur, and it serves both Singapore and Malaysia. As such, they are a global company with established service standards and very professional service.

Their website (www.photobooksingapore.com) is well designed, with a professional look. Download links, FAQs and special offers are easily assessable. Some of these offers are pretty hard to beat.

The company’s marketing engine focuses on having a strong web presence, with a very healthy Facebook following, which is where I learned about them.

Ordering Process and Service Level:

My experience with Photobook Singapore’s service staff has been nothing short of excellent. They respond to my emails by the next working day without fail. In addition, they have an online chat service at their website, with experienced operators who will answer all your queries instantly (during office hours).

To order a book, you need to download the software from their website and create a book with it. To create a book is not exactly a walk in the park, but the software is amongst the best I have used and you should get the hang of it quickly. After you have created the book, just pay for it and upload the files. At the payment screen, you can input the discount codes that are available on their website. After that, the book should arrive at your doorstep within five working days.

The first book that arrived at my doorstep had some printing errors. There were white specks in some of the pictures. I contacted them immediately through their web-chat to highlight the issue to them. I was instructed to take some pictures of the problem and email them to their customer support. After receiving the pictures, it took about two days for their management to approve a reprint. After which, I received the reprinted book in about 5 working days. Now, that’s what I call customer service!

The Book:

The book you see here is a ‘Debossed Hardcover Medium Portrait (8” x 11&#8221’ book. The default book comes with 40 pages, but you can add pages if you want (at additional cost). Photobook Singapore is currently running a ‘free leather wrap’ offer. So, the book you see here is wrapped in ebony soft leather.

The leather itself is beautiful. However, I do not like the way they wrap the leather around the spine. If you take a close look at the spine area, you will notice that the glue is only applied to the edge of the book. This will cause the leather to sink in at the edge, but pop out along the entire spine, which is not entirely pleasing to me, but you may find it acceptable.

I chose to print my book in 216gsm Premium Silk Paper (at an additional $14 before discount), as opposed to the standard 170gsm Silk Paper. So, the pages feel heavy and luxurious, with a soft-sheen surface. They also have other paper textures to choose from, but I cannot comment on them until I am able to get hold of a sample.

The colour production is excellent. The prints appear very close to the output of my calibrated monitor.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the book, and my friends (as well as Fotohub, who does most of my photo printing) will testify that I am a very fussy customer when it comes to photo printing.

The Cost:

The ‘Debossed Hardcover Medium Portrait (8” x 11&#8221’, inclusive of the premium paper upgrade, and shipping, will set you back by S$79.20 (after 40% discount). From time to time, Photobook Singapore will also run special offers of up to 70% discount. You just need to follow their Facebook announcements to be notified of such offers.

[To be Continued]

 

[nottipiglet]

Photobook Express

Photobook Express is a local company. Most of you may know the sister company called AlbumStories, which has a shop in Peninsula Plaza (right next to Cathay Photo). Photobook Express and AlbumStories are essentially run by the same people. The key difference is the scrapbooking software used by the companies.

Personally, I find the website (www.photobookexpress.com) to be poorly designed. In fact, you cannot even find the software download link (at the time of this review) on the site. To get the software, you will need to get a physical CD ROM from the company when you purchase a print package. The sister company, AlbumStories, has a much better website. However, Photobook Express uses the Taopix software, which is more powerful and easier to use (in my opinion).

The company focuses its sales effort on direct marketing at IT shows. My first encounter with them was at COMEX 2010, where they had a booth under AlbumStories’ banner. They also run roadshows at malls and temporary sales carts.

Ordering Process and Service Level:

My experience with Photobook Express has been a mixed. I had a couple of problems with the book I ordered, but they were sincere with their effort to correct the problems, though the turnaround time was very slow.

To order a book, you need to get hold of the software in its physical CD ROM. Since Photobook Singapore and Photobook Express use the same software, the scrapbooking and ordering process are similar. They are so similar, you can actually use Photobook Singapore’s online chat to help you use the software if you run into any problems. They take about 7 working days to get the book ready. After which, you need to collect the book at their shop at Peninsula Plaza.

