Zine Exchange 8: July - October 2024

Harlequin565 said:
I think you can export in CMYK but David @Mr Perceptive will likely have the answer
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Ed Sutton said:
I've always used RGB jpegs while laying out in Affinity then exported in CMYK.
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Mr Perceptive said:
I've always played it safe, converted images to CMYK in photoshop, then used in Affinity

I'm sure what Ed Sutton says is right though, I'd rather have teh security for an extra 10 mins of computer time.
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ancient_mariner said:
OTOH I've always exported in sRGB and built the zine in word, then saved as a .pdf using the photo quality option for Mixam.
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Mr Perceptive said:
Thats fine for mono images, but I'm not sure how it would handle colour reproduction accurately.
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Thanks Guys. At least I think I settled on the images. Might be on time for once.
 
Had to invoke the backup plan, my original zine (well actually the first of a trilogy of zines!!!), has too many un-culled images in an edited state, and I I don't have enough hours in the day with my work and family commitments in the next 3 weeks.

Fortunately I keep an banker zine project in the background, this one had the images already to go, so have manged to assemble the first pass zine. Looking at the images on screen though, this one is going to live or die on its paper choice, so some test prints at home of page spreads will have to be done before the zine is sent off for printing.
 
Looking for help....

Everything is made as a pdf. I uploaded to Mixam and for some reason, it's making my back cover page 1 (the inner front cover). The order is correct in the pdf. Am I doing something wrong or has anyone else had this happen?

I really don't want to upload page by page...

TIA!

Edit - I figured it out. When you choose a "cover" it adds 4 pages, however if you choose "no printing on inside cover", it then only adds 2, so if you've built the pdf with blank pages for inner and outer cover it throws a wobbler.
 
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Got all the images culled and reprocessed along with some content for each. Next up is the trip to the printing press.
 
My zines should be in the post tomorrow. We've been experiencing recent issues with delays so could you drop me a quick PM when received? Thanks
 
I was intending to do the final few photos for my zine tomorrow but it’s snowing at the moment. They’re really not going to fit in with the ones already in the bag :(
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Mixam have delayed me twice!! Zines were supposed to ship last Friday, then today and now Thursday, hopefully I’ll get them this month!!!
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Yet again I've also had real difficulties with Mixam. 3 small print runs all inconsistent, tolerances across pages all over the place, soft proof nothing like the printed output. I need another 50 copies and may try Ex Why Zed printers who were very helpful on the telephone and will do a one off sample (at a price!) but are cheaper for the books. Only problem currently is that we are waiting for a new computer to be delivered and time is running out.........
 
Well Option A wasn't going to work for me, which was sad, but as it was reliant on forces outside of my control, totally predictable.
Option B was my backup and when I laid everything out, to be frank, it looked crap.

Fortunately, I've been toying around with several projects over the years just dropping photos into project collections in Lightroom, and I found one that is highly unlikely to have any more photos added to it. And I was quite pleased with it, so I'm glad it's done.
John Barry said:
Ex Why Zed printers
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If you do try them John, let us know how it goes. It's always good to have more options.
 
I uploaded d1 of my zine to Mixam confident that I had all the layout and formatting correct. I have finally clicked print of d9 of the zine - what worked on my last zine didn't seem to work on this zine. This is a dark art.

Would hope to get my zines out at the end of this week or early next.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Edit - I figured it out. When you choose a "cover" it adds 4 pages, however if you choose "no printing on inside cover", it then only adds 2, so if you've built the pdf with blank pages for inner and outer cover it throws a wobbler.
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That I think was the cause of my problems. Fixed a few things then had to upload a one page file to fill a gap. Hoping my copies are laid out correctly.
 
I posted off my zines today, so they should be with you by the weekend.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Mixam have delayed me twice!! Zines were supposed to ship last Friday, then today and now Thursday, hopefully I’ll get them this month!!!
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Well out of the blue my zines arrived - thats the good news, they all have the same printing fault, thats the bad news, started a dialogue with Mixam Support Team............
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Well out of the blue my zines arrived - thats the good news, they all have the same printing fault, thats the bad news, started a dialogue with Mixam Support Team............
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Could be worse. They could all have different printing faults. :exit:

Mixam does seem to have become unreliable. Some of my last order had binding faults. Replacements were supplied quickly, but the binding was slightly different to the original batch.
 
Ed Sutton said:
Could be worse. They could all have different printing faults. :exit:

Mixam does seem to have become unreliable. Some of my last order had binding faults. Replacements were supplied quickly, but the binding was slightly different to the original batch.
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I have light (white) lines across the images, seem to be generally the same in each zine, one or two are worse.

They also have misaligned pages, so the images on the Left Page are in a different (height) poistion than those on the Right page, we are talking at least a couple of mm

Its quite annoying when you go to the effort of aligning everything, and its visibly out!
 
