Photo printing problem - noise

[Rooz]

i got some shots printed out by a friend of some motor racing. i saw them on his computer screen and they looked awesome but when they were printed, (5x7), they look very ordinary, the noise is very obtrusive.

is it normal that a photo, even small size, looks so poor in printed quality compared to what it looks like on the PC screen ? i mean seriously on his monitor they looked incredibly clean. shots are from canon eos30D @ iso800 and 1600.

[griptape]

Printed on what kind of printer? ISO 800 and 1600 WILL have SOME noise, and in some cases quite a bit of it. But out of a 30D it shouldn't be so bad as to ruin looking at the picture. You could always run the pictures through some noiseware, and lose a little detail but get rid of a lot of the noise. Posting a sample or two might help us see exactly what the issue may be.

[Rooz]

i only have the printed copies which are on the normal photo paper the lab uses for any other printing i do. the pics on the monitor looked fine at 100% though and this is the first time i've ever printed a hi-iso shot.

so why is a printed version showing so much more noise than on the screen ? is that normal ? the 1600 shot looks bloody awful and the 800 is barely passable. anyone else print hi iso shots that can give some feedback on their experiences would be much appreciated.