Photoshop heroes in the processing lab

[Shok]

I dunno about anyone else having experienced this, but have you ever put in film to be processed, stating they process "as is" without touching or fiddling about with it.
Then you get the film back and some clown in the camera store (Kodak of all places) has popped it through their machine to show off their photoshop skills to you, rendering $78 of paper unusable. Bloody "experts".
Thank god I have a negative scanner.

If you're processing a batch of film, (that someones already stated they don't want you to mess with) and you happen across a few in funny colors and hues, wouldn't that mean they're testing something? Apparently not to some. Out rolls the "autocorrect" button. And the grain reducer. And the scratch smoother.
Arrrgh.

To make matters worse, she ran our ilford B&W through as if it were color, then informed us the pictures were brown because of a setting on our cameras that made our negs a purplish color too.. Um, where? I have a fed2 and my girl has an original pentax spotmatic. :bang:

I'm going somewhere else. Again. 2 shops down for the count, lets see if we can find something half decent.

 

[bmattock]

I dunno about anyone else having experienced this, but have you ever put in film to be processed, stating they process "as is" without touching or fiddling about with it.
Then you get the film back and some clown in the camera store (Kodak of all places) has popped it through their machine to show off their photoshop skills to you, rendering $78 of paper unusable. Bloody "experts".
Thank god I have a negative scanner.

If you're processing a batch of film, (that someones already stated they don't want you to mess with) and you happen across a few in funny colors and hues, wouldn't that mean they're testing something? Apparently not to some. Out rolls the "autocorrect" button. And the grain reducer. And the scratch smoother.
Arrrgh.

To make matters worse, she ran our ilford B&W through as if it were color, then informed us the pictures were brown because of a setting on our cameras that made our negs a purplish color too.. Um, where? I have a fed2 and my girl has an original pentax spotmatic. :bang:

I'm going somewhere else. Again. 2 shops down for the count, lets see if we can find something half decent.

It's all automatic as far as I know. The B&W thing, yes, they should have caught that.

Since you have a scanner, I kind of wonder why you bother having them print for you? If I have negs processed at a one-hour place (which I do, from time to time, but not much lately), I have them processed only, no prints, no scans. Just process, cut and sleeve the negs. That makes it much cheaper.

I then scan the negs. I upload what I want to print to Wal-Mart or Walgreens or wherever, order my prints (just the ones I want) and stroll over to pick them up an hour or so later. Also cheaper, since I'm printing only the ones I want. And they do not auto-correct, as far as I know.

But then, I don't do anything too funky, and I'm color-blind anyway.

 

[Thardy]

I just wish the negatives came back clean and without scratches. I don't get prints either.

 

[bmattock]

I just wish the negatives came back clean and without scratches. I don't get prints either.

I absolutely agree. That's probably why I mostly do B&W now, and process it myself. It's been awhile since I had a roll of C41 processed that did not come back with lots of scratches on it, and sometimes 'gunk' or residue of some kind too. Yuck. I'm sure it does not show up on the typical 4x6 print, so they don't care. I've seen them drag a length of film along the floor as they move it from processing machine to printer, made me cringe.

 

[Shok]

I didn't know you could just get the film processed without prints. I'll sure be doing that next time.
We actually saw her fiddling about with it on the computer, and said not to (again), but alas too late, she'd already put it through to the print section.

Thanks guys, handy advice. 😉

 

[bmattock]

I didn't know you could just get the film processed without prints. I'll sure be doing that next time.
We actually saw her fiddling about with it on the computer, and said not to (again), but alas too late, she'd already put it through to the print section.

Thanks guys, handy advice. 😉

Here in the US, you can ask at Walgreens (convenience store) or CVS (same thing) for processing only. The last time I had this done, it was about $2.00 USD instead of the usual $6.50 USD or so. Might be more now, it's been awhile. I have sometimes found you need to let them search around a bit in their computer/cash register for the proper code to put in to do this, because so few people ask for it. I've run into a couple who flat-out claim not to be able to do this, because they can't be arsed to look up the price.

It can also save scratches, I've found...less handling. Although I still get them...grrr...

 

[morback]

For my color I ask for processing and a disc (for archive).

I'm gonna start to ask them to not cut my film. I have quite a few frames chopped, plus I figure, the less time the film spends in their hands, the less dirty it will be?