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Mr Perceptive said:
I have light (white) lines across the images, seem to be generally the same in each zine, one or two are worse.

They also have misaligned pages, so the images on the Left Page are in a different (height) poistion than those on the Right page, we are talking at least a couple of mm

Its quite annoying when you go to the effort of aligning everything, and its visibly out!
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Sounds poor.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
I have light (white) lines across the images, seem to be generally the same in each zine, one or two are worse.

They also have misaligned pages, so the images on the Left Page are in a different (height) poistion than those on the Right page, we are talking at least a couple of mm

Its quite annoying when you go to the effort of aligning everything, and its visibly out!
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I'm afraid it seems like the quality has gone down since the pandemic. These issues are very similar to what I have experienced with the last 2 orders. What I find frustrating is how even on the middle page the setting out is inconsistent across the spread. Also I had to jump through way too many hoops to get an order reprinted that was 5mm undersize! I still have about 20 of the books sitting here. If I don't run out of time I will complete my order elsewhere
 
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John Barry said:
I'm afraid it seems like the quality has gone down since the pandemic. These issues are very similar to what I have experienced with the last 2 orders. What I find frustrating is how even on the middle page the setting out is inconsistent across spread. Also I had to jump through way too many hoops to get an order reprinted that was 5mm undersize! I still have about 20 of them sitting here. If I don't run out of time I will complete my order elsewhere
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I'll see what they say, but based on this and your experience, I might just ask for a refund and go elsewhere immediately
 
I've just got to put a couple of text pages together and I'm hoping to get mine finished and sent off to the printer either today or tomorrow. I've always used Mixam in the past but am having second thoughts after reading all the above. I've found a few other printers I could try but it may be a stab in the dark as I don't know much about them.
 
Just received @John Barry's zine - a beautiful piece of work and a lovely mix of image genres. I'm doing a photo exhibition on Saturday* so will be taking a fistful of zines to show my camera club colleagues to get them enthused - this will be one of them.

Looking forward to the receiving the rest (like Christmas) and am still awaiting my Mixam order with some trepidation!

* Goostrey Village Hall, Goostrey, Cheshire 10am-3pm Saturday 23rd November 2024.
 
Paul Morgan said:
* Goostrey Village Hall, Goostrey, Cheshire 10am-3pm Saturday 23rd November 2024.
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I might drag myself along after lunch. Is there hot drinks & biscuits?
 
I have just received @John Barry's zine. Thank you! A stunning piece of work with a perceptive Foreword which echoes with me on my journey back to analogue.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
I'll see what they say, but based on this and your experience, I might just ask for a refund and go elsewhere immediately
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Mixam are beginning to cheese me off............................hopefully having sent more images showing multiple zines with similar faults they might be a bit more friendly.


Further update - they are reprinting - came back to me promptly (this time)
 
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2 zines in the post today. Well... 4.

Both beautifully presented, both with excellent work. Just had a flick through as I'm in and out tonight, but will hopefully have a better look tomorrow.
 
I got 2 zines today @John Barry and @Penlens . Both really excellent zines spent a very enjoyable hour with a coffee going through them.
Thanks you to you both.

Got mine back from Maxim today good news they didn't mess up the printing bad news is there a few images i was undecided about and should have left them our.
Just didn't have time to print them off at home to adjust the order etc.
 
Just received mine from Mixam. The page order is all wrong on all of them. Asking for a reprint and then won't be using them again. Looks like mine will also be delayed.

As an aside, the DPD info said it was coming from PrintedInUk who I assume they contract out their printing to. Guess outsourcing sometimes costs you. Very disappointed.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Just been through all 24 zines I received from Mixam and all of them have faults - so I'm going to be a few days late as Mixam are going to reprint (sorry!) Hopefully they will be send out in first week of December to all participants
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Harlequin565 said:
Just received mine from Mixam. The page order is all wrong on all of them. Asking for a reprint and then won't be using them again. Looks like mine will also be delayed.

As an aside, the DPD info said it was coming from PrintedInUk who I assume they contract out their printing to. Guess outsourcing sometimes costs you. Very disappointed.
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Oh nooooo! I've just ordered another 10 from them as have orders to fulfil. Still need about a further 40 but definitely not in one go from Mixam. As soon as IT is sorted out I'll be getting a sample from Ex Why Zed
 
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The post has just dropped off the @Penlens zine. Again, lovely with an added bonus which is much appreciated. Thanks Julius. Funnily enough the Pentax MX keeps popping up on my IG timeline in a sponsored post for one of the online charity shops. I used to have an ME Super - sadly I think I left it with my ex-wife when we split up. Regret that (leaving the camera not the split).

My DPD parcel from MIxam is due between 1 and 2 today. I'm fearing the worst but hoping for the best.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Asking for a reprint and then won't be using them again. Looks like mine will also be delayed.
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And now after sending them photos with the original complaint, they ask for more. :mad:
 
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