K i t Z o n e
130 DIGITAL CAMERA^ APRIL 2020 http://www.digitalcameraworld.comMini Test
Cewe Photoworld
£24.99, 26 pages
http://www.cewe-photoworld.comU
nlike some photo book providers, Cewe
requires you to download an app to
design and order your book, but we
found the software quick and the creation process
simple to navigate. You can edit text easily and
choose from a wide range of fonts and sizes,
while Cewe’s tool for automatically arranging
your images is one of the cleverest we’ve used.
The finished book is also one of the best on
test, impressing us with the crispness of its
cover image. Compared with rival books, Cewe
Photoworld’s contains noticeably more detail.
While the cover image’s colour accuracy wasn’t
quite perfect, it was much better than most.
Inside, we found the paper stock very good and
the images were printed sharply and accurately.
It’s worth noting that the sharpness of the printing
does mean that high-ISO image noise is much
more likely to be visible, and we also found the
printed images to be slightly dark.
Our Square photo book was the cheapest out
of all the books we ordered (although it was also
the smallest), but the results are class-leading.PROS Accurate colour reproduction; sharp
printing; good overall book qualityCONS Only ships to UK; photos ran a little darkVerdict
Mimeo Photos
£24.99, 20 pages
http://www.mimeophotos.comM
imeo Photos is a third-party Apple
Photos app extension for macOS,
allowing you to create a project for
printing. It’s worth noting that you can’t actually
buy a photo book from the Mimeo Photos website,
and the service is only available on macOS.
There are over 50 theme options, including
well-known Apple favourites, and you can
customise layouts and backgrounds for your own
personal touch. Once we’d downloaded the app
extension, the software itself was easy to use.
We ordered a hardcover book, which arrived
with an attractive dust jacket that added a touch
of elegance. The cover image is also printed on
the actual hardcover of the book. The saturation
seems to have been pushed up, as skin tones
on both the dust jacket and the hardcover turned
out to be a luminescent orange. This is a common
problem across the books on test.
The photos inside were beautifully printed, with
good sharpness and colour accuracy, and none of
the fuzziness experienced in cheaper books.PROS Great overall quality; sharp printing;
dust jacket includedCONS Only accessible on macOS;
over-saturation of colours on coverVerdict
Bob Books
£29.99, 26 pages
http://www.bobbooks.co.ukB
ob Books offers four different options
for creating your photo book. We tried
the Bob Designer Software and the
Online Book Creator. It took us a little while to
wrap our heads around the design system, but
we grew to really like it. You simply add as many
images as you want on the page, then choose
from a variety of different layouts to get the
most aesthetically pleasing page. If you’re not
sure, a ‘Suggest a layout’ button does it for you.
A common theme across many of the photo
books we’ve reviewed is oversaturation of the
front cover image, but Bob Books was the worst
culprit. Our original photo was graded with warm
oranges; however the final cover print had an
eye-popping tangerine vibe. We later discovered
that this may have been caused by Bob Books’
automatic image enhancement feature. This
can be disabled before submitting your order.
We were very pleased with the quality paper
used, the colour accuracy of the prints inside,
and the cover’s smooth, flaw-free presentation.PROS Good quality; thick paper; plenty
of design tool optionsCONS Very over-saturated front cover;
design tool is a little complicated at firstVerdict
Photo books
We compare six online photo book printers to see
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