Their email response time is very erratic, ranging from a day to more than 5 days. I found out that the owner/manager of the company is the key decision maker and he also answers most emails personally. If he is unavailable, then you will have to wait to get a response. However, as the company is small, they also respond well to feedback. After I sent a feedback email to them, the email response time improved tremendously.

After I submitted my book for printing, the cover had some alignment problems. The company took more than a week before they responded as the owner/manager was away for business. After agreeing to rectify the problem, the second book produced had a worse alignment problem. However, the third printing was beautifully done. Although there were issues with the cover, the owner/manager was sincerely apologetic and genuinely tried to solve the problem. He acknowledged that it was a mistake on his part and he will learn from the error. So, all was good in the end, although it was more than a month after I submitted the book for printing. I think a company that is willing to work with their customers to get things right will go a long way, and Photobook Express got this part right.

The Book:

The book you see here is the Hardcover Landscape Imagewrap Book, which measures (12.75” x9.5”). As opposed to Photobook Singapore, Photobook Express does not offer many size options. You can have your book in portrait, landscape or square, but they will be around the same size. Fortunately, I think this is a good size. It is large and impressive, but not too big and unwieldy.

The book comes in a standard 48 pages format. You can add pages, but you cannot deduct pages as they need a certain thickness to bind their book.

The imagewrap cover is very skillfully executed. It looks impressive and very professional.

I have not sampled Photobook Singapore’s imagewrap cover, so I cannot directly compare between the two companies, though I would imagine that Photobook Singapore’s quality should be on par. The main difference in the two companies’ books lie within the covers. While Photobook Singapore’s pages are printed on thick ‘silk paper’, Photobook Express prints on thick ‘art paper’ and subsequently laminates them. The look and texture are completely different.

You also have a choice between a glossy or matte laminate for Photobook Express. However, I personally would not recommend the glossy laminate. The advantage of the glossy laminate is that it does not obstruct light since it is clear. This will give your photos a very vibrant and lively look. The downside to this is the glossy surface is highly reflective and interferes with your viewing pleasure. In addition, the glossy look is not aesthetically pleasing. It looks like the laminate we get when we send our important documents in for lamination at our local stationary shop.

The matte laminate has a very classy feel to it. The book you see here has matte pages, so they have no glare. Unfortunately, the matte surface of the laminate obstructs light. As such, the details in the shadow areas of our photos tend to be lost. In anticipation of that, I increased the brightness of my darker photos to offset this effect. The ultimate result is very satisfactory, with good weight, feel and colour.

Why do we even want to worry about laminates? Should we not just print at Photobook Singapore? Before you ditch laminates altogether, I would like to draw your attention to its practical benefits. Laminates are more water resistant. We tend to talk too much when we view these photobooks and there is a tendency to get saliva droplets on the pages, not to mention the occasional accidents like sneezes and coughs. Laminated pages can be cleaned easily, while ‘silk paper’ will absorb the water if you are not quick to wipe it off, you will get droplet stains.

The Cost:

The best way to get hold of Photobook Express’ books is to buy a package at one of their roadshows or at IT fairs. The offer price when I bought the book was $138 per book, but you get 3 books free if you buy 5, which is the package I bought. This works out to be about $86.25 per book. There is another package where you get 8 books free if you buy 10, but I cannot begin to imagine what I would do with 18 books. The coupons you get when you buy the package are transferable and last for 2 years, so you can give/sell them to your friends. The company has also indicated that they will extend the coupons for you if you cannot complete your books within the 2 years.

Which is Better?

I am actually quite torn between the two companies. Both offer good value, but the final products are quite different. While it appears that the book by Photobook Singapore above is cheaper , we must also consider the fact that it is considerably smaller, and has fewer pages (40 instead of Photobook Express’ 48). So, Photobook Express appears to be cheaper if you consider all aspects. However, we must remember that Photobook Singapore runs special offers from time to time, and some of these are pretty hard to beat. So, value-wise, I would think that they are very similar.

