Print Processing the Hard Way

[Geoff Marland]

Recently one of my many nieces (and her husband had a hand in it of course) produced twins, the first in our immediate family. So of course all the family gathered for the occasion.

I was volunteered to photograph the festivities and produce prints for all and sundry. Of course that was the time my printer decided to go on strike (Murphy's law). I decided to process my prints via the machines at the local Ted's Camera Store.

They were all of them shockingly under exposed. The minister looked as though he had a full beard and he was in fact clean shaven.

I complained bitterly and asked for them to be redone. The reply was "These are digital prints and it is your responsibility to make sure that they are correct before you give the OK to go ahead". I complained again that they were correct, on my home computer monitor and on the screen at Ted's before I hit the button. Eventually after much discussion they agreed to do one print again as a test run.

Fifteen minutes later when I called back to see the result I was greeted by the store manager who said that they would reprocess all my prints free of charge because there was obviously a problem with the chemicals in the machine. Apparently they test the processing chemicals twice a day because the more prints processed in the day can lead to the chemicals becoming contaminated and producing incorrect exposures like mine.

Just a warning of what to expect and to ask for a reprint if necessary.

[Killakoala]

Good to hear you had a favourable outcome.

Whatever happened to good customer service and 'The customer is always right'..

[ozczecho]

Good to hear you had a favourable outcome.

Whatever happened to good customer service and 'The customer is always right'..

Ask the dodo

[Marty]

Hey Geoff,
I had 2 near identical images taken at a sporting event on Saturday, outdoors, sunny, etc.
I needed to get both printed as I have two customers.
So I took the first to a photo lab $10 for an 8x12 came out stunning with beautiful colours.
The second I took to Hardly Normal and was charged $3.50 for an 8x12, the result was shocking, purple tinge to the sky and the flesh colours were awful.
After calmly discussing the issue with the staff at Hardly Normal, they tried to give numerous excuses and put the blame on me.
The guy actually said 'oh your memory of the shot is actually different to what you actualy took', I found that statement very patronising.
Both shots were taken within .5 second of each other and they both look identical on my computer in Photoshop.
Even a customer stood next to me at HN said the colours were awful.
The lesson learned...... you get what you pay for, and I have to go back to the photo lab to re-print the shot that HN failed miserably with.

ps
I did get a b/w printed at HN earlier that day and I am sad to admit, the printing was fantastic....!!!

[TonyH]

Hi,

I also had a bad experience with the Franchise you mentioned earlier. I kicked up a fuss and got onto their technical director in Melbourne (I think Melb). They eventually got back to me to tell me that all of their settings on the Agfa machine were out and had been out since day one. They told me that when the machine is correctly calibrated they would contact me and rerun all of my images. I'm still waiting (4 months) so I guess they haven't sorted their machine out as yet .

I get my prints produced at Big W. They don't know what they are doing, so they have the technicians calibrate their machines, so they are always perfect......

So much for using the experts eh? BTW my experiences were in Brisbane

Tony

[kipper]

Are there any good printing stores in Melbourne. I'd like ones that do large matte/gloss prints aswell as doing lycee canvas (sp?).

[redline]

i use to use hn and big w, both were cheap and nasty, well hn was actually more $$.
however i founds results very inconsisant with orders, its kinda like chasing the magic dragon. your re-adjusting your colors to match those of the lab, yet the lab doesn't bother to calibrate and continue using their equipment.

try nulab, the edge or even teds does an ok job. btw congrats on your new toy Kipper, i hope your got insurance taken out on such an investment.

[Aussie Dave]

try nulab, the edge or even teds does an ok job.

Redline
have you had photos printed at "the edge" ? If so, were you happy with their quality & service ? Also, did you get your photos printed via the Automated SRP OR the Lambda ?

Their pricing looks pretty reasonable so I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has used them in the past