So Dwayne's Just Lost a Customer

[matthewm]

Please don't call. 😀

Another case of 'I read it online so it must be true for me' comes back to bite. Just saying- I don't think anyone should take a chance with important work in an untested lab, and that those that do get bitten often. This kind of thing happens all the time when people don't check out internet truths for themselves. Will you use Dwayne's again? No. Would you have sent all this important film to Dwayne's if you'd sent them a few test rolls first to check them out? Most likely not. Again, sorry it didn't work out.

Okay fine. I won't call. 🙂

I did a lot of research and spoke to some other photographers that I knew and all had used Dwayne's and found them to be a great lab. My color scans looked pretty good so I guess it wasn't all bad. I'm just not going to use them in the future. I didn't assume they were good because I read it online in one place. I read it in lots of places and even talked to seasoned photographers that I know personally.

It sounds from a lot of the other responses that Dwayne's was a good lab at one time, but has let their QC slip.

But you are right that I shouldn't have blindly sent out all of my film to one lab. Then again, I would have had to send it somewhere. Next time, I'll just shoot all color film and mail it home and let the girl at Walgreens take care of it for me. Now THAT'S a pro photo lab! 🙂 She actually does a great job and is SUPER friendly so I like taking her stuff. She doesn't know a thing about photography, I don't think, but she's been trained on that little Frontier Mini Lab and does good work.

 

[matthewm]

http://4photolab.com in Rochester is my friend and one of the last truly pro labs left. Edgar is getting mail order film from international customers now. Always clean and proper, you talk to the lab rat himself... it is where Kodak sends their film to test.

The simple fact of the matter is that you won't get custom scans for automated scan prices. And if they are automated, there will be some mediocre results.

I just get my film processed and scan it myself.

Thanks! I'll send them a few rolls next time I get some black and white out of my camera and let you know how I like them. I'm going to send to some of the others as well and see what happens.

As soon as my wife and I get our house (we're living with her parents because we moved to her home town and haven't found a house yet 🙄) I'm going to break out this box of chemicals that I ordered from Freestyle and start processing my own black and white film.

Thinking about doing my own color, too, but with Walgreens developing for $2 a roll or so, it's easy enough just to let them do it.

 

[matthewm]

Congratulation on your wedding though!

Hey thanks! It's a fun time.

 

[sepiareverb]

Congratulation on your wedding though!

Yes, +1 there!

 

[whitecat]

I only send my 110 and 126 film to Dwaynes. I don't think they fit the bill as a real pro lab. Your scanns will only be as good as your negative. Give Dalmation a try for BW work. Best I have found and I have tried them all. NCPS for Color. Precision has too long of a turnaround time for me and I'm in the same state.

 

[roboflick]

Best lab for processing and scans
http://www.northcoastphoto.com/

Nik

 

[matthewm]

Thanks for all the responses.

I got an email from Dwayne's and they offered to have their QC department take a look at my scans and negatives and rescan everything for me. I'm already in the process of rescanning them myself so I respectfully declined their offer, but it's nice to know they back up their work and offered to make it right.

In the future, I think I'll develop my own black and white, let Walgreens do the color and I'll scan on my own.

Perhaps I'll save up for a nicer scanner next...

Sigh.

 

[matthewm]

OH. And thank you for all the wedding wishes. It's a fun time.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Over the last few years Dwayne's won accolades and lots of
new customers as the last lab processing Kodachrome film.
Unless the bad experiences related here are the exception rather than
the rule they seem to be squandering all that good will they built up. 🙁

Chris

 

[matthewm]

For the record, here is the message that I received:

Dear Mr. Morse,

I'm writing to you in regards about a post on Range Finder that you had made regarding your recent order with us. Another customer had sent us the link. You had made the comment that you had contacted us about your order, but there has not been any emails from you received through our website.

We are sorry to hear about your disappointment with your and your wife's orders.

We would be more than happy to take a look at the negatives and the CD's that we have made and redo them as needed. Please return everything to us and we will have our QC person take a look at them. We will gladly reimburse the standard return shipping fee back to us.

We are not a professional lab. We are for the amateur photographer. We do not advertise that we are a professional lab. NCPS does advertise that they are a professional lab and their prices also reflect that.

Sincerely,
Krystal

Dwayne's Photo
PO Box 274 / 415 S. 32nd St.
Parsons, KS 67357
800-522-3940
620-421-3940

Take special note of the part that is in bold here. Apparently, they're a lab aimed at amateur photographers. Essentially what I'm getting from that is that amateurs expect less quality, so they deliver less quality per their price. Or did I miss something?

Raise the price a few cents to match the other guys and deliver a better product.

Anyways...I've beaten this horse to death and then some. They did offer to make it right or at least look at the stuff to see where the problem is. I appreciate that. No, I probably won't use them again, but if something comes up and I have to, I'll just make sure to not employ their scanning services and stick to development only. That part they did right.

 

[Ranchu]

Amateurs get lines? There's something hovering around in my head about having read these lines are caused by a bad power supply on the scanner, if Dwayne's happens to read this they might want to look into that.

 

[matthewm]

Amateurs get lines? There's something hovering around in my head about having read these lines are caused by a bad power supply on the scanner, if Dwayne's happens to read this they might want to look into that.

I seem to remember from my days working at Ritz with the older Frontier system we had that lines on the scans was a dirty head or if the lines were on the negatives, but could be removed by cleaning, that the rollers in the C41 machine were dirty... Fortunately, the lines aren't in my negatives from what I can tell with a loupe.