Yorkshire Wedding Photographer

Monday, 8 August 2011

Mini Review: Cewe Photo Paper Photobook

Mini Review Cewe Photo Paper Photobook

I have used various photo books in the past as sample albums to show wedding and commercial clients. I noticed the new range from Cewe appear to the be the first 'budget' lay flat photo books that have appeared on the market. Could they be the cheapest?

http://www.cewe-photobook.co.uk/photo-book-on-photo-paper.php

These are not too dissimilar to products from Loxley and Sim2000 and certainly seem to offer excellent value at more than half the price. To see what the catch was I decided to download the free software and build a new sample book

The above 'normal' 14 page Cewe photo book and below the 29 page 'lay-flat' Cewe Photo Paper Photobook

The book I designed was the smallest (Square Photo Paper Photobook) at 21cm x 21cm and was a pretty weighty 58 pages and cost £53.99 plus P+P. What makes this different to previous photo book offerings from Cewe are two new features. Firstly the images are printed on photo paper which creates much thicker almost stiff pages. I'd say, in page thicknes,s half way between a normal photo book and a Sim2000 album. Certainly comparable to Loxley's Infinity Coffee table book in terms of paper thickness .... see: http://www.loxleycolour.com/infinityctb.aspx

The next feature is the fact that the book folds flat with ease and enables you to create seamless landscape pictures that cross the spine. I'd say the actual ridge in the centre of the spread is no bigger than the Graphistudio or Sim2000 album products and amazing value at the price.

The only option for covers is a hardback photo cover at this time but I must say the quality and colour is very good.

Overall this is an excellent value product for sample and portfolio material. My only question would be the durability of the binding which although obviously strong may not stand up to the same amount of use as the Loxely equivalent. Although at half the price you could buy two!

Pros: Cheap, Good Colour, Fast turn around, reasonable software (no proofing section), thick paper, cleaver lay flat system,, good value

Cons: Not many size options, spine and binding may ultimately not be as durable as actual album product at £100+, the Cewe branding is rather prominent on the final page.

Conclusion: The perfect sample book for pro's and the perfect holiday album for budding photographers.