I spend 80-90% of my time cleaning my negs, and the rest is color adjustment and cropping if needed.

Even my B&W lab gives me negatives back where I wonder...is that a boot print on my neg??? And they cut the strips in 6 frames! That just kills me...

 

[sebastel]

And they cut the strips in 6 frames! That just kills me...

the 6 frame strips would be OK with me - but here, they love to cut it to 4 frames, which is completely odd with my film storage. so i even ask them to skip the film cutting as well (and they even have prepared stickers saying "no film cutting!" to put them on the processing bags!).

cheers,
s.

 

[g12]

I know Ritz in the US will process only (color), not even cut (remember to take the canister). Then cut, scan and store as you want... as for B&W, go on, develop yourself... ;-)

 

[oftheherd]

My local CVS used to be really good. However, the lady who worked there moved on. One of the students who was good also moved on. Now they apparently don't clean their machines on schedule. I get a lot of lint and the odd scratch or two. I guess I am off to look for another place.

I once dropped of some film at a Target. The pimply faced kid there proceeded to tell me the horrid colors were due to a "problem" with my camera but he couldn's say what. Sadly, I wasn't too kind with him. I guess I should have realized he was only repeating what he had been told. But he just wouldn't take no for an answer or allow the store might have made a mistake. Bad customer service that. Haven't been there since.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

EDIT: I had put a picture of a C41 home dev kit here, but it didn't show up in the post. You should try home dev!

 

[RayPA]

I state "develop only, no cut, sleeve," and I get a processed roll of film in an uncut sleeve. I bring them home and cut right through the sleeve and remove the negs seconds before scanning. After scanning they go right into my archival sleeves.


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[dmr]

I dunno about anyone else having experienced this, but have you ever put in film to be processed, stating they process "as is" without touching or fiddling about with it.

The problem with the minilabs is that they are consistently inconsistent. Sometimes they do a great job, sometimes a very vile job, all from the same lab at different times. It seems to me to be variation in QA of the lab and skill (or lack of) of the operator, who in many cases is just a clerk from another department covering the photo lab.

Coincidentally, a FOAF now runs the photo lab at a local (but inconvenient to me) Wally World and gave me some samples of their test strips which they use to test the chemistry. This guy is very meticulous about these things, but he admitted that many shops are not. I'll scan these and post these.

 

[Kevin]

I state "develop only, no cut, sleeve," and I get a processed roll of film in an uncut sleeve. I bring them home and cut right through the sleeve and remove the negs seconds before scanning. After scanning they go right into my archival sleeves.
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You should not pull negatives out of a lab sleeve but rather peel the front and back parts of a sleeve apart as you would a banana. Dust inside a lab sleeve of any length will scratch your negatives if you remove them the easy way.

 

[fergus]

Shok - I use Photo Color in Heidelberg Vic, I send my film down by mail they're usually back the same week, both 120 and 35mm. 35mm develop only = Au $5 (about US$3.50) not too bad.

Might be worth a try.

Cheers...
Fergus.

 

[Shok]

Shok - I use Photo Color in Heidelberg Vic, I send my film down by mail they're usually back the same week, both 120 and 35mm. 35mm develop only = Au $5 (about US$3.50) not too bad.

Might be worth a try.

Cheers...
Fergus.

I'll certainly be checking that one out. I live in walking distance to Heidelberg! Thanks. 😀

 

[RayPA]

You should not pull negatives out of a lab sleeve but rather peel the front and back parts of a sleeve apart as you would a banana. Dust inside a lab sleeve of any length will scratch your negatives if you remove them the easy way.

I get the negs in an uncut sleeve that is the length of an uncut roll. One edge of the sleeve has an envelope-type lip that lifts up so the sleeve opens like a...hot dog bun (to stay with the food-based metaphor 🙂 ). I simply lift the neg out of the sleeve. No pulling or peeling required and no scratching.

Good point and tip, though. However, I've found that it's usually the bed of the cutter that causes scratches on negs even before the negatives are sleeved (or on their way into the sleeve before being cut). Add to that the printing gate and table (if you get your negs printed), as the negs are dragged across the table and through the gate. There is a possibility that the handler can scratch the negs when sleeving in an uncut sleeve. It happens, but far less than if the negs were put through the cutting/sleeving or printing/cutting/sleeving process.


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