Heads up, this is a Saal Digital review of their line of photobooks.
If you’re like millions of people around the globe, you’ve probably got hundreds, if not thousands, of memories stored on your phone in the form of images you’ve snapped from months (or years) ago.
You’ve shared them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, texted them to your Uncle Roy and Grandma Jean who refuse to get on “The Facebook” for fear of government spying.
And now they fade from thought until you decide you need to free up space by (gulp) deleting them.
Saal Digital hopes to change your mind with its line of impressive photo products, namely for this review, their photobooks.
Disclosure: A Saal Digital ad for a $60 voucher popped up in my Instagram feed and after checking out their website I decided to send in an application for this voucher and was approved. Even though I appreciate this offer, it has zero effect on my review. This review only applies to the Saal Digital photobooks. I haven’t yet tried out their professional line of products, cards, or poster offerings.
I decided to go with a 26-page, 11 x 7.5 photobook with matte photo paper. My cover was designed with the glossy, unpadded selections. There’s an extra option to have a QR barcode removed from the book for a small price more, but I left it in.
All in all, you can say I assembled the “bare bones” model and I honestly, couldn’t be happier with the quality of their photobook product.
Easy as 1-2-3
First, assembling your photobook couldn’t be simpler. They provide a downloadable version of the software needed to put together the product, with a manual option to put it together yourself or an automatic option that will take your images and place them on the book pages by itself. So whether you’re a computer genius or a beginner you can put together a great looking book with very little effort.
I’m pretty proficient with computer programs so I wanted to play with the placement of my images and add a bit of wording to the pages. I was going for a bit of a historical-photo coffee table book, so I combined a few historical facts with photos to get the end product I desired.
Even with doing all of this “extra” work, I spent less than 30 minutes (!!) from opening the Saal Digital software to hitting ‘confirm’ on my order.
Those with even novice skills at editing or computer software will find the step-by-step instructions and the automation a relief, taking a ton of hassle out of the experience.
Printing Quality
Again, the ease at which you can finish a photobook of this quality can’t be understated.
The key word here is ‘quality’ because while photobooks and e-printing book options are nothing new, the grade of these products can vary wildly. This is especially true when considering how the majority of people will contribute to their books, which is from their cellphones.
Cell phone image quality can be a bit dubious when it comes to blowing up these precious memories and transferring them to anything other than post-card sized options.
The photos I used for my photobook were from several different iPhones over the course of a number of years. I believe the latest model iPhone I had images from was an iPhone 7, which, let’s be honest, it’s going to yield nearly as clear photos as a Nikon or Canon SLR, but I was blown away how nice the end product was.
There was very little pixelation, even from my older photos. The slight pixelation that did occur had much more to do with the quality of the camera and lens from the phone than the printing.
Little Things Add Up
Each photobook is made with lay-flat binding which really helps your panoramic captures pop and it also means you don’t have to sacrifice an incredible landscape image to the cropping gods.
This was really important to me because I take a ton of landscape shots and I hate, hate, hate having to crop my images to the point that they’re no longer landscapes. A small detail, but really important to a lot of people.
Again, there are so many options to choose from, from the size of the books, to how many pages you’d like, plus they’ll even provide leather gift boxes if you’re looking for a really nice gift to give someone.
In conclusion, if you do a search you’ll find cheaper options, but this is one of those things that you need to consider that you “get what you pay for.” These are high-end photobooks Saal Digital that offer incredible quality and supreme value, so dollar for dollar, you won’t find a better option if you want a seriously beautiful photobook.
For more reviews, like the backpack I take everywhere with me, click here.
