Review – Easy Canvas Prints
OK, let's get the disclaimer out of the way up front: I was recently approached by Easy Canvas Prints and offered a free 11″ x 14″ stretched canvas print of one of my photos in exchange for posting a review of their prints and service. They agreed that it could be a negative review if warranted – they were confident enough in their product that they just wanted me to post my honest opinion. I accepted their offer, and paid a bit to jump up to a 12″ x 18″ print.
So – there it is, then. Disclaimer out of the way, here are my impressions of Easy Canvas Prints… So as not to keep everyone in suspense, the short version is that while I would not offer these prints for sale in a gallery, they are great for hanging at home or giving as gifts – which is exactly how they promote them. With that purpose in mind, the prints and service get a big thumbs up from me. If you're interested in the details, read on!
The ordering process is quick and painless, in part because they offer a limited number of options – again, the choices are clearly aimed at people wanting to turn their photos into canvas prints quickly and easily. Though few, the options are clearly explained and presented. You can select either .75″ or 1.5″ deep border wraps; color, black and white, or sepia color presentation; and minor, major, or no retouching. This is a terrific service for anyone without Photoshop skills – they will remove dust spots; adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation; crop the photo; and even whiten teeth and remove wrinkles, or perform other finishing touches after consulting with you on what you're looking for.
As part of the ordering process you can see a mock-up of how your selected print size would look hanging above a sofa, and when you upload your image file they check to be sure it has enough resolution to print at the size you chose, assigning it a quality rating and letting you choose another size if necessary. These are really well thought out and very helpful tools for their target customers.
When I placed my order, standard delivery time was estimated at about 3 weeks, but they offer various shipping options and rush processing as well. My sales rep expedited my order and I received it just 1 week after placing the order.
Print packaging is reasonably good, but could use some improvement. The print itself is enclosed in a plastic bag, and then strapped onto the cardboard shipping box with wide strips of shipping paper, with another layer of cardboard placed on top of that for protection against errant blades when opening the box. Unfortunately, my print came loose during shipping and was small enough compared with the box that it was sliding loose in the box when I received it. Just one more strip of paper to hold it from the other sides would prevent this from happening. The print came through undamaged, though.
The print itself is of high quality. The color is true to the file I uploaded, and there are no flaws or gaps in the ink coverage. The canvas has a more prominent weave than the LexJet canvas I use here, and the surface has a slight glossiness, perhaps due to the protective coating (see photos below). These aren't bad things, just matters of preference.
Overall, I'm quite pleased with the print, and impressed by Easy Canvas Prints' ordering process and customer service. If you have a favorite photo you'd like to turn into a canvas gallery wrap, go check them out – Easy Canvas Prints will turn your photos to canvas. Oh, and be sure to Like them on facebook – that will get you a 50% discount and free shipping on your next order.
— Jack
surface texture detail – click to enlarge
surface finish detail – click to enlarge
print hanging on wall – click to enlarge
Excellent and complete review of “Easy Canvas Prints.” I was curious where you get your art work printed onto canvas that IS what you would consider gallery quality, since you do offer your own photographic work in that format. I am researching printing some of my paintings onto canvas. Thanks…and thanks again for the great review. Giving a fair review is truly an art in it’s own right.
Hi, Tina –
Actually, I do my own printing, both paper and canvas. If you’re looking for good online sources for gallery-quality canvas printing, though, I’d check out these folks – I haven’t used them, but they all have a good reputation in the photography community:
http://www.bayphoto.com/
http://www.whcc.com/
http://www.adoramapix.com/app/home
http://www.mpix.com/
I know there are others out there, but these are the ones I recall hearing good things about off the top of my head…
Good luck! Feel free to stop back to let us know your experiences!
– Jack
This is a very beautiful canvas! Getting your canvas print in one week is amazing!
What are your thoughts about the Terms of Service at EasyCanvasPrints whereby they gain the worldwide rights to use your content.. and to even sell it? Even for personal pictures, sounds creepy to me. (I understand they need the rights to edit and print– but why do they need the rights to sell or use in their promotional/marketing materials?)
Here is the excerpt..
4. Use of Your Content.
You do not lose ownership of the Content that you design on, or upload to, the Web Site. By uploading Designs to the Web Site or creating Designs with EASY CANVAS PRINTS™’s design tools, however, you grant the following licenses to EASY CANVAS PRINTS™: the nonexclusive, worldwide, transferable, sublicensable right to copy, crop, reproduce, publicly display, sell, and distribute the Design in or on Products and in advertising, marketing, samples, and promotional materials for the purpose of promoting the Web Site and Products; and the right to make modifications to your Design as EASY CANVAS PRINTS™, in its sole discretion, finds necessary to achieve the above listed purposes.
Hi, Jackson –
You raise an excellent point! My understanding was that these terms were required for them to fulfill orders, and of course for their advertising. Such advertising terms are pretty standard these days, and honestly so are the other terms.
Having said that, it’s always good to be aware of the terms of service, and if there’s anything in there that makes you nervous, I’d move on to another service.
Thanks for stopping by!
– Jack
The right to sell the image worldwide, without additional notice, credit or compensation is the reach. Perhaps an overzealous attorney drafted it, but as an artist or just someone wanting to control where the faces of their kids faces show up online, these terms are scary. They could easily modify their TOS to remove this right… without impacting their ability to fulfill orders. And yes, I also have a problem with them automatically grabbing promotional rights, but I acknowledge that is a fairly standard practice.