If you just need one book, and you do not have any way to offload the other books in the package, then Photobook Express would become very expensive for you since each book would cost $138.

I would say that if you have lots of spitting relatives, then Photobook Express is the way to go since the laminate offers good production. If colour accuracy and details are important, then Photobook Singapore would be better since their books do not have laminates to interfere with the final outcome. That is not to say that Photobook Express’ colours are totally off. They are pretty good, but I am being critical for the sake of this review.

There are ultimately other considerations that will affect your decision, like what kind of cover material will complement the concept you have in mind, but I hope I have given you enough details above to help you with your choice.

Ultimately, both companies make very impressive books at affordable prices and I would consider them when I need to print my next book.

 

[ed9119]

Reviews of businesses is a grey area..... I will allow this to be visible for the time being while asking the opinions of CS Admin team if reviews of businesses and services are allowed or construed as advertising

ed

 

[nottipiglet]

Thanks ed. I do understand if the admin team thinks this is free advertising. However, I must stress that I do not get anything out of this. I paid for the books reviewed and I have the receipts to prove it. I am writing this review because I get asked many times about these photo books and I just thought people would like to know... but I do understand if my review is pulled.

However, if you think about it... if I were to review a Canon lens, I'm actually advertising for Canon... so I feel that this should be viewed in the same light.

In the meantime, here's the second part:

Photobook Express

Photobook Express is a local company. Most of you may know the sister company called AlbumStories, which has a shop in Peninsula Plaza (right next to Cathay Photo). Photobook Express and AlbumStories are essentially run by the same people. The key difference is the scrapbooking software used by the companies.

Personally, I find the website (www.photobookexpress.com) to be poorly designed. In fact, you cannot even find the software download link (at the time of this review) on the site. To get the software, you will need to get a physical CD ROM from the company when you purchase a print package. The sister company, AlbumStories, has a much better website. However, Photobook Express uses the Taopix software, which is more powerful and easier to use (in my opinion).

The company focuses its sales effort on direct marketing at IT shows. My first encounter with them was at COMEX 2010, where they had a booth under AlbumStories’ banner. They also run roadshows at malls and temporary sales carts.

Ordering Process and Service Level:

My experience with Photobook Express has been a mixed. I had a couple of problems with the book I ordered, but they were sincere with their effort to correct the problems, though the turnaround time was very slow.

To order a book, you need to get hold of the software in its physical CD ROM. Since Photobook Singapore and Photobook Express use the same software, the scrapbooking and ordering process are similar. They are so similar, you can actually use Photobook Singapore’s online chat to help you use the software if you run into any problems. They take about 7 working days to get the book ready. After which, you need to collect the book at their shop at Peninsula Plaza.

Their email response time is very erratic, ranging from a day to more than 5 days. I found out that the owner/manager of the company is the key decision maker and he also answers most emails personally. If he is unavailable, then you will have to wait to get a response. However, as the company is small, they also respond well to feedback. After I sent a feedback email to them, the email response time improved tremendously.

After I submitted my book for printing, the cover had some alignment problems. The company took more than a week before they responded as the owner/manager was away for business. After agreeing to rectify the problem, the second book produced had a worse alignment problem. However, the third printing was beautifully done. Although there were issues with the cover, the owner/manager was sincerely apologetic and genuinely tried to solve the problem. He acknowledged that it was a mistake on his part and he will learn from the error. So, all was good in the end, although it was more than a month after I submitted the book for printing. I think a company that is willing to work with their customers to get things right will go a long way, and Photobook Express got this part right.

The Book:

The book you see here is the Hardcover Landscape Imagewrap Book, which measures (12.75” x9.5&#8221. As opposed to Photobook Singapore, Photobook Express does not offer many size options. You can have your book in portrait, landscape or square, but they will be around the same size. Fortunately, I think this is a good size. It is large and impressive, but not too big and unwieldy.

The book comes in a standard 48 pages format. You can add pages, but you cannot deduct pages as they need a certain thickness to bind their book.

The imagewrap cover is very skillfully executed. It looks impressive and very professional.

