Anyone used CEWE photo books?

[OMGitsnotgood]

Thinking of making a photo book for a relative's birthday. Google reviews suggest CEWE is one of the best, but am always a bit cynical about where these reviews come from! I don't mind paying for better quality:extra functionality so am not looking for the cheapest but do want it to be good value.
Given the relative's age, a significant proportion of the photos will be photos/scans of printed photos so any feedback on experience with this specifically would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Nocaloriesinchocolate]

Ive used them before and find the site easy to navigate and their service quick. The finished product is great. My only issue was not with them but with me - you manipulate the images - size and shape - on the pages yourself and since I have zero artistic sense the pages can look a bit messy. (Not really a problem as Ive only made them for me - eg DS’s progress in a certain area)

[OMGitsnotgood]

Thank you @Nocaloriesinchocolate .

I'm a little creative but not overly so, especially as it's for a gift I don't want it to look messy! Let's see if I get any other feedback and maybe some tips for both of us on how to better organise photos !

[hoppalong]

Hi! I use them to make a photo book every year and always very happy with the results. I haven't scanned in existing photos though, so can't comment on that.

I find them quite straightforward to use. You can choose from a large selection of templates for each page. I decide how many photos I want on an individual page, whether they are landscape or portrait, and use a template that matches. It can be a bit faffy and time consuming but I'm definitely no creative! It's quite satisfying making it all fit together. You can then do a preview before you order.

I believe they can also do it all for you - you upload the photos and they automatically arrange it but I've never done that and not sure how it works.

I don't know how they compare to other services as they're the only ones I've used.

[RubaiyatOfAnyone]

Just as an option, i use photobox every year to make a photobook and find them great - but wait for one of their (endless) 70% off sales.

[AfterTheGoldBrush]

I've used all of them at some point. Photobox are the best quality ime and I don't bother looking at the others anymore.

[OMGitsnotgood]

Thank you all. CEWE seems to beat photobox in online reviews but I take those with a pinch of salt!

Anyone else got a preference having used both of these?

Also interested in. more feedback from those who have used CEWE?

Thanks

[MrsNS17]

Hi! I've used vistaprint and Cewe for albums, and photobox just for printing out photos. I've used vistaprint for a few holiday albums and I recently used Cewe to make my wedding album and was very happy with the result.

Cewe was really easy to use. I downloaded the design tool they have which was pretty intuitive. And I found customer services quite helpful, too. Very quick to respond.

I used the highest quality paper (it was for a wedding album, after all), which was a thick card and I had several 'lay flat' pages, which came out beautifully. Would recommend these if you have big landscape shots you want to highlight.

As well as three full size albums (for us, my parents, in-laws) I made a few mini albums, and again, quality was really good.

I found the price from Cewe really competitive for wedding quality albums but not sure how it compares for something less fancy.

Happy to answer any specific questions you might have, OP.

[OMGitsnotgood]

Thank you @MrsNS17 , very helpful. Started to scan some printed out photos today using our printer but they were too dark and can't see a way of changing any settings. I've tried taking photos of them with my phone but keep getting shadows or reflections, no matter where i didi it As at least half the photos I want to use will need digitising, not sure whether I am going to have time to find another solution/mess with what I've got. Will try again tomorrow but currently losing the will!! If I overcome those issues I'm sure I'll have questions, thank you

[NotGoingOut3]

I make photobooks every year and decided to give Cewe a go when I saw them advertised over the Christmas. It looked like it would be an enjoyable, simple process & I was drawn by some of the functionality.

I started the photobook and have had the most frustrating time. Here's my feedback for anyone considering creating a photobook and not wanting to age 10 years in the process -

Firstly, unlike other photobook creating sites here you work online you have to download software onto your PC or Mac

The template is clunky, overly complex  and not user friendly at all. I found it cumbersome to use and it took me much longer to compile my pages compared to equivalent sites.

There is a customer service line however everytime I called or emailed with a query (which was too often!) I would get a completely different  answer. It felt like I wa speaking to someone who didn't understand my question.

After 3 attempts I am walking away .... and will start again isng different photobook service.
Save yourself soon headache and many hours of your life that you won't get back by using  one of the many other writes that offer something similar. Personally I enjoy using the Mixit platform.