I have been sending files to print in Tif format but would it be the same result if the files were saved as a pdf? Is there any loss in quality etc?
In theory, a resolution TIFF should give you as good a printed output as any other format, and obviously better than any lossy format, like JPEG.
In practice, if there is any significant amount of text, then I would always go with a PDF, since text from a TIFF always seems to look slightly fuzzy.
Short version: photographic images won't go far wrong with any lossless graphic format. TIFF has always been my preference. Text or more graphical images will probably benefit from a vector format. PDF lets you combine the two.
Cheers
Jim