I have not sampled Photobook Singapore’s imagewrap cover, so I cannot directly compare between the two companies, though I would imagine that Photobook Singapore’s quality should be on par. The main difference in the two companies’ books lie within the covers. While Photobook Singapore’s pages are printed on thick ‘silk paper’, Photobook Express prints on thick ‘art paper’ and subsequently laminates them. The look and texture are completely different.

You also have a choice between a glossy or matte laminate for Photobook Express. However, I personally would not recommend the glossy laminate. The advantage of the glossy laminate is that it does not obstruct light since it is clear. This will give your photos a very vibrant and lively look. The downside to this is the glossy surface is highly reflective and interferes with your viewing pleasure. In addition, the glossy look is not aesthetically pleasing. It looks like the laminate we get when we send our important documents in for lamination at our local stationary shop.

The matte laminate has a very classy feel to it. The book you see here has matte pages, so they have no glare. Unfortunately, the matte surface of the laminate obstructs light. As such, the details in the shadow areas of our photos tend to be lost. In anticipation of that, I increased the brightness of my darker photos to offset this effect. The ultimate result is very satisfactory, with good weight, feel and colour.

Why do we even want to worry about laminates? Should we not just print at Photobook Singapore? Before you ditch laminates altogether, I would like to draw your attention to its practical benefits. Laminates are more water resistant. We tend to talk too much when we view these photobooks and there is a tendency to get saliva droplets on the pages, not to mention the occasional accidents like sneezes and coughs. Laminated pages can be cleaned easily, while ‘silk paper’ will absorb the water if you are not quick to wipe it off, you will get droplet stains.

The Cost:

The best way to get hold of Photobook Express’ books is to buy a package at one of their roadshows or at IT fairs. The offer price when I bought the book was $138 per book, but you get 3 books free if you buy 5, which is the package I bought. This works out to be about $86.25 per book. There is another package where you get 8 books free if you buy 10, but I cannot begin to imagine what I would do with 18 books. The coupons you get when you buy the package are transferable and last for 2 years, so you can give/sell them to your friends. The company has also indicated that they will extend the coupons for you if you cannot complete your books within the 2 years.

Which is Better?


I am actually quite torn between the two companies. Both offer good value, but the final products are quite different. While it appears that the book by Photobook Singapore above is cheaper , we must also consider the fact that it is considerably smaller, and has fewer pages (40 instead of Photobook Express’ 48). So, Photobook Express appears to be cheaper if you consider all aspects. However, we must remember that Photobook Singapore runs special offers from time to time, and some of these are pretty hard to beat. So, value-wise, I would think that they are very similar.

If you just need one book, and you do not have any way to offload the other books in the package, then Photobook Express would become very expensive for you since each book would cost $138.

I would say that if you have lots of spitting relatives, then Photobook Express is the way to go since the laminate offers good production. If colour accuracy and details are important, then Photobook Singapore would be better since their books do not have laminates to interfere with the final outcome. That is not to say that Photobook Express’ colours are totally off. They are pretty good, but I am being critical for the sake of this review.

There are ultimately other considerations that will affect your decision, like what kind of cover material will complement the concept you have in mind, but I hope I have given you enough details above to help you with your choice.

Ultimately, both companies make very impressive books at affordable prices and I would consider them when I need to print my next book.

 

[aero]

Thanks for the review!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
I was thinking of printing my own book, and this info came in handy

 

[NedKelly]

Thanks for the review too.

I hope this kind of reviews wont get pulled.
The person reviewing it paid for it himself, and also spent a lot of time writing, with photos to help the rest of the CS community make a decision.

in fact if any others who have experience with using other companies and bothered to write a review should contribute too.

This I think can have many positive sides to it.
First it opens up the availability of options for people wanting to print their own photobooks as a way to source out info from people who have experienced and make an informed decision.

also it helps if the companies following this to buck up and provide a better service if they want the community's business.

There may be some neg side effects that may come to mind.. but I shall not mention it here.

