TESTING SAAL-DIGITAL GALLERYPRINT
A couple of weeks ago, I applied for a program from Saal-Digital called 'Saal-Digital Wandbildtester'. In short, it means that you get a 50 Euro coupon code so you can order and test any of their print products. I decided, I want to go with a 40x60 cm GalleryPrint. The GalleryPrint is a direct print on 2mm glossy acrylic glass backed up with a sturdy 3mm aluminium dibond. On its back, the aluminium dibond has got some rectangular aluminium rails for easy hanging on the wall. The regular price for the GalleryPrint at 40x60 cm is 89,95 Euro plus a 5,95 Euro fee for standard shipping and packaging. This makes this experiment a 45,90 Euro investment on my behalf.
The order process is fairly easy using the native macOS app 'SaalDesignSoftware'. You simply choose the type of product you want to order, load your picture through the build in finder and if everything is ready to go you simply upload and order. I ordered my print on a Thursday afternoon and the shipment arrived at my house by Saturday noon! Packaging is good and no criticism can be made regarding the delivery time at all!
Quality of the acrylic glass and aluminium dibond is good. The rectangular aluminium rails are a bit small, but they do the job just fine. I like how the print 'floats' on the wall due to the aluminium rails on the back. Besides outer appearance, image quality is key to a good print. Without any expertise in printing, I'd say that my GalleryPrint is fairly good - but it is not top notch excellent, or at least not the way I expected it to be. First, I do edit my pictures on a monitor from Eizo with color calibration, which should get me as close to the true colors as technically possible. From experience other photographers shared on the web, I remember that depending on the material your picture will be printed on you might loose a certain amount of brightness and sharpness. In this case, I did not alter the brightness and sharpness for the print. You could do soft proofing in Adobe Lightroom using the ICC profile from Saal-Digital, however, to get accurate color reproduction. So, with all that out of the way, I have quite a confident view on my monitor what the final print might look like. Comparing the print and the picture on my monitor however, I must say that highlights in the middle of the picture (especially the sand and palm trees in front of the houses) are very blown out. Also, the shadows loose a lot of details in comparison. All in all, the colors do not look as vibrant as they do on my monitor. Of course, it is fair to say that there is a huge difference in viewing the picture on a backlit LCD monitor versus a physical acrylic glass with aluminium dibond. On the next order of a big print I would definitely order a small sample print first, so I can dial in the right amount of brightness, sharpness and details in the highlights and shadows.
