So Dwayne's Just Lost a Customer

[matthewm]

Let me start by saying that this is my first time using Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, KS.

My wife and I went on our honeymoon to Las Vegas and we rented a car and drove some 1,000 miles around the west and visited all the big landmarks, etc. Between the two of us, we shot around 20 rolls of film or so (her medium format and me with 35mm). Rather than coming back through the busy LV airport with film that would have to be hand-checked, we decided to ship it off to Dwayne's to be processed and then have them send it to us at home when they were done. Cool, right?

No.

My wife got her film and scans back a few days ago and a bunch of her scans have a bright blue line running right down the middle of them and others were cropped square, etc.

Mine came in today and the black and white scans look like old photocopies and are incredibly dirty and dingy looking and the color scans were auto-corrected and lots of frames are overlapping, etc.

I thought Dwayne's was a pro lab and would take the time to scan our negatives properly. But it appears they just run it through their Noritsu or Frontier on full auto and let the frames fall as they may with no regard for proper scanning or spacing.

I'm extremely disappointed that I paid close to $200 for our processing and I get worse quality than the girl at Walgreens gives me. Hell, at least Walgreens provides accurate spacing and crops my panoramic frames from my TVS and Espio Mini down without the black borders.

If your'e considering Dwayne's, you may wish to look elsewhere. I had high hopes and was let down horribly. 🙁

Here are some examples (and I've retouched them to try and minimize it, but it looks as if I'll have to rescan them all myself anyway):

See all the banding at the tops?

 

[Ranchu]

Yes that sucks, you need your money back. Truck shot rocks!

 

[Luna]

Dwayne's should have burned their lab to the ground after Dec 31, 2010. They could have kept their dignity. They were only good for one thing, processing the last of your K-14. I would send my Kodachrome to them to get processed. But the scans were done by the best lab in the world, NCPS.

 

[matthewm]

Yes that sucks, you need your money back. Truck shot rocks!

Yeah. I'm workin' on that. At least a partial refund.
I was just about to add that I know these aren't award-winning shots or anything, but thanks for the comment! I'm glad you like it.

 

[matthewm]

Dwayne's should have burned their lab to the ground after Dec 31, 2010. They could have kept their dignity. They were only good for one thing, processing the last of your K-14. I would send my Kodachrome to them to get processed. But the scans were done by the best lab in the world, NCPS.

Where is NCPS? I'm looking for a decent lab. Actually, I'm looking for a decent scanner with a roll film attachment. Looks like I might be doing my own scanning from now on. 🙂

 

[kdemas]

You should give Precision a try. They're forum sponsors and have the same equipment as NCPS I believe. Very nice people too!

 

[Rogier]

They lost me also last year. To much junk, just and stripes on all my film...

 

[matthewm]

Thanks for the support guys. Honestly, I thought I was going to get burned at the stake for my blasphemy, but it's nice to know I'm not alone. I'll try Precision for sure! I've heard of them, but never used them.

Honestly, I'm at the point now, where I'd just kind of like to get my own scanner, go back to using chemicals at home for black and white and let the drug store process my color stuff normally and I'll just scan everything on my own.

 

[Ranchu]

Congratulations on your wedding too, very best wishes.

🙂

 

[leica M2 fan]

Too bad about your bad experience and hope you get some resolve. I had a not so pleasant dealing with them the only time I tried them and never used them again.

 

[bwidjaja]

Hmm, i am sensing a trend here. My last experience was a couple of months ago and it was not a pleasant one either. So I have been sending mine to Precision which is closer too.

 

[Keith]

So the end of Kodachrome really was the end of the world! 😛

 

[thegman]

I have only ever used Dwayne's once, for a roll of Kodachrome. Scans were pretty crappy. The truck shot is a great one though, have it rescanned, or scan yourself, and it'll be even better.

 

[Pete B]

Crazy. In ths day and age with the Film market as it is this is the time to be falling over backwards for customers. Now is the time to go for market share and be one of the few giants left standing. This will be based on reputation. Sad to see a "trusted name for over 50 years" sully themselves in this way. If I had a business in the middle of Butt-F+#k-Nowhere I'd be making sure people would be happy to risk the postage. Richard Photo Lab are international players with a sterling reputation. Dwaynes could've been up there too. They've lost their Joker in Kodachrome. Now they need to pull something out of the hat.
Pete

 

[NLewis]

Richard Photo Lab used to be a little pricey, but it looks like they brought down their developing+hires scan prices to competitive levels. They have a reputation for good work, most of their clients look like wedding/portrait photographers.

 

[matthewm]

Congratulations on your wedding too, very best wishes.

🙂

Thank you for the well-wishes!

 

[matthewm]

I've submitted an email to Dwayne's expressing my frustration. I'll see what happens. Honestly, I don't expect much out of them by way of refunds, etc.

On the other hand, has anyone had any experience developing C-41 at home? I'm fine with black and white as I've done it in school and now at home. In fact, I just got a whole box of chemicals and bottles from Freestyle a couple of weeks ago, but we've been moving and haven't had a chance to get our bathroom/darkroom up and running.

So, C-41. Worth the home-development? Or Walgreens?

 

[matthewm]

I have only ever used Dwayne's once, for a roll of Kodachrome. Scans were pretty crappy. The truck shot is a great one though, have it rescanned, or scan yourself, and it'll be even better.

Thanks. I'm kind of thinking I might scan it myself and blow it up a little. Could be a neat print for the spare bedroom or something.

 

[dave lackey]

Dwayne's scans on my K64 were awful.

Local labs here in Atlanta suck with scans. For anything other than just snapshots, I send mine to Precision Camera for 26mb files and they have done a great job! The one time they missed a half dozen images for scanning, they apologized and corrected it at no charge.😎

 

[Jamie123]

I put no faith in "pro labs." I used to take my color stuff to one near me... There were fingerprints, water (or chemical) stains, scratches... I mean, really. WTF? What part of this experience is "pro?"

Same here. I have a 'pro lab' in my neighborhood which I've been using for years but recently they've really started to slip up. Fingerprints, water stains, scratches AND underdevelopment (probably bad chemicals)! I now started using a pro lab across town. Takes me 30 minutes to get there but they're cheaper and their work so far has been flawless.