'Tis the season

For lots of shopping. With that in mind, I thought I'd compile a list of who has been nice and who has been naughty to me. This won't be totally photography related, but I'll let you know which merchants have done the best for me this shopping season and who are aces in my opinion. As for the naughty ones, well, I'll tell you about them too!

First up on the Nice list, with a Very Nice rating is Nations Photo Lab. I wrote about them last month and I'll just reprint that entry here for your convenience. Again, NPL did not ask me to do this, nor did I tell them I was doing this. NPL has not given me anything (other than the code provided to all PhotoPlus Expo attendees discussed below) to induce me to write this.

From the November post: "Nations Photo Lab ( http://www.nationsphotolab.com/ ) was at the show and provided to all attendees of the show cards with a $25.00 free code to try them out. All I can say is "WOW"! And, truth be told, I was skeptical at first. After all, photo developing/printing is all the same, isn't it?

No, absolutely not! This place was amazing. First of all, the speed. I ordered last Sunday night (November 8, 2009), and my order (11 8x10 prints on metallic paper, and two magnets on metallic paper) was in my hands Tuesday morning (November 10)! Shipping was only $7.00 FedEx (and, if I remember correctly, shipping is free when you order over $50.00). And the photos and magnets were well packed so that no photos would bend in shipping.

More importantly, my photos were AMAZING! I have never seen photos "pop" quite like they did. The metallic paper is so interesting. According to their website, the metallic paper has

• "High gloss finish with tear resistant laminate layers
  
• 3-Dimensional/metallic appearance
  
• Ideal for outdoor images, black/white, and portraits
  
• Has been described as "chrome on paper"
  
• State-of-the-art image stability"

You really have to see it to believe it. And the pricing is more than competitive for the quality of the product. Each 8x10 was $2.00 for the metallic paper (Kodak Endura paper). Compare that to $2.99 at a major (unnamed) online photo service. I can NEVER go back to drug store or other photo finishers again.

Nations Photo Lab rates A++++++ in my book. I will definitely be using them again (and again, and again)

In the matter of full disclosure, I, like everyone else attending the photo expo on NYC, received a $25.00 credit to try out Nations Photo Lab (NPL). NPL neither asked me to, nor is aware, that I am writing a review on my blog. I chose to do this because NPL just impressed me so much."