Amateur Photographer Magazine

Cewe XL Photobook Review

Tuesday 11th August 2009

Barney Britton

CEWE XL Photobook
£44.99 for standard 26 pages; up to 82 available)
Dimensions: 30x30cm
Paper weight: Fujifilm album photo paper
Software: Cewe Photo World (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Cewe and Pixum photobooks are printed in the same lab, and the Cewe XL photobook in its conventional form is virtually identical to the Pixum Easybook XL. However, both Cewe and Pixum offer a version of the book printed on photographic paper, and it is this option that I have taken here.

The Cewe Photo World software is very similar to Pixum Easybook, which makes it among the easiest to use of all the services I have tested. However, you must select 'photo paper' as the first step in creating a book, and it must be said that this crucial step isn't very clearly flagged up. In fact, the first time I attempted to make this book I missed the relevant tab in the Cewe Photo World software and selected 'XL Photobook', expecting (in vain) to be able to select 'photo paper' at a later stage.

My Cewe photobook arrived on the fifth working day after I ordered it, and the difference that genuine photo paper makes is profound. The pages are thick and heavy, and very well bound, so even on a double-page spread nothing gets lost in the gutter down the spine. In general, the quality of photographic reproduction is superb, although images in this photobook do appear rather oversharp. While this isn't a problem at normal viewing distances, halos around high-contrast edges can be seen when the pages are viewed close-up.

www.cewe-photobook.co.uk

See our article on Making a wedding album for advice on making an album and our list of the top ten albums

(Prices correct at time of going to press AP issue dated 11 July 2009)

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