Many thanks to nottipigglet

 

[subzero]

I was searching around for a good decent review for book printing, thanks nottipigglet for your excellent review. I am going to start a 40 page project and likely to use either Photobook Singapore or Photobook Express. However for 200 pages printing when quality is not so much of concern, i will still go for blurb because of the price.

 

[NoiNoi]

Thanks for the great review and hopefully, the thread stay.

:thumbsup:

 

[electron]

Another vote of :thumbsup: for this review. Photobook reviews by independant sources are scant on the web and even those are mostly based on US or UK companies. Please don't pull this review. Thanks nottipiglet and hopefully your next review will be on 'lay-flat' photobooks!

 

[nottipiglet]

Another vote of :thumbsup: for this review. Photobook reviews by independant sources are scant on the web and even those are mostly based on US or UK companies. Please don't pull this review. Thanks nottipiglet and hopefully your next review will be on 'lay-flat' photobooks!

You are most welcome.

Btw... Where can I get a lay-flat Photobook? Not that I will definitely review it since I have a couple of Photobook Express vouchers I need to use up first... But it is good to widen my options.

 

[electron]

You are most welcome.

Btw... Where can I get a lay-flat Photobook? Not that I will definitely review it since I have a couple of Photobook Express vouchers I need to use up first... But it is good to widen my options.

I don't know of any local photobook companies that do layflat books (yet) but there are quite a few in the uk and us. I am currently looking at

Jessops

for my personal use albums and Loxley and Peak Imaging for wedding photobook albums. There are a many others but those are strictly for professionals and they wont do business with 'normal' people. I think layflats are the way forward and the overall effect is well worth the price.

 

[coffee09]

Thanks for the review...

 

[nottipiglet]

I don't know of any local photobook companies that do layflat books (yet) but there are quite a few in the uk and us. I am currently looking at

Jessops

for my personal use albums and Loxley and Peak Imaging for wedding photobook albums. There are a many others but those are strictly for professionals and they wont do business with 'normal' people. I think layflats are the way forward and the overall effect is well worth the price.

The layflat books look like photo prints that are glued together to make a book. That's the same as Fotohub's FotoJournal. Unfortunately, Fotohub did not offer FotoJournal in hard cover the last time I asked. They are still working on a commercially viable process to produce the hard cover the last time I asked.

 

[nottipiglet]

Thanks for the review...

You're most welcome.

 

[nottipiglet]

Photobook Singapore offered a free upgrade to Photo Lustre paper in Jan. I intended to do a new book with the free upgrade, so that I may review it. Unfortunately, due to a whole string of events, (PC broke down, CNY preparations, etc.), I was not able to finish it in time. I wrote to them to ask them to extend the offer, but their customer support (Nick) gave me a firm no. So, too bad... no review for them. Photobook Express' standard matte laminated paper is thicker and water resistant. So, I will go with Photobook Express for my next book.

 

[nottipiglet]

Photobook Singapore offered a free upgrade to Photo Lustre paper in Jan. I intended to do a new book with the free upgrade, so that I may review it. Unfortunately, due to a whole string of events, (PC broke down, CNY preparations, etc.), I was not able to finish it in time. I wrote to them to ask them to extend the offer, but their customer support (Nick) gave me a firm no. So, too bad... no review for them. Photobook Express' standard matte laminated paper is thicker and water resistant. So, I will go with Photobook Express for my next book.

Actually, I half suspect that the Photo Lustre paper cannot make it... so they don't want me to review it. :bsmilie:

 

[mackie8]

thanks for the review.... this is what i am looking for

 

[Shuin]

thank for the review... will be trying out photobook singapore after reading this thread

 

[twisted illusion]

bought 3 books from photobook express... and plan to buy 3 more immediately... their software layout library is very much restricted... but i do not wish to install another software into my laptop... so will buy from them again...

 

[sagiboy]

Photobook Singapore is the WORST company that i ever encounter.. Poor customer services especially those who buy their promotion or voucher at other website eg Groupon or Deal.com, the quality of services is well below the expectation.

I had my time with them and this is a NO NO company when come to customer's requirements.