Thanks for giving me a voice.
No problem, Jackson – I’m glad you stopped by & raised these important considerations!
– Jack
This review was what I was looking for. I am not a pro, but an avid amateur, and a detail freak! I am concerned that my 16 x 20 canvas print will have too prominent of a weave, and you address this here, saying that it does. In the final phtot of your landscape canvas print, the weave isn’t noticeable as it is in the previous close-up photos, but maybe it is in person?? I’d appreciate knowing if it is.
Thank you, Jack,
Nanci Wadsworth
Hi, Nanci –
The larger the print, the less prominent the weave appears. And from a few feet away, you can’t see the weave itself; it just adds a bit to the impression of texture and detail in the print.
I think coarse vs fine weave comes down to preference & subject – landscape photography can often benefit from the additional texture, while portraits might not…
Thanks for stopping by, Nanci! Is your work online anyplace?
– Jack
Stumbled upon your site looking for reviews on this company. Thanks for all the info!
My pleasure, Ashley – thanks for visiting!
– Jack
Fair review for easy canvas prints.. Thank You. I am starting a photo art gallery and I am hoping that you might share with me… Who would you recommend to send my images to for Art Gallery quality canvas printing? Large images at least 30″X40″?? I live in the San Francisco area.
Appreciate any help.
Bye for now,
Lynn
Hi, Lynn –
I’m afraid I don’t have any recommendations from personal experience – I do all my own printing. Sorry!
— Jack
I found this through a google search looking for a place I can review easy canvas prints. I have to add that I have ordered from them several times, and they have the best customer service I have encountered from any company I have ever worked with (photo or otherwise). You really can feel confident that, if there is an issue with your order or the finished product, they will do whatever they can to help you.
Thanks, Elysha – great to hear actual customer experience with them!
— Jack
How many ppi did you go after when printing? I’m considering using this company & want to go as big as possible, but they don’t give much guidance as to how big of a canvas my photo can produce.
Hi, Rob –
My canvas was pretty small, so it printed easily at 300 ppi (my Canon 5D Mk II gives 21 megapixel files). As a rule of thumb, I try to print at 300 ppi & let my printing program (LightRoom or Qimage) handle the resizing. If I need to uprez dramatically, I use a Photoshop plugin like OnOne Perfect Resize to create a file at the size I need.
For really large prints, you can get away with a lower ppi, as people will be standing back farther to view them. I’ve seen comments by photographers I respect that they will print as low as 200 ppi for large prints.
Hope this helps, and thanks for visiting!
— Jack
I have only used two companies for printing canvas prints. One was art.com, and I was extremely pleased. Their prints are expensive, however. Looking for a less expensive solution, I had three prints done by Easy Canvas prints. I didn’t like the finish at all, and the edges were very poorly finished. I called and offered to return the three prints, but instead was offered three more prints, gratis. The woman who helped me was just that, very helpful. She had the prints go over her desk before shipping. One of the problems I had noticed was that the canvas prints had edges finished like a wrapped package, instead of being almost invisible, as with the print from Art.com. The other was that where the wrapping occurred, you could see white against the black canvas. The woman found that there was still white and used a marker to finish them. Let me say here that all of my prints were subjects on a black background. So, to finish, the next three were just like the first three, only with black edges instead of black and white. I won’t use their service again, but wish I could find one more affordable, so one could sell them on Etsy or Ebay.
Rosanne, how long ago did you have your prints made? The only print I’ve had made by Easy Canvas Prints was of good quality, but sometimes companies go through periods where the quality drops…
Thanks for visiting!
– Jack
I have also used Easy Prints as well as Costco! Yes, Costco!! I was not happy with Easy Prints and would not use them again. It’s as though they used a cheaper version of canvas and the finish on the canvas looks as though it was a t-shirt transfer kit. I have used Costco for many of my canvas prints and will continue to do so. I have had the same print put on canvas by both companies as well. Side by side, no comparison. I have photos from the early 1900’s of my grandparents and photos from the 1960’s my father took. All the photos are worth paying a little extra to get the quality they deserve. I have given several of these canvas prints as gifts and people have enjoyed them much! I’m not looking for “gallery” quality but the Easy Prints canvas prints aren’t worthy of my bathroom wall. They now sit in the closet gathering dust. (And yes this was a very recent purchase)
Pat, you can send them or back, or at least offer to do so. I worked with a woman on their site, who had the three canvas’ go across her desk. See my post above.
She sent out three more prints, which were the same. I think putting them on Ebay might be the answer, and of course, at a very decent price.
Great review!
I just ordered using the two canvases for the price of one deal they have going on right now.
What sold me on this company is the option to customize to any size in 1″ increments. No other site I’ve looked at has this option. I ordered two 13″ x 25″ prints.
-Matt
Cool, Matt – hope you enjoy them for years to come!
— Jack
Thanks for the review. I am very much an amateur who occasionally takes a great photo. I wanted to do a grouping of canvas prints of my pets–ast and present. I was a bit concerned about ordering from some place I never heard of before. The price is great and I think they will really be nice for us.
Thanks for visiting, Sue – feel free to stop back and let us know how your prints turn out!
— Jack