Trying New Photography Printers

I’ve been a long time customer of Parabo Press for all my wall art photography prints. I’ve especially loved their large engineer prints, but I’ve also extensively printed with their matte fine-art printing. But recently, they’ve significantly increased their prices, while I have also been wanting to actually print more for others in my life.

So I’m trying out a couple other photo labs after doing a bit of research.

So, I’ve selected a varied set of prints that I’m getting printed at both mpix and Nations this week and then I’ll compare them to Parabo’s on my wall and see if I can save money by going with a different printer. I didn’t send to Whitewall because they’re more expensive even than what I’ve been using previously, though they definitely have the most options and seem to have the highest quality. They’re good to know about in the future in case I want that.

I chose photos that I want a copy of and I will send the other copies to loved ones, hoping to make their day.

Shipping Time

So, I ordered from both printers on 2026-01-30.

mpix arrived on 2026-02-03, shipped quickly via FedEx. The photo prints look nice on the front, but the paper is more like traditional photo paper - not the thick cardstock rag that I was getting from Parabo.

Nations arrived on 2026-02-10. It was shipped via USPS, which held it up for multiple days at a processing facility for some unknown reason. These prints look much nicer than those from mpix, for a couple reasons. First, I allowed Nations to “touch up” the files before printing. They liberally brightened them, but I have to agree that most of them look better. I’d rather just learn that I need to brighten them myself, but that was useful. Secondly, they printed on actual photo rag paper. It’s not as thick as what I was getting from Parabo, but it’s near cardstock, and feels better to touch.

So I’ll plan to order my “regular”, high-volume prints from Nations and when I want something special I’ll try Whitewall to compare to the high-end